Today, drove up to Ole Faithful, the plan was to do the entire area in one day. It was mostly cloudy and cold with wind. Trailhead directions that said 6 miles but was actually 9 miles which tripped up plans.
So I skipped the planned trail and decided to visit the Fountain Paintpot features. There was traffic there waiting to get into the parking lot. I abandoned that idea and drove south and stopped at a turnout with parking and no people. Rode the bike along the road up to Upper Basin. Smart move using the bike to get around when traffic is busy and exercise to boot.
I cycled up half mile to turnoff to a series of features at Firehole Lake Drive, and emerged at the paint pot location pedaling along. I rode in on two wheels passing 20 or so cars just waiting to get into the parking lot.
Examining a different map, I realized it held the secret to bike trail I was trying to find. I located it, and rode the beautiful trail the sun had come out. Initially held up as the road/trail had 4-5 bison very close to the road and nobody was trying to drive past quickly.
The trail approached the prismatic pools from a different direction. I’ just figured out the easiest way I should have planned. This entire day was too nearly over and I did not even see Ol Faithful, see day 4 for that.
