The Crown Jewel

After the murky, underworld of the mud pots, we set off toward the Midway Geyser Basin in search of one of the most emblematic and photogenic natural phenomena in the park. In the many plastic pockets of postcards in the park's various visitor's centers, there was a singular image that had kept leaping to the forefront of my attention. Always an aerial shot, it depicted a vibrant wound on the landscape, concentric rings of color starting at a deep azure in the center and slowly working its way through a curry yellow until the edges throbbed with a frost made of rust. This was the Grand Prismatic Spring, the only missing piece to our puzzle aside from Old Faithful, so off we went in search of the penultimate treasure to our collection.

We stood at the trailhead looking at a map of the very small loop snaking its way through the Midway Geyser Basin and plotted out a course that lead us past multiple steaming sapphire pools and culminated in our crown jewel at the peak of the hill, the Grand Prismatic Spring.

We slowly rounded the path past a glimmering assortment of mineral pools, subtly preparing our collection of photographic equiptment. As we crested the final hill, the steam hovering above the spring hung like a spectral mirage on the horizon. Inching closer, colors began to blossom from the ground into view, like a giant palette of oil paints slowly tipping toward us. In full view the spring was astonishing, a plateau of pigment spilling from an indigo epicenter to a sea of copper crevices dotted with elk footprints. I can only imagine the experience of the photographers lucky enough to gain an aerial vantage point, but I can't help thinking that this is how it was meant to be seen, with the full splendor of each hue successively slipping into view, standing on the shoulder of the giant before it.














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