25 July, 2021

Midway Geyser Basin - Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone Itinerary Day #2

 Read the Yellowstone itinerary of Day #1 here

On Day #2, we covered the most important and vibrant places in Yellowstone. 

We started after 11 am to avoid traffic as we are going to visit the popular sites that day. We directly reached to Mid-way geyser basin first. 


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Midway geyser basin:

Midway geyser basin is actually a part of the lower geyser basin, but due to its isolated location, and being between lower and upper geyser basins, it's called the midway geyser basin.

The parking area at the midway geyser basin is not very big and so we parked the car on the side of the road just near midway geyser basin. For me, this is one of the not-to-miss locations.

The midway geyser basin trail is a 0.8-mile Broadwalk that passes through multiple hot spring pools like Excelsior geyser, Grand prismatic Spring, and turquoise pool. 

First, we passed through a wooden bridge and we saw the hot water with steam rushing to the Firehole River. This was pretty amazing to watch. It was very windy on that day and the heat from the Excelsior geyser was pretty evident.


Boiling water gushing to Firehole river



Excelsior geyser was once the largest geyser in the world. After its eruption in 1880, it became a thermal spring now discharging 4050 gallons of boiling water per minute. The temperature of the water would be around 199 F. The bright blue color is amazing to watch.


Excelsior geyser


Bacteria Mat and colors!



Here comes the most colorful spring in Yellowstone - The Grand Prismatic Spring. The temperature of the water ranges from 147 to 188 F. This trail is one sure way to walk near the bright blue, green, red, and turquoise colors. But, the best way to watch the colors is through the Fairy falls trail from up!





The trail passes through 2 beautiful, yet small pools - Opal pool and turquoise pool. 

As I mentioned before, the best way to experience the vibrant colors of Grand Prismatic Spring is to watch it from the top. We had a quick picnic lunch and We drove to Fairy falls trail, which is the next stop.

Fairy Falls trail / Grand Prismatic overlook:

This trail gives access to 2 trails - Grand Prismatic overlook and Fairy falls.

An easy 1.2-mile hike takes us through Grand Prismatic spring overlook. Even though the trail is easy, it climbs around 105 ft in 0.6 miles which makes it a bit tough on a sunny day. This hike even on a sunny day is 100% worth of your time.

The Grand Prismatic shows up bright with its blue, red, orange hues letting off steam into the air. This is the largest spring in Yellowstone and the third-largest in the world. This is also one of the most photogenic places in Yellowstone. The various colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring are due to the presence of microbes and due to the sunlight being scattered by mineral particles in water. 


From Overlook






Fairy falls trail is 4.8 miles out and back trail. We couldn't do this trial as we were tired by that time. Fairy Falls is 200m high and one of the spectacular waterfalls of Yellowstone.

We visited the Upper geyser basin which is the home of Old Faithful and the Lower Geyser Basin on the same day evening. But, since this travelogue is becoming too lengthy, will cover them in my next blog post.

Until next time,




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