Yellowstone National Park: Firehole Lake Drive, Midway Geyser Basin, & the Grand Prismatic Spring

An afternoon filled with steam rising up from the earth’s surface, hot springs, and gorgeous colors awaits you at the Firehole Lake Drive and the Midway Geyser Basin at Yellowstone National Park.

North of Old Faithful, on the Grand Loop Road is the Midway Geyser Basin and Firehole Lake Drive.

The Firehole Lake Drive is a short loop that takes you by several different features, including Firehole Spring, White Dome Geyser, and the Firehole Lake. Firehole Spring is really fun to sit and watch while bubbles form beneath the surface and eventually bubble up above the water level.

The Midway Geyser Basin is home to one of Yellowstone’s most iconic features: the Grand Prismatic Spring. You’ll park and then walk over the bridge that crosses the Firehole River. Water cascades down the banks from the hot springs above and into the water of the river.

Excelsior Geyser Crater is the first feature along the boardwalk into the area. The Excelsior Geyser Crater was once one of the greatest geysers of all time, shooting water up 300 feet in the air and over 300 feet across. But in the 1800’s something seemed to happen and it didn’t erupt anymore. Maybe some of its internal working were damaged during its violent eruptions. A few eruptions happened in the 1900’s but today, it discharges more than 4,000 gallons of hot water into the Firehole River everyday.

Looking at the Excelsior Geyser is totally enchanting. The waters are such a crystal clear blue, it seems like you could be in the Caribbean! The steam rises off the water and swirls, with a little sulfurous scent along with it.

Just past the Excelsior Geyser Crater is the Grand Prismatic Spring. The Grand Prismatic Spring is one of the most iconic sights at Yellowstone. The colors that circle the spring are so vivid! The colors that you see are actually caused by thermophiles. Thermophiles are microorganisms that grow at very high temperatures. The different colors that you see are different thermophiles that survive at different temperatures in the water. So as you see the colors change, you know the water temperature changed too!

As you walk along the boardwalk around the Grand Prismatic Spring, you’ll notice all of the different colors and hear the water from the spring flowing along the ground. You can see the ripples in the water, and smell that sulfurous egg smell that becomes so familiar in Yellowstone! We visited in July, so it was pretty hot outside, and being surrounded by the hot springs really amped up the temperature even more!

As we were walking along the spring, we looked out at the mountains beyond and we could see people on what looked like a platform that overlooked the spring, and thought, “Now that would be a view! We’ve got to figure out how to get up there!” So the next morning, we parked at the trail that leads to Fairy Falls. (More on Fairy Falls in another post! Also awesome!) Along the trail, they’ve built an overlook to the Midway Geyser Basin. There is a path that will lead up the hill, and some stairs, and you’ll get to a platform with a killer view!

The large spring with the vivid colors is the Grand Prismatic Spring from the overlook. Notice the different colors that trail away from the spring as the water gets further from the center. The Excelsior Spring is the one with all of the steam rising up from it. Above the left corner of the Grand Prismatic Spring is Turquoise Pool. You can see how the boardwalk winds its way through the springs.

The walk up to the overlook is a little over a half mile, and definitely worth it! If you’re on the way to Fairy Falls, stop at the overlook to catch this amazing view!!!

If you’d like to see more footage of the Firehole Lake Drive and the Midway Geyser Basin, check out our YouTube video here:

Thanks for stopping by our blog! Yellowstone National Park is such an amazing place to visit! Leave us a comment if you’ve visited before or if you would like to go someday!