The Old Faithful webcam is one of the most accessible ways for people worldwide to enjoy Yellowstone National Park. While it’s accessible through the National Park Service’s website, a more enjoyable experience awaits on the GeyserTimes Dashboard.
Where else can you get a confirmed sighting of “The Sitting Sasquatch Tree?”
That’s what fans have named a lopsided pine tree near Myriad Spring in the Upper Geyser Basin. From the perspective of the Old Faithful webcam, looming over the boardwalk and bored bison in the vicinity, the tree bears a slight resemblance to the legendary man-beast.
“It’s just what frequent webcam watchers affectionately call that (particular tree),” said webcam watcher and GeyserTimes fan Katie La Salle-Lowery. “That or just 'Squatch.'”
The Old Faithful webcam is often a way to witness the foolhardy decisions of tourists, but that belies its genuine value to the world at large. Through the window of the GeyserTimes Dashboard, it’s an educational experience into the dynamic world of Yellowstone that goes as deep as anyone wants to dive.
Fluffy, Bee, And Link
GeyserTimes slips under the radar of the world at large, but it’s one of Yellowstone’s most valuable assets. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to geysers, acquiring and preserving every piece of information they can on Yellowstone’s dynamic thermal features.
One of the many incredible resources provided by GeyserTimes is the GeyserTimes Dashboard. In addition to the live feed from the Old Faithful webcam, the dashboard includes data on temperature, humidity, seismic activity, and other real-time information on the Upper Geyser Basin.
Then there’s the chat, where the colorful lingo comes in handy. For instance, Old Faithful is “fluffy”
“If anyone types 'fluffy' in the chat, it will link to the GeyserTimes Old Faithful eruption page,” La Salle-Lowery said. “Typing ‘of’ will dot that doo, but that's boring. The coders who work behind the scenes have a sense of humor.”
The “of” is online speak for Old Faithful.
One would think “fluffy” would be more apt for a bison sighting, but the bison emoji is sufficient for that. Other shortcuts include “bee” for Beehive Geyser and “link” for Link Geyser.
“C'mon of, don't keep us waiting,” La Salle-Lowery said while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt on Wednesday morning. Watching the chat can be just as interesting as the webcam.
“When a word that also happens to be a geyser name is used, the word turns blue as a web link,” she said. “Some people will say, ‘I didn't know there was a geyser named that.’ It can be amusing and informative.”
Vast Knowledge
The GeyserTimes Dashboard is an interface to what La Salle-Lowery described as “a vast repository of observations for many years.” The community of contributors preserves every piece of information they can, and it’s all available with a few keystrokes.
La Salle-Lowery is a well-known persona on the dashboard and knows how to work its quirks to everyone's advantage. By typing in “/gts beehive,” she could share information on Beehive Geyser's average, longest, and anticipated eruptions.
“If I had left the ‘s’ out, it would have only displayed for me,” she said. “There are chat commands that provide the syntax for videos and other information.
While people were waiting for the next eruption of “fluffy" on Wednesday afternoon, La Salle-Lowery was able to share a video of the previous eruption that morning. Videos of other erupting geysers, posted by users and viewers, were accessible from the dashboard as well.
“The dashboard displays predictions as well as recent eruptions, seismographs, loggers, gauges, a weather widget, and a lot of cool, useful features,” she said. “It lets watchers chat with each other, calling out observations, sharing info, and just general chatter. It’s useful and fun.”
Here And There
The live streaming webcam view on the GeyserTimes Dashboard is made possible by the Eyes on Yellowstone program, funded by Canon USA, Inc. through a generous grant to Yellowstone Forever. The operation of the webcam and information cataloged on the GeyserTimes website is made possible by “countless hours from volunteer webcam operators around the United States.”
La Salle-Lowery isn’t the only one who recognizes the value of the Old Faithful webcam. Daryl Adams told Cowboy State Daily it’s a constantly open window to Yellowstone in his office in Keithville, Louisiana.
“I have several screens in my office, and I always keep the webcam running on one,” he said. “I’ve been doing that for years because I love Yellowstone, and keeping the cameras up and running is a great way to see everything.”
Connie Witte Reynolds, a teacher in Harrisonville, Missouri, told Cowboy State Daily that she regularly pulls up the webcam for her students. They witnessed a tourist getting too close to a bison in April 2024, which drew immediate condemnation from everyone watching.
La Salle-Lowery encourages people to visit and explore the GeyserTimes Dashboard and to continue visiting the Old Faithful webcam on the National Park Service’s website. Both sites need and benefit from regular web traffic.
“The GeyserTimes chat is fun, but I also encourage people to still visit the NPS webcam website,” she said. “The NPS sees those visitation stats and thereby knows that the Old Faithful streaming webcam and the static cams around Yellowstone are enjoyed by millions of people around the globe.”
User
" And now, back to your regularly scheduled bison,” they said.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
