Midway Geyser Basin

When you exit your car and start up the boardwalk you immediately sense the enormous amount of water flowing from hot springs in this area into Filehole River from Excelsior Geyser.

Yes, Excelsior Geyser looks more like a huge hot spring but it has occassionally erupted. The rich blue color is amazing. The steam cloud rising from this pool makes it very difficult to photograph.

Algaes abound in this boiling environment covering a spectrum of colors. It's amazing to see grass growing this close and in such barren soil.

The real star at Midway Basin is so large that a camera cannot capture its image without climbing to a nearby hillside -- this is Grand Prismatic. It is well over 300 feet wide. From the side trails or baordwalk you can see what appears to be blue steam rising from the water.

You can hike to Fairy Falls near here. We took the 5-6 mile round trip with a few Y-Net forum friends from literally all around the world.

There's some pretty good bird watching to be found, too. Here is a mountain bluebird.