Midway Geyser Basin

This geyser basin is located on a hill overlooking the Firehole River. Smaller in size than they other geyser basins in the area, the runoff from its thermal features flows into the river, leaving steaming, colorful trails in its wake. In particular, Excelsior Geyser reveals a gaping crater 200 x 300 feet with a constant discharge of more than 4,000 gallons of water per minute into the Firehole River; this geyser once erupted so violently that it may in fact have blown itself up, and no eruptions have since occurred. Also in this surprising basin is Yellowstone's largest hot spring, the beautifully-colored Grand Prismatic Spring. This feature is 370 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet in depth. There is a trail that goes around the back of the spring which has a small turn-off that lets intrepid climbers rise about 400 feet above the spring, and capture the entire basin in one view.