It’s hard to pick favorites from our week at Yellowstone National Park, but we saw so many cool things hiking at Yellowstone Grand Prismatic Hot Spring, those trails top our list. It was our first time seeing hot springs, geysers, and mudpots close up, so that could be why it made such a huge impression.
</Yellowstone Grand Prismatic Hot Spring
You don’t have to hike to see the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. There’s even an accessible boardwalk that gets you pretty close up. Our guide had to park our bus pretty far off in the over-sized vehicle parking area, but that just meant we got to walk by another hot spring on our way to the main attraction.
As with other thermal features, the different colors (red, orange, yellow, green) are due to different bacteria.
Can you see the boardwalk off to the left?
Because the bacteria thrive at different temperatures, they form rings and trails that correspond to the temperature gradient from the hottest center of the hot spring outwards.
Fairy Falls
The trail to Fairy Falls is mostly through the woods. Our guide took the opportunity to teach us how to tell pine trees from other evergreens (their needles grow together in a package) and explained that wildfires in Yellowstone tend to burn low and burn out quickly, leaving many trees standing–but not these.
Since Fairy Falls is only a few miles from Grand Prismatic, this trail was pretty popular. Who doesn’t want to see a cool waterfall after marveling at steamy hot springs?
Some people even dipped their toes in the cool water flowing down from the falls.
I really didn’t want to fall off the log I was standing on!
Imperial Geyser
We trekked on towards Imperial Geyser, following the hot stream that flowed from it. This is not Imperial Geyser in the background, but one of many small geysers in the area.
“Your fingers are not thermometers!”
When we came out of the woods and got a full view of Imperial Geyser, we were truly amazed.
The geyser was going off continuously, except for a few moments when it wasn’t, which made us wonder when/if it would start spouting again.
After watching a few hikers trek up the hill behind Imperial Geyser, a few of us thought the view would be worth the challenge, and we were right.
View from the top of all the colors.
We saw all of this on an 6 mile hike starting from the Yellowstone Grand Prismatic overlook. Our total hike was about 8 miles, including our trek up the hill and a detour to see a backwoods campsite and learn how to properly store food hoisted up on the bear poles.
Weekly Wrap
I am linking up with Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap, so here’s a quick recap of my first week back from vacation. I hard a hard time getting up at 4:40 early in the week, but by Wednesday was able to drag myself out of bed in time for the 5:30 am Cyclebar class.
Monday: 2 mile walk with Scooby
Tuesday: Strength Training
Wednesday: Cyclebar
Thursday: 3.3 Scooby miles
Friday: CPY 2
Saturday: 40 mile bike ride, including the 22 mile Conte’s hill ride
Sunday: 3.3 Scooby miles before church
How long does it usually take you to recover from a vacation?
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Those colors are amazing! Seems like the hikes were well worth it for the photos.
Vacation recovery depends on the time zones for me. I used to do shift work and came from Japan for a long weekend with no issue-recently California zonked me but ICeland was OK. Gremlins!
Wow, can’t believe you didn’t have jet lag coming back from Japan. I do think travelling west is easier, so going to California is OK, but coming back is rough if you stay a while.
Wow that is just stunning! What a cool trip. I don’t typically struggle with getting back in the swing of things but the flight home from Greece last summer threw me off a bit.
Sometimes the travel impact seems random — probably depends on other factors like stress too.
I was out there as a child and would love to have the chance to go back someday!
I think I appreciated it so much more now than I would have as a kid, although it’s great to take your kids there too.
What a cool thing to visit! I’ve never been there, or think I ever will be, but very cool to see these up close & in person photos from you!
It was an amazing trip. Makes me want to learn more about geology.
We were in Yellowstone just 2 weeks ago !!! We did not do the Fairy Falls hike since we went to the Grand Prismatic at peak sun heat to see the best colors and it was really hot that day. Now I wish I had!!
