Watch Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
Old Faithful throws water an average of 130 feet (40 metres) into the air, roughly every 100 minutes, and the National Park Service predicts each eruption. It stands in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, where at least 150 geysers are packed into one square mile.
GentleUnder £100 / $130An afternoonOutdoorsAlone or with othersWyoming
How to start
- Check the next predicted eruption at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, at the lodges or in the NPS App (predictions pause while the centre is closed in parts of spring and late autumn).
- Arrive early and watch from the boardwalk; an eruption lasts between one and a half and five minutes.
- Then walk the boardwalk loops of the Upper Geyser Basin, where Castle, Grand, Daisy and Riverside geysers are also predicted.
Where to go
- Yellowstone National Park (NPS): Old Faithful
- Yellowstone National Park (NPS): safety in the Old Faithful area
We opened these links on 1 November 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. The hard part of a day out is the timing: the right season, tickets and getting there. The plan watches the calendar for you.
Read next
Six pairs of shoes and seven months on the Pacific Crest Trail took Nancy Zelick from Mexico to Canada
How a retired Intel researcher from Baker City, Oregon, walked the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada in about seven months: the snow, the gear, the food and why she thinks pace mattered more than youth. How to start multi-day hiking, or build towards a long trail if you already walk.
Stargazing for beginners: what to see, what to bring and where to look through a telescope
A beginner's guide to stargazing: letting your eyes adapt, the planets you can find without a telescope, why a red torch matters, the honest challenges of cloud and cold, and observatories and astronomy societies near you that will lend you a look through their telescopes.

