Old Faithful in Calistoga
Jun. 30th, 2011 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keyan_bowesLike everyone else, I grew up hearing about the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone (which I still haven't seen). No one told me about the Old Faithful geyser in California, specifically, in Calistoga. It's at the far end of the Napa Valley, with a backdrop of hills. We just happened on it, some 20 years ago. It's privately owned, and there's a stone facade out front advertising it.
Last month, we went back. As we bought the tickets, the lady at the counter said, "It's going off every 12 minutes or so." Huh? I seemed to remember a longish wait, more like 25 or 30 minutes. But we bought the tickets and went in. I put the difference down to a mistaken memory.
The path led past a stand of bamboo to a shallow pool, surrounded by gravel. A small stream ran from the far end, disappearing into another dense stand of bamboo. A few rocks in the center marked the geyser's location. Steam drifted from the rocks, barely visible.
I walked around the pond, looking down at the yellowish algae (or they may have been mineral deposits, I don't know). Suddenly, something moved... there were little fish in there! I wondered if they'd get cooked when the geyser blew, but apparently not.
Then a dramatic plume of water and steam bubbled and shot high into the air. It did go off every 12 minutes as advertised.
What I didn't know was that even with "old faithfuls", the interval actually can vary. According to the note I picked up at the little gift shop on the premises, this one has an average interval of 40 minutes, and an average height of 60 feet. "Barometric pressure, the moon, the tides and the earth's tectonic stresses, determine the height of the geyser shoots and the time between eruptions," it added. I think the wet winter we've had means the water level underground is high, and so the pressure builds more quickly than at drier times of the year.
As we were leaving, we saw this hanging on the wall: Evidently, Charles Schultz was here.
Last month, we went back. As we bought the tickets, the lady at the counter said, "It's going off every 12 minutes or so." Huh? I seemed to remember a longish wait, more like 25 or 30 minutes. But we bought the tickets and went in. I put the difference down to a mistaken memory.
The path led past a stand of bamboo to a shallow pool, surrounded by gravel. A small stream ran from the far end, disappearing into another dense stand of bamboo. A few rocks in the center marked the geyser's location. Steam drifted from the rocks, barely visible.
I walked around the pond, looking down at the yellowish algae (or they may have been mineral deposits, I don't know). Suddenly, something moved... there were little fish in there! I wondered if they'd get cooked when the geyser blew, but apparently not.
Then a dramatic plume of water and steam bubbled and shot high into the air. It did go off every 12 minutes as advertised.
What I didn't know was that even with "old faithfuls", the interval actually can vary. According to the note I picked up at the little gift shop on the premises, this one has an average interval of 40 minutes, and an average height of 60 feet. "Barometric pressure, the moon, the tides and the earth's tectonic stresses, determine the height of the geyser shoots and the time between eruptions," it added. I think the wet winter we've had means the water level underground is high, and so the pressure builds more quickly than at drier times of the year.
As we were leaving, we saw this hanging on the wall: Evidently, Charles Schultz was here.
