With so much beauty everywhere you look, it’s tough to pin down the absolute most beautiful spot in Wyoming. If pressed, however, most would have to agree that Yellowstone National Park has some of the most stunning scenery in the state. In fact, when it came right down to picking the most beautiful spot in each state, Grand Prismatic Spring took the honors, and we couldn’t agree more. Flashing brilliant jewel-toned colors, it’s a YNP natural attraction that has been causing wonder and amazement for centuries.
In general, Yellowstone National Park in the northwest corner of Wyoming is brimming with magnificent scenery, but among its treasures, it's harboring one of the most drop-dead gorgeous spots in the state.
A group of trappers crossing the basin in the 1930s made note of the vividly-colored "boiling lake," prompting geological surveyors to seek out the stunning spring.
The water temperature, as well as the amount of chlorophyll in ratio to carotenoids, affect the vibrancy of the colors. For example, the orange and red colors tend to be more vivid in the summer, with wintertime conditions bringing out the dark green colors.
What's more, the center of the spring is such a dramatic, deep blue because, at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the water is too hot for microorganisms to survive.
The center of Grand Prismatic Spring is extremely pure and quite deep, resulting in the sapphire color in the middle.
What might be most surprising is that Grand Prismatic Spring is the third largest hot spring in the world — and it is the largest in the entire country.
At 160 feet deep and 370 feet in diameter, this spectacular spring is larger than a football field and could easily hide a 10 story building in its depths.
The combination of the dramatic colors with the sheer vastness of the geothermal spring have worked together to create an attraction of exquisite natural beauty that has endured for centuries.
