Yellowstone Scenery

Geothermal Features

	Rainbow Pool The colors in Rainbow Pool come from the different types of bacteria that live in the varying temperartures of the pool. This picture is from the summer of 2004, I had hoped to revisit this area in 2007 but the road was closed due to ice.
	The Dead Marshes “Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch.” - Gollum in Tolkien’s The Two Towers Walk the boardwalks that wind through the Norris Geyser Basin and you’ll see, hear, and smell a variety of thermal features. The water in this little pool was actually cool enough for patches of grass to grow, and I was struck by the reflections of the grass in the milky water.
	Mud Pot Pie I don’t need to check my web stats to see that this will be one of my least downloaded photos ever. Mudpots lack the beauty of Yellowstone’s thermal pools with their colorful bacteria, offering up instead a bubbling pot of gray mud. Even so, it’s kind of fascinating to walk along the ground and suddenly come across a patch that’s bubbling at your feet. To get the full effect, grab some rotten eggs and hold them under your nose. This was one of those rare times that I’m thankful I have such a terrible sense of smell.
	Hole In The Earth The Artist Paint Pots provides a short walk on a boardwalk that takes you past a variety of thermal features, including this small thermal pool. It’s a tiny little pool and always reminds me of a hole in the earth, like when you make a hole in the crust of a pot pie and see the steaming contents just below the surface.
	Canyons in Miniature I can’t remember exactly where I saw this mineral formation, it was probably either Mammoth Hot Springs or the Norris Geyser Basin, but it reminded me of the great canyons of the American west condensed down into a feature a few feet across.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Colors and Textures

The hot springs at Mammoth have created some wonderful mineral deposits, with each little area having its own unique character. These pictures are from a small, short slope near the Beaver Pond Nature Trail, with a thin sheet of hot water flowing over the surface of the rock. I was fascinated by both the color and texture of the rock and its interaction with the water.

Colorful formation in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

	Neapolitan This mineral formation reminded me of the Neapolitan ice cream we would sometimes get growing up. I’m not sure if they still sell it anymore, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just nod and play along. The package contained three flavors of ice cream stacked side-by-side: chocolate, vanilla, an strawberry. For some reason, the chocolate section always disappeared first, followed by the strawberry, and at long last someone would eventually polish off the vanilla.
	Hot Fudge Sundae Covered in gooey marshmallow, chocolate, and hot caramel, you could get pretty hungry visiting Mammoth Hot Springs if not for the noxious rotten eggs smell.
	Dusted Snow flurries were flying when I hiked the Beaver Ponds Nature Trail. I hadn’t see any animals on the hike, so when I came across this lovely little red plant dusted with snow, I put on some extension tubes, hooked up the remote cable, and took some pictures until I got cold and needed to get moving again.
	Six Points I didn’t see much wildlife on this hike along the Beaver Ponds Nature Trail on a cold and windy fall day, but I did come across this elk antler that had been propped up against a tree. I’ve often imagined at the end of the rut that it looks like the exhausted bulls can barely keep their heads up, as if their antlers were weighing them down. After lifting up the antler and finding it much heavier than I expected (they aren’t hollow like bones), it may not be my imagination after all.

Little Landscapes

Another of my attempts to show the colors and textures of Yellowstone, especially in the thermal areas. I forgot to write down the name of the place (why do I think that I will remember? I never do) but it’s one of the many neat little sights in Mammoth Hot Springs. The water was flowing down over some rocks right underneath the boardwalk, and I think these are bacteria mats covering the surface of the rocks. No plant life appeared to be able to tolerate the high temperatures of the water.

Bacterial mats in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

Liberty Cap

Liberty Cap sits next to the road in Mammoth and is surrounded by a network of boardwalks that lead up into and around the hot springs. I positioned the camera so that you can’t actually see the boardwalks or railings, in person isn’t quite so natural. I was sitting down next to the parking lot when I took the picture.

Yellow stream in Mammoth Hot Springs In Yellowstone National Park

A Yellow River Runs Through It

Taken around sunrise on a cool and cloudy day in Mammoth Hot Springs on my last day in Yellowstone. I had arrived early hoping to see elk in the thermal areas, but they had chosen the grassy lawns of Mammoth instead.

I walked the boardwalks for a while before heading to West Yellowstone to get a tire puncture repaired. I’ve been to the area several times before but somehow had not paid much attention to this little yellow stream (I assume that the yellow coloration is due to sulfur).

Cactus near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

I was completely caught off guard by the sight of this small cactus near the river where you can get into the water and enjoy the naturally heated water. Much of the nearby park is lush, but this little area was quite dry and rocky.

Wildflowers near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

Given how arid the rest of the area was, I was surprised to come across this clump of flowers. They were growing in a damp area near where the hot water comes up from the ground and spills into the river below.

Mount Washburn

Winter in Miniature

On the last day of my trip to Yellowstone in the fall of 2006, it snowed pretty heavily on Mount Washburn. This picture was taken on the southern side, I liked the way the trees seem almost like a set of miniatures like you’d see in a toy train set, even though in reality they are quite tall.

Self-portrait on top of Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park

Wind Chill

A view from the top of Mount Washburn in late September. A slight change in weather conditions from when I had hiked to the top in July the previous year, from hot and mercilessly sunny to cool and mercilessly windy. The picnic tables had long since been packed up, I suppose to make it easier to clear out the snow drifts which would be arriving soon. I set the camera by the building and was going to take a close-up self-portrait as well, but with the wind I decided one was enough. A least you can get a feel for the kind of view you have from the top.

Rescue Creek Trail

Dry Landscape

Parts of the northwestern park can be pretty arid compared to the rest of the park. I started down the Rescue Creek Trail and came across this unexpectedly beautiful scene.

Storm Point Nature Trail

Truth in Naming

Storm Point was true to its name the first evening I visited. A brief but violent thunderstorm rolled through, followed by the most amazing rainbow I’ve ever seen: a full double rainbow, vivid and intense. Just a part of it is visible here as it arches over Indian Pond, which sits at the trailhead of the Storm Point Trail.

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