WyoJones' Yellowstone Geyser Pages

MIDWAY GEYSER BASIN

Selected Geyser Descriptions

(photo by F.J. Haines 1885)

Excelsior Geyser

Flood Group

Opal Pool

Till Geyser

-- the photos on this page are copyrighted by Gregory (Wyo) Jones and can be copied or reproduced only with permission .

Midway Geyser Basin is a small thermal area just south through a stand of lodgepole pines from the Lower Geyser Basin and is actually topographically part of the Lower Geyser Basin. However, it has historically been considered as a separate basin so we will continue that tradition. This basin in the early days of the park was first called Halfway Group and then Egeria Springs as well as Middle Basin, Excelsior Geyser Basin, Devil's Half Acre, Hot Spring Lakes ,and Hells Half Acre before the name Midway, preferred by first park superintendent P.W. Norris, stuck. Midway is best know for its colorful Hot Springs. One of these springs, Grand Prismatic Spring , is reportedly the largest single hot springs in the world (a title disputed by the Folks in Thermopolis Wyoming),and is over 370 feet wide.The other hot springs are also impressive. Most of the geysers are small and concentrated along the river south boardwalk in the area shown in the middle section of the photo above. The most famous geyser in the basin is Excelsior Geyser and it lies along the main boardwalk in the center of the basin..