old faithful

In this week’s episode we discussed the Yellowstone Caldera. Yellowstone is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in the National Park of the same name. The last time it erupted was approximately 631,000 years ago, and if it were to erupt today it would have devastating consequences.

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This podcast covers the section of road south from Old Faithful down to West Thumb and then down to the South Gate and then we drive along the seldom seen but beautiful Flagg Ranch/Marysville/Grassy Lake Road.

You will hear a story about how not to hike in bear country then we stop at the only lake in the US that flows into both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.  We visit a great picture spot that where you can see just how big Yellowstone Park really is then talk about a not so great hike to Heart Lake that my dad used to drive to in the 1950's. And then possibly the best kayak adventure you will ever experience on Lewis and Shoshone Lakes and my futile effort at it once which really pissed me off. 

I also tell you about how you can swim and possibly cliff jump in the warm waters of Moose Falls with the water pouring all over you and its just a minute from your car. Then we take a short drive on the rarely used Marysville/Grassy Lake/Flagg Ranch Road to a great backcountry hike to Cascade Acres and the gorgeous Terraced Falls which is a hike totally suitable for kids but is rarely used as no one even knows it exists.  

In this one huge day in Yellowstone, we will visit the Upper and Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. 

We will then head down the road and across the Hayden valley which is home to the largest free roaming Bison herd on the planet on our way to the Mud Pots for a quick stop then have the best lunch in the park at the beautiful Lake Hotel and drive along the shore line of this beautiful lake. And finish off the Yellowstone Lake area with a stop at the remnants of the last eruption that occurred in Yellowstone Park just 150,000 years ago. 

We will finish the day at Old Faithful and catch Beehive, Castle, Daisy, Riverside and the largest predictable geyser in the world-Grand Geyser. 

We finish the day at the Iconic Old Faithful Inn with a drink in the hippest bar in the US and then watch the sunset over Grand Prismatic Pool. The most photographed pool in the world and make one last stop on the way out at Park Mountain and hear the story of the 3 Brothers Peaks. A spot that was vitally important to Yellowstone being the designated as the first National Park in the world and we do it all in one huge day in Yellowstone Park. 

This podcast covers the little town of West Yellowstone. We go over nice places to stay and where to find a cozy lakefront or riverside cabin to use as your home away from home as you visit Yellowstone Park. 

We cover some really great in town dining options including an award winning pizza and where you can take your picture in front of a huge Bison just before dinner as well as some really great places to eat a short drive away including the really fun Happy Hour Bar where you might get "honked", the beautiful Elk Lake Camp and a place where you can dine in one of the 1000 places to visit before you die.  

And just in case you got shut out seeing a bear in the park and your daughter is distraught and inconsolable, I tell you where you can still be a hero and see Grizzly Bears, Wolves and even some Otters and even an IMAX for a little icing on the cake and then drop them off for a little zip lining while you go have a much deserved beer. 

All this and you are only a block away from the entrance to Yellowstone Park and I of course regale you with some more fun stories of my adventures in and around West Yellowstone including a great story about an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and old Snaggletooth, the most famous Grizzly Bear in Yellowstone and where you can still see him. 

I even include " tent clamping" at spots right outside the park and where you can park your RV or Motorhome and finish everything off with our new Winter Chapter for those of you that might want to visit Yellowstone in the winter. 

This podcast covers how the Guidebook tells you everything you need to know about how to watch all the geysers go off in this one of a kind area which is home to more geysers than the rest of the world combined. 

We cover all the major geysers in this one of a kind area and how the guidebook easily gets you to them all by teaching  you to "work the geyser basin".  

You will hear how the guidebook gets you to the best spot to watch Old Faithful from but far more importantly, it gets you to Riverside, Castle, Daisy and the largest predictable geyser on earth-Grand and gets you to these great geysers at the correct time. And I explain how Grand is not to be missed during any vacation to Yellowstone. We also stop by Morning Glory Pool and even make a stop at the seldom seen Artemesia Geyser as well as Great Fountain which graced the cover on the park map for decades. 

By the end of the day, you will have seen every geyser in the largest collection of geysers on the planet and also visited Lone Star and Great Fountain and spent one glorious day seeing the best geysers found anywhere on earth simply by following the Geyser Day Chapter in the Guidebook. 

