A morning, or afternoon, can be taken up hiking down to Lone Star Geyser from Old Faithful Inn/Kurt Repanshek

There are two ways to get to Lone Star Geyser from Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park: Drive down to the parking area for Kepler Cascades and walk 2.4 miles down the paved trail, or take your time and enjoy the scenery while hiking down the Howard Eaton Trail from the inn.

I've hiked both through the years, and have to say that if you can spare the time, take the Howard Eaton route, which turns into a roughly 6-mile round trip. The path from Kepler Cascades is more expedient, and the streaming Firehole River that parallels your walk is nice. But why walk on asphalt with cyclists when you could venture down a venerable trail that traces its 1923 beginnings to a dude rancher and guide?

Once upon a time, the Howard Eaton Trail ranged roughly 150 miles through Yellowstone, generally following the Grand Loop figure eight. Back in 1949, Jack Haynes, one of Yellowstone's foremost photographers in the early 20th century, described this long trail as "one of the most scenic trails in America for horseback riders, covering a roundtrip distance of about 150 miles."

Park historians say much of the trail was abandoned in the 1970s, largely because hikers didn't like to be trekking so close to roads.

One of the remaining sections that we took rambles from Old Faithful to Lone Star, where it ties into the Shoshone Lake Trail. Whether you make this route a morning or afternoon hike might depend on when Lone Star is scheduled to erupt. It typically goes off every three hours, a pattern it's thought to have maintained since 1872 at least, and the folks at the information desk in the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center try to keep track of its eruptions. A check there will let you know when its next eruption is expected. As the average hiker covers about two miles per hour, figure it'll take about two-and-a-half hours to reach the geyser.

The forest around the Howard Eaton Trail burned during the 1988 wildfires, but is coming back strong/Kurt Repanshek

My wife and I hit the trail a day after hiking through the snow down the DeLacy Creek Trail to Shoshone Lake. After a good breakfast at the Old Faithful Inn, we headed out under sunny skies and mild temperatures. I had previously hiked this trail shortly before, and soon after, the historic wildfires of 1988. This time the surrounding forest was beginning to look much as it did before the fires, having come strongly back. 

The trail, reached by crossing the road by the backcountry ranger's office west of the inn, is showing signs of erosion, but is generally still in good shape. It slowly meanders through the lodgepole forest with only minor climbs and descents. As you start to approach the geyser, a meadow appears on your right. Every time I've passed this way I've searched that meadow for elk, moose, or even bears, and each time I've been disappointed. One day...

Just beyond the meadow you'll come to a junction, with the right arm heading towards one of three backcountry campsites in the area, and the left going to Lone Star. 

A junction gives you the choice of visiting the Lone Star Geyser, or continuing on to Shoshone Lake or the Bechler River Trail/Kurt Repanshek

The campsites offer a good place to end your first day on the trail if you get a late start towards Shoshone Lake or the Bechler River Trail, which runs down into Yellowstone's Cascade Corner. The one time a buddy and I camped there we were joined for the night by a massive bull bison, which bedded down at the end of the flickering light from our campfire. 

Sadly, someone who had reserved that campsite for the night before my wife and I hiked down to Lone Star and that night decided to instead pitch their tent illegally on the apron of a hot spring near the Firehole River. Their tent was 10-15 feet from the simmering hot water. We also came upon an illegal campfire site nearby. While we reported the matter to rangers at Old Faithful, we never did learn if the individual was cited.

Illegal camps are never good, as they not only can impact fragile resources, but they might encourage others to camp illegally, too.

As we approached Lone Star, we learned that we had just missed its show. Still, it's fuming aftermath was gorgeous against the blue morning sky.

The owner of this tent pitched it illegally near a hot spring along the Firehole River not far from Lone Star Geyser/Marcelle Shoop