Old Faithless

A famed geyser misses its cue

After years of living up to its name, Old Faithful no longer is. For the past century, the famed Yellowstone geyser in Wyoming spouted just about every 70 minutes, shooting a stream of boiling water and steam some 130 ft. into the air for two to four minutes. Now, when eruption time arrives, the geyser sometimes burps and spits for 20 or even 40 minutes. Eventually, Old Faithful blows, but on its own fickle time.

The geyser's credibility gap is caused by an earthquake that shook the nearby city of Challis, Idaho, and the surrounding northern Rockies last October. The tremors interrupted the underground-waterstreams that feed the geyser from mysterious sources and diverted them into new channels. Visitors to Yellowstone Park are not entirely blameless either: over the past six months, the geyser has spewed up coins, bottles, a door hinge, part of a metal clipboard and random fragments of oak furniture.