Grand Prismatic Spring

The weather here has been very changeable. Clear and sunny alternating with dark, cold and rainy. We had plans to go to nearby Harriman State park for a hike on Saturday, but changed our minds due to a morning temperature of 43° with a 50% chance of rain. 

Instead, Craig finished a small repair project on the back grill cover of the Alfa.

At about two in the afternoon it still hadn't rained and the sky seemed less threatening. We decided to take a ride over to Yellowstone and go see one of our bucket list features, the Grand Prismatic Spring, located in the Midway Basin.

The Midway Basin is quite large and one of the fascinating features are fast running cascades of hot water pouring down into the Madison River. 

As we walked along the boardwalk on our way to the spring, we passed a large geyser crater that was filled with bubbling blue water. This geyser was known to have erupted in the 1888 and again in 1985. It is now considered a hot spring.

As we approached the Grand Prismatic Spring we expected to see a very colorful large pool. We had seen images of it in the Visitors Center and in several books and pamphlets about Yellowstone. There was a ranger on the boardwalk when we were there. He told me that the famous picture everyone sees of the spring was taken from a helicopter.  

This is what we saw: 

There was so much steam coming off the spring, and blowing towards us,  that we could barely see the water. 

We did see some large areas of very colorful algae mat. 

And interesting textures below the shallow run off.

The picture below was one of many on the Web. We are not sure where it was taken from. We may try hiking the Fairy Falls Trail if we get a clear warm day with minimal wind in the next two weeks. 

Photo from Web, Photo by Dave Russell

We will be checking the weather forecasts, and if right we will be looking for this view. Wish us luck!