I can’t wait to hear about your trip! There is so much to see there.
Those pictures are amazing! I’m having a little trouble with my reentry into real life–but fortunately I only work a half day today. I’m exhausted!
You spent a lot of time on the water which is always exhausting!
What an amazing adventure! I love all of the photos and the videos as well. I’ve never been to Yellowstone but I think that I’ll now put it on my bucket list.
I feel like I’ve bullied you into it with all my posts, but really, it is that amazing. 🙂
This post brings back memories from 2002. I need to return. I didn’t even have a digital camera back then or a smart phone lol
You definitely need a do-over you can document. 😉
I agree
Oh gorgeous! I’ve never been to Yellowstone – what a fun trip!
I had no idea how amazing it was going to be. That’s what I get for not doing any “homework”.
Ooh I need to add this to my travel bucket list, how beautiful! The hike looks like it was a blast. Great job with your workouts too! It’s hard to jump back in after being on vacation.
It was harder to get back to my routine than usual.
Wow! What a fantastic trip! I would love to go there someday. The hot spring looked so gorgeous and the geyser too!
It’s hard to explain how surprising a geyser is — and then there are so many of them!
Wow, what a beautiful hike! That’s impressive that it included all that cool scenery in the one hike.
It’s truly astounding — I guess it makes sense that thermal features would be clustered together, but then add in the cool waterfall!
These pictures are so beautiful! I can’t imagine how beautiful it must be in real life!
Hopefully you can see it for yourself one day.
Those views!!!! That would be tough to leave behind and head home 😉
It was hard to leave, but a week without Starbucks and wi-fi is probably my limit. 😉
It’s been great seeing all of your pictures! I would love to get out there some day.
There are so many great places to visit, it’s hard to decide where to go.
Very cool! I saw the Geysir in Iceland and loved it… will definitely have to check out this one closer to home!
There’s a lot of cool stuff to see there.
Absolutely stunning! I would love to take a trip to visit all these places, but there just aren’t enough days in the year! I’m so glad you got to experience it.
Vacation recovery varies. I usually bounce back pretty quickly, unless jet lag is a factor.
I’m not sure I can lame jet lag when I was going to be so early after our hikes – 9 pm! I think i was just trying to extend my vacation. 😉
That looks like a gorgeous hike!! I really need to make my way over there sometime! Those colors are so pretty!
wow, that all looks amazing! And that waterfall!!!
Sounds like an amazing experience. Definitely to be remembered for a lifetime. Thanks for sharing your experience
What beautiful scenery you got to see while at Yellowstone. A visit there is on my bucket list. Hopefully we can make a trip there happen sooner than later.
I don’t think I even knew that was up there in Yellowstone! So beautiful!
Depending on how long/busy the vacation was, I generally need a day or two to recover. Although, I do try to force myself to get back to routine as quickly as possible.
wow!!! that view of the imperial geyser!!! i’d have taken on the challenge too!
I’d say you had a pretty quick recovery. Sometimes it takes me a few days, sometimes even a week. i guess it just depends on where I’ve been and how long I’ve been away. getting back on schedule as soon as possible is the goal though.
The pictures are beautiful. It’s amazing how many colors there are in the Imperial Geyser. The hike up the hill for that view was well worth it. Good to know that tidbit about the pine trees! Thanks for linking.
What stunning pics! I def need to get to Yellowstone one of these summers! I never knew the different colors were from bacteria!
Whew, I feel ya on waking up at 4:40! That has been me this week back at the grind after some time off due to injury!
Hope you have a great week!
I’ve been to Yellowstone once in the winter, never in the summer. Seems like a totally different experience. Great photos!
I’m sure it would be! Our guide tried to convince us to come back in winter but she also told us it gets WAY below zero.
I’m so envious …Fairy Falls hike was closed when we visited. T’hose ‘birds eye views’ are amazing!
It was so pretty! But I’m sure you saw other lovely sights there.