Yellowstone’s Geyser Country Day 2 – Grand Prismatic Spring

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Traffic jam Yellowstone style
Traffic jam Yellowstone style

On the last day of our week in Yellowstone, we headed back to Geyser Country. The two guys above (there’s a second bison just going out of sight behind the trees) held us up for a short while. Most people were back in their cars by the time John risked this snap – some of them had been standing way too close.

The best thing we saw in our whole week in Yellowstone came right at the end of the day, but there was plenty to do before that. Just south of Madison we turned off onto Firehole Canyon Drive, a short detour leading to some pretty falls.

Firehole Falls
Firehole Canyon
Firehole River

A few miles further on we reached Lower Geyser Basin. On one side of the road is Firehole Lake Drive. The main attraction here is Great Fountain Geyser (second picture below) but it wasn’t due to erupt till the afternoon and we didn’t have time to hang about. Plenty other things to appreciate, though.

Firehole Spring
Great Fountain Geyser
White Dome Geyser
Firehole Lake
Firehole Lake
Firehole Lake

Across the road is the Fountain Paint Pot trail. The Pot is full of thick, bubbling mud.

Fountain Paint Pot
Fountain Paint Pot

Red Spouter, below, has existed since an earthquake in 1959 which altered much of this landscape. It’s unusual in that it behaves like all four thermal features at different times of year. In spring and early summer it’s a muddy hot spring that might seem like a geyser at times as it splashes water several feet high. By summer and autumn, as the water table lowers, it becomes first a mudpot then a fumarole venting steam, as here.

Red Spouter
Red Spouter

Below Red Spouter is an area with several geysers. This is Fountain Geyser.

Fountain Geyser
Fountain Geyser

The colours in the basin are beautiful. We’d seen many trees such as the ones below on our travels, but learnt something new about them from the trail guide here. They are lodgepole pine trees which drowned in the super-hot water of shifting thermal activity. Silica penetrated and hardened the bases of the trunks leaving a white appearance, so they are nicknamed “Bobby Socks” trees.

Lower Geyser basin colours
“Bobby Socks” trees

Finally, we arrived at Midway Geyser Basin.

Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin

There are two major features here. Excelsior Geyser Crater was formed when a huge geyser blew itself out of existence in the 1880s. The last eruption was a hundred years later in 1985, but it still discharges 4000 gallons of hot water per minute into the Firehole River. It may not look as spectacular, but it expels more in a day than Old Faithful does in two months.

Excelsior Geyser Crater
Excelsior Geyser Crater

And now for the pièce de résistance – Grand Prismatic Spring. At 370ft wide and 121ft deep, it’s Yellowstone’s largest, deepest hot spring and probably its most beautiful. I’ve never seen anything to rival it anyway. The water at 70C / 160F ensures it is usually cloaked in steam and the brilliant colours around it are caused by the microorganisms which live there.

Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring

Could we top that? Not really. We made a quick stop at Gibbon Falls which we’d passed several times already without viewing, then it was back to Canyon Lodge for our last night.

Gibbon Falls
Gibbon Falls

We left Yellowstone the next morning with over a week of vacation still left. However, this seems like a good time to take a break and blog about something else for a while. I’ll come back to our US road trip after the New Year.

USA, Wyoming , , ,

63 Comments »

  3. Loved seeing all these photos! We didn’t catch Great Fountain Geyser erupting either, with limited time we could afford waiting for hours. And Grand Prismatic – just amazing what colour heat loving bacteria can create, right?

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  7. Up close viewing of bison (casually ambling alongside the bus) and Grand Prismatic Spring!! I have now added this trip to the top of my bucket list!

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  10. Hi Anabel – I hadn’t realised there were so many geysers and falls – but then I’d never really looked … just knew of Yellowstone and Old Faithful and yes a few others. Wonderful photos … life is amazing how it can adjust … cheers Hilary

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  12. Amazing photos and amazing place. I’ve read the parks in America have an increasing problem with tourists getting ever closer to large predators for that all important selfie without much concern for their own safety.

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  13. I love that picture of the Yellowstone traffic jam! Bison are so fascinating. We’ve been places where they’ve decided to hang out in the middle of the road and we’ve had to wait until they decided to move off along their way.

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  14. What a magnificent park! I am amazed how unthinking some people can be around wildlife. I guess their only prior experience has been in a zoo so they think it’s OK to get close to (or, worse, encourage their children to get close to) a wild animal. I guess anything for a selfie!

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    • Aargh, combination of autocorrect and accidentally hitting send – have deleted last comment so if you get a partial notification that’s why. There was a video going round before we left of a woman taking a selfie with an elk behind her. It butted her in the – well, guess – and she went flying! So stupid.

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  15. A perfect place to stop for a while. I don’t think I’ll ever get to Yellowstone now, so I am enjoying sitting on your shoulder – hope I’m not too heavy!!

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  18. The colors are incredible. Such a joy for the eyes. I can see why the last spring is your favorite. After witnessing the mind blowing sites of Yellowstone, what do you think when you look at an ordinary sight like a medium waterfall? Do you move on quicker or do you still appreciate it? I am curious, Anabel: how many photos did you take during that week at Yellowstone? 🙂

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    • I think I can still appreciate more “ordinary” beauties. Yellowstone is so different from anywhere else that you can’t compare it in any meaningful sense so it doesn’t detract from them. How many photos? Hard to say – hundreds, but they’ve been whittled down several times already and I’ll delete more now I’ve posted (though John will probably still have them stored somewhere).

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  21. Wow! I love all these photos, Anabel. The ones of Grand Prismatic Spring could be National Geographic photos! The Midway Geyser Basin and Firehole Springs are also stunning. What an amazing place. When I was in Yellowstone, I was 23 years old and not a blogger or photographer. I definitely want to go back after following your fabulous trip!! 🙂

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  24. Wow yes Grand Prismatic Spring is certainly a sight to behold! The bison photos was pretty impressive too – glad it didn’t charge at the photographer! More wonderful photos of your trip – look forward to reading more in the New Year! Have a wonderful festive season! 🙂

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