This is a view from the new Grand Prismatic Spring overlook that Yellowstone National Park opened just this year, 2017. A number of visitors had hiked off-trail to get this view overlooking the spring before the Park Service decided to make the overlook view official with this new spur trail off the Fairy Falls Trail.
This overlook allows visitors to get a much better view of the different colors of the Grand Prismatic, the world's third largest hot spring, than they can get from the boardwalk that runs along the far edge of the spring in the picture. The spring is 370 feet in diameter and 160 feet deep and discharges 560 gallons of 160 degree water every minute. The colors in the spring are from thermophilic (heat-loving) microbes that appear blue, green, yellow, and orange depending on the temperature of the water at that point.
The rising steam behind the Grand Prismatic is from the Excelsior Geyser Crater. This thermal area is known as the Midway Geyser Basin.
Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.
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