Ground Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park (click to enlarge)
Here is a boardwalk level view of Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park. Colorful, but not overly impressive. The impressive image would be taken from that ridgeline in the background.
To get to that location, one would park at the Fairy Falls trailhead and hike to the desired location. Unfortunately for us, the Fairy Falls trail was closed for maintenance for the duration of our stay. From what we could see, it looked like the park is building a new observation platform on the ridge overlooking Grand Prismatic Spring.
Oh well, getting an image from that platform is a good excuse to return to Yellowstone.
Grand Prismatic Spring N44 31 31.94 W110 50 15.51
Excelsior Geyser Crater, Yellowstone National Park (click to enlarge)
Here is the runoff area from Excelsior Geyser Crater at Yellowstone National Park. The crater is located next to the Grand Prismatic Spring so you get two photographic opportunities from one parking lot. There is a lot of color and detail in this crater and not much steam to worry about.
There is water in the crater that runs out the green arm in the lower left of the image. This green arm is quite prominent when viewed on Google Earth.
One minor irritation is the bounce in the boardwalk. If you use a tripod you will have to capture images between people walking past your location.
Like most Yellowstone parking lots in August, this one fills up by early morning. Throughout the day cars end up parking further and further away along Grand Loop Road away from the entrance to the parking lot. The cars are also visible on Google Earth.
We were very fortunate to make one lap in the parking lot and then snagging a spot closet to the springs. Rockstar!
Excelsior Geyser Crater N44 31 37.64 W110 50 11.73
Yellowstone River Rapids (click to enlarge)
This image comes from the lower falls of the Yellowstone River. The Brink of the Lower Falls trail takes you from parking along North Rim Drive to the top of the falls. While the trail is pretty steep, views from the observation platform and noise from the water are well worth the effort.
Before arriving at the observation platform, the trail parallels to the Yellowstone River. There are several rapids along this stretch of the river that make for images with an abstract or watercolor effect. This image was taken with a shutter speed of 0.4 seconds, so use a tripod to eliminate photographer induced blur.
Yellowstone River Lower Falls Observation Area: N44 43 05.53 W110 29 46.81
