From Norris, we continued south toward Madison. The first stop on this leg was at the Artist Paint Pots.
People have argued that visiting and taking photos of stinking mud holes is a lot like admiring a leaky bathroom faucet covered in mold. But I would remind folks that I have pictures of that, too.
The Artist Paint Pots was a real-life amusement park full of colorful bubbling mud.
Ferric oxide (iron rust) stains many of the mud pots a dark reddish color.
The natural color of the mud is a whitish gray.
See the ripples? The mud isn't so much "boiling" as it is "burping". Hydrogen sulfide gas percolates up from deep within the earth and emerges here. The gas contributes to the acidity of the mud.
Some of the mud pots are actually crusted with geyserite. It's a reminder that if it weren't for the addition of acid, or if the rock were more acid-resistant, this would probably be a hot spring.
***
We found a few more amusements along the road to Old Faithful.
The steam cloud hovering over Beryl Spring beckons you to pull your car over and take a closer look. If the bright blue color wasn't evidence enough, the bubbles at the surface would tell you just how hot this pool is.
We stopped at this rest area and got an unexpected great view of the ancient caldera rim. You'll recall that the caldera is what is left of the volcano that blew this region apart 600,000 years ago.
We took a small side-trip off the Grand Loop Road. The one-way Firehole Canyon Drive follows the Firehole River. Upstream, it meanders past several geothermal features. But here, the river's waterfalls are its most alluring feature. This waterfall is known as Firehole Falls.
The Firehole River steams on cold days. It is warmed by the runoff of several geysers, and it is close to several heated underground chambers. The Firehole River has a place where swimming is allowed, but it was temporarily closed due to strong currents. Don't worry, though. We'll have our opportunity to get saturated by geyser chemicals/particles tomorrow.
People have argued that visiting and taking photos of stinking mud holes is a lot like admiring a leaky bathroom faucet covered in mold. But I would remind folks that I have pictures of that, too.
The Artist Paint Pots was a real-life amusement park full of colorful bubbling mud.
Ferric oxide (iron rust) stains many of the mud pots a dark reddish color.
The natural color of the mud is a whitish gray.
See the ripples? The mud isn't so much "boiling" as it is "burping". Hydrogen sulfide gas percolates up from deep within the earth and emerges here. The gas contributes to the acidity of the mud.
Some of the mud pots are actually crusted with geyserite. It's a reminder that if it weren't for the addition of acid, or if the rock were more acid-resistant, this would probably be a hot spring.***
We found a few more amusements along the road to Old Faithful.
The steam cloud hovering over Beryl Spring beckons you to pull your car over and take a closer look. If the bright blue color wasn't evidence enough, the bubbles at the surface would tell you just how hot this pool is.
We stopped at this rest area and got an unexpected great view of the ancient caldera rim. You'll recall that the caldera is what is left of the volcano that blew this region apart 600,000 years ago.
We took a small side-trip off the Grand Loop Road. The one-way Firehole Canyon Drive follows the Firehole River. Upstream, it meanders past several geothermal features. But here, the river's waterfