Yellowstone Park - Mammoth Hot Springs - Part 7

Click here to see the morning start - Yellowstone Park - on the road from here to there - Part 6 

At some point we found ourselves heading out of the park. No, we didn't plan to leave just yet, but we wanted to see the gate in the Montana entrance. And... I have to say the gate looked really worth driving an extra half an hour to see it.

 

So we exited the park, turned around and entered it again ;) Weird thing to do, I know ;) Once back on track, we drove straight to see Mammoth Hot Springs where we spent the next few hours...

There are no geysers in this valley but a lot of hot springs. Hot and rich with minerals. Migrating from one location to another and causing the layers of the sediments to cover everything. The valley looks very much like a death valley - white, lifeless and scary. That's because when the spring finds a new hole in the ground, the bacteria disappears and nothing is coloring the minerals. At least until the water is flowing there again and the stream becomes full of life and colorful again.

It was around noon and the weather was great. Mild and even warm... But we didn't like the clouds gathering over the mountains. They didn't look bad, but we were still worried. And the future confirmed we were right, but at this moment we were still enjoying such a beautiful day in the park.

The dried patches looked like snow or salt mountains... Or like a moonscape...

Another thing caught our attention - terraced slopes. The flat surfaces created by water ponds resembled stairs. And they looked  absolutely unreal!

The hillsides nearby were also ash gray. No wonder, I guess, they were formed mainly from the ash thrown out and settled there after the last volcanic eruption...

Here and there we found brown-ish wet streams, contrasting with white and gray lifeless surroundings... The hot water helped the bacteria to flourish and weave such amazing mats on the slopes...

And... believe it or not... the water not only gives life to bacteria, but also creates excellent conditions for grass to grow and flowers to bloom. Water is life!

At this end of the trail, the flow of water has created an interesting combination of dead and living hillsides. We walked along them, admiring the view and enjoying it.

But in the end we returned back to the parking lot and got into the car. We planned to get to the next stop. Or we could walk there... In fact it is a great difference in how you get there... If you walk up the steps, you need to climb about 300 yards up (not a big deal, huh?), but if you prefer to get there by your car, you need to drive a couple of miles to get to the Upper Terrace Loop. We decided on a car, but mainly because we planned to drive further once we have a look at the upper part of the Mammoth Hot Springs...

To be continued...

Pictures were taken on September 05, 2010.