Midway Geyser Basin

“Yellowstone, a place so special and awe-inspiring that after exploring it in 1871, the Hayden Expedition conceived of the original concept of the world’s first national park—and set-aside of 2. 2 million acres containing more than ten thousand thermal features, canyons, waterfalls, and wildlife—so no man or corporation could ever own it.”
― C.J. Box, Free Fire

This summer I had the opportunity to experience Yellowstone for the second time with some very dear friends and fellow photographers.  I will break up my experience in Yellowstone into several posts.  For this first post, I would like to begin the journey at

Midway Geyser Basin.  I start the journey here as it very well may be my favorite stop of the trip.  You can read more about Midway Geyser Basin here.  To see a short video about Midway Geyser Basin, click here.

We started out just before sunrise at Midway Geyser Basin.  The combination of the cold air and the steam coming off of the geysers created some interesting viewing conditions when we first arrived.

Excelsior is the first geyser you encounter at Midway Geyser Basin.

My favorite of all geysers at Yellowstone is Grand Prismatic.  From the Midway Geyser Basin, you get a side view of this geyser.  It is so large in size, you need to get above it to get the best view.

During this trip, I desperately wanted to hike to the point where you can see Grand Prismatic from above.  We found out that the Fairy Falls Trail was the one to take in order to get the view from above.  The hike was very manageable and well worth the effort.

After the steam dissipated a bit, we were in for this spectacular sight from above.

Using my 80-400 mm lens, I wanted to take a closer look at Grand Prismatic.

Getting in even closer, allowed me to make an abstract of the colors and textures of Grand Prismatic.

If you go to Yellowstone, I highly recommend that you take the hike above Midway Geyser Basin so you can see the wonders of Grand Prismatic from above.