Yellowstone National Park--Mammoth Hot Springs
11 June, 2013
We had hoped to get all the way up to Mammoth Hot Springs on Monday, but, as usual, didn't have enough time. It made geographic sense to see Mammoth on the way out of the park, since it was near the exit we were planning to take.
Iconic Palette Spring.
Roadside Geology of Wyoming tell us that the water at Mammoth Hot Springs is not hot enough to form geysers. Instead, the area is "an excellent example of travertine terrace development." The book describes a complex chemical process whereby lime pours out over the limestone to create these lovely formations. "Geologists estimate that the waters of Mammoth Hot Springs carry more than 2 tons of dissolved lime to the surface each day, at a flow rate of 500 gallons per minute! In effect, Mammoth Hot Springs is a giant cement factory--about 8 inches of rock are deposited each year!" But it's not only geologically fascinating, it's beautiful, too.
Cute little Mammoth Village, nestled into the mountains. It looks like something out of
The Sound of Music.
Liberty Cap, another iconic feature of the Mammoth area.
Roadside Geology of Wyoming tells us that Liberty Cap was an active until it just got too tall for the water to spring up. Photo by Eric.
A pretty, colorful pool on the terrace overlooking Mammoth Village.
A ridge rising up on the other side of the road.
Beautiful Minerva Terrace.
This was such a fascinating and detailed feature that we took many pictures. This one is Eric's.
Also Eric's.
Different colors of rock are apparent here.
Detail from near the top.
Eric took a picture of some of the terraces.
He also took a detailed picture of the same feature.
Drainage from Minerva Terrace flowing towards the ridge.
A killdeer foraging in the drainage.
Palette Spring is one of the best-known features in Mammoth. You've probably seen pictures of it. Since the geology here is changing very rapidly, even on the human rather than the geologic time scale, Palette Spring looks different from year to year.
Terraces along Palette Spring.
Closing in on more detail.
Closing further in.
Eric's detail photograph.
More detail by Eric.
More detail.
Actual spring running down the terraces.
Detail of the spring by Eric.
More feature details by Eric.
Terrace detail. Photo by Eric.
I took Eric's picture at Palette Spring.
And he took mine.
Trail Spring.
Canary Spring, where we met some people from Oakland and San Francisco.
High up on Canary Spring.
Detail of Canary Spring.
More of Canary Spring.
A volcanic plain on top of the ridge.
Eric took my picture at a feature called Orange Spring Mound, where we were finding an earth cache. I include this geocaching-style picture with the GPS in my hand just because I look extraordinarily happy even though a thunderstorm is starting. It did drive a lot of the crowds away.
While Mammoth was a beautiful and fascinating place, it was surprisingly crowded considering how far it was from the central areas of the park. We were annoyed by numerous examples of hogging multiple parking spaces, marching off the trail, and other poor behavior. By the time we left, we were ready to go on to a less crowded park.
Distance hiked: not sure, maybe 2 km
On to Glacier National Park.