This podcast explores the action packed 16 mile section of road between Madison Junction down to Old Faithful and we catch all the rest of the geyser basins on our way to the Old faithful area. 

We cross the Gibbon River on our way to the beautiful Firehole  Canyon Drive where we will see the gorgeous Firehole Falls, the Firehole Swimming Area as well as other fun stuff on this beautiful side road. 

We then hit the Firehole Flat Drive and see the oldest grave of a woman in the park and hear a near death story of how another woman nearly lost her life in the same area as well as a bunch of Bison and their Red Dog Calves that frequent this area and 3 great day hikes. 

We then see Hells Half Acre on our way to the Fountain Paint Pots and and then hit Firehole Lake Drive which is home to Great Fountain Geyser and talk to a crazy old woman and then see Firehole Lake and talk about the 3 Senses Nature Trail and how you can still do it today. 

We then make stops at Fairy Falls to access the best place to see Grand Prismatic and then hit Bisquit Basin and the three really fun things you can do from here. Next we hit Black Sand Basin and then I tell you all the great things to see in the iconic Old Faithful Inn. 

Lastly,  we go over one of the main reasons I wrote the guidebook in the first place when I tell you about how I found the seldom seen Rabbit Creek Area and see the 3rd largest pool on earth all by yourself. 

We then hit Old Faithful and I tell you how the Guidebook then takes over so you can have a great day "working" the geyser basin and not miss a thing. 

All along the most action packed stretch of road in the park.

Everything you need to know to save Time and Money and plan a successful trip to Yellowstone is in this podcast. And note that everyone should join our Explore Yellowstone Like a Local Facebook Group where you can read hundreds of great reviews of the guidebook and see thousands of pictures you guys have posted having a great time in the park. 

We cover WHEN you should plan to arrive in Yellowstone to take advantage of the best weather and the lowest crowds. Then we cover WHERE you should stay to quickly and easily access the best of Yellowstone Park and go over some money saving lodging options that are spelled out in the guidebook where you can save thousands of dollars on you lodging and we even throw in some clever ways on how to save money on your food costs. 

 We then go over my 2 Important Tips you simply must follow to have a great vacation to the parks. Such as how to make a plan of where you are going and what you are going to see in Yellowstone Park so you can break the park down into areas that you can easily see in one day. We also cover how you can beat the traffic going into and then out of the parks. 

Then we discuss how the new Rating System works for all the sites in the parks as well as my new Suggested Itineraries that you can follow to make the most of what time you have to explore the worlds first national park. I also tell you how you can win a free t-shirt for everyone in your family and also how you can help protect the parks by policing the park in the moment with you phone.  

And if you want even more info, be sure and watch our You Tube video titled Introduction to Explore Yellowstone Like a Local. 

This podcast covers how you need to go through the West Entry Gate which is by far the busiest entry gate into Yellowstone Park and this gorgeous 14 mile section of road all the way to Madison Junction.  

We will pass through Christmas Tree Alley and then look for Bald Eagles on the banks of the Madison River on our way to the 7 mile bridge and a couple of interesting stories about this area. 

I will also give you the history of how the idea of the worlds first national park came to be when 3 Brothers bravely entered Yellowstone in the 1850's and show you the three iconic peaks named after them that thousands of people see everyday but don't even know are there. 

And tell you what animals you will see and more importantly, when you can see them, in the two meadows along this section of road and also how to not get stuck behind them as you drive down the road. 

Plus one story about possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen in the park in 60 years. 

This podcast is an introduction to Explore Yellowstone Like a Local for all those out there who are deciding if they want to buy a Guidebook and start listening to the Podcasts. 

I first discuss how simple it is to use and understand the guidebook and how you don't have to read the entire guidebook, just the chapters that cover the certain things that you want to do on your Yellowstone vacation. We then cover how the Guidebook saves you TIME and MONEY and tell you some stories that past visitors sent us after they got home of how much Money and Time they saved by following my tips and suggestions. 

