Day 12 - Yellowstone

2007.07.31

Thermal features at the Artists Paintpots

The Paint Pots bubbling

Blue pool in the Norris Geyser Basin

Looking out over the Porcelain Basin in the Norris Geyser Basin area of Yellowstone

colorful hot springs, mud pots and mineral baths at Porcelain Basin

more colors in the Porcelain Basin

walking through the Norris Geyser Basin

another view of the fumeroles (steam vents) in the Porcelain Basin

Echinus Geyser spurting but not fully erupting

The north entrance gate; exiting Yellowstone

we need to do some grocery shopping in Gardiner Montana

Back in the park, we stop to swim at Boiling River, a place where waters from a hot spring flow into the Gardner River, making a natural hot tub.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Canary Springs (because it's yellow) in the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

Minerva Terrace in Mammoth Hot Springs

Elk grazing on the square in the middle of the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

Now we know why there is fencing around the bushes.

Who are you looking at?

Hoodoos in northern Yellowstone

our campsite at Madison Campground.

Today we went to see a lot of the thermal features in Yellowstone. We began at the Artist Paint Pots, bubbling mud pots which are basically hot springs that have dissolved the rock to make mud in different colors. Next was the Norris Geyser Basin, hiking around the Porcelain Basin (because the ground is white from the minerals) and Back Basin. The landscape looks prehistoric, with steam vents hissing, the sulpher smells, pools of water bubbling. You really feel as if you are in the crater of a volcano (which you are) with only 5 miles of the earth's crust between you and volcanic magma. We went out the north entrance to shop and back in to swim at the Boiling River, then to see the Mammoth Hot Springs area. One amazing thing to see after another.