Old Faithful still faithful despite webcam

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Anyone looking recently at the Internet webcam showing Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park might think the geyser had lost its world-renowned reliability.

But Old Faithful's faithful worldwide can rest assured that the geyser is working -- spouting off as usual about every 60-90 minutes.

It's the webcam that's not working.

The webcam shut down in May because the Old Faithful visitors center, where the camera was stationed, is being torn down and replaced.

Since then, the park has received phone calls from as far away as Germany from people who noticed an image dated Aug. 6, 2005, on the webcam, wondering when the site would be operational again.

"We get inquiries from all around the world about the Old Faithful webcam," said Al Nash, a National Park Service spokesman in Yellowstone.

The Park Service is working to restore the webcam, Nash said.

Visitors to the "New Old Faithful WebCam" page on the Internet will find an old image with a statement explaining that the webcam is temporarily out of service.