I then go over my families history in the area which dates back to at least 1919 when my Grandfather started bringing my dad and his two brothers to the area and whose love of Yellowstone was passed on from generation to generation. I follow that up with a lot of big additions and fun things the guidebook has in it besides getting you to the best of the best in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton including monthly drawings for prizes and gift certificates you can use on your Yellowstone vacation. 

I finally read you guys an excerpt from the guidebook which gives you a taste of how the guidebook is written when telling you about some of the wonderful areas that I have been visiting my whole life and which now the guidebook gets you to as well.  

This is one of my Story Podcasts for your listening pleasure as you drive through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. 

This story is about how I found a book in an old book store in West Yellowstone which opened my eyes up to all the back country trails in Yellowstone Park. On this hike, we have some really funny escapades as well as you're truly learning a really valuable life long lesson after I got my hat handed to me in a big way. 

This is the second in my Story Podcasts where I regale you guys with some of my adventures growing up in the Yellowstone Area and in particular, Henry's Lake which is just 15 short minutes from the entry to Yellowstone Park. 

In this podcast, I tell you three stories. The first is about how I caught the largest trout caught in North America when I was only 14, followed by a huge bet and how a man is only as good as his word. And we finish it off with the best magic show I have ever seen. 

As anyone who has listened to my Yellowstone & Grand Teton podcasts that you can listen to if you want more info than the is shown in the guidebook, knows that I tell a LOT of stories about the areas of the parks you are visiting. And I get a LOT of requests to hear even more stories so here goes. 

This is the first in what will be a series of my Story Podcasts where I will tell you some really fun, sometimes sad and some rather interesting stories about the areas in and around the parks for you to enjoy as you drive along. 

In this podcast, I tell the hilarious story of what was and is one of the most famous bears in the history of bear's-Snagglethooth! Who actually resides in the West Yellowstone Museum right now and how he tore my Aunt Rosalind's brand new Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser to shreds one night at the town dump. 

I then follow it up with another museum story but this time it's at the long gone museum that sat along the shores of Lake Henry's where I grew up as a kid and how I found an old picture that showed  how the Indian's that called Yellowstone home used the then swampy lake as sacred ground and how their burial plots were scattered on mounds in the lake by the hundreds. And how I almost found one as I was water skiing in the lake hundreds of years later. 

It's all fun listening and there will be other Story Podcasts to follow! 

This podcast covers what is probably the most intriguing., thought provoking and interesting legal paper ever written about Yellowstone Park which was penned by attorney Brian C. Kalt called The Perfect Crime. 

I recently interviewed Brian in a Zoom call you get to hear excerpts directly from the author himself in regards to just how it is theoretically possible to commit a litany of crimes, including murder, in a certain section of Yellowstone Park and get away with it-SCOTT FREE!
And we discuss the loopholes in our laws and Constitution that have created that loophole and what needs to happen to close it. 

I finish out the podcast with a complete reading of The Perfect Crime verbatim for you guys so you don't have to look it up yourselves and can listen to my reading while your driving down the road.  

It's a very thought provoking concept that actually exists in a remote portion of Yellowstone Park and  I think it is just a matter of tome before someone puts it to the test. 

Who’s getting credit for this internship? What’s the fastest brain surgery available to forget this episode? And who’s got the hot potato takes this week? We scout the answers to these questions and more as we watch Season 5, Episode 21 of Family Matters.

Alex Diamond, David Kenny, and John McDaniel heard that the long-running network sitcom Family Matters ends with side character Steve Urkel going to space. And the best way to figure out how that happened - obviously - is to watch the last episode first and make our way backwards through nearly ten years of television.

Join our countdown to number one (and our slow descent into madness) in all the places you expect internet people to be:

Website: jumpingtheshuttle.space
Email: jumpingtheshuttle@gmail.com
Instagram: @JumpingTheShuttle / @ThatAlexD / @dak577
Twitter: @JumpingShuttle / @ThatAlexD / @dak577
TikTok: @JumpingTheShuttle / @dak577

Brought to you by Smooth My Balls

Talking today about the Geyser area of Yellowstone - Midway and Upper/Lower Geyser Basins as well as Artist Paint Pots.  Also talk about dining in the Geyser area, and The Old Faithful Snow Lodge Cabins.  (And of course some notes from our car trip from Glacier to Yellowstone)

Obsidian Dining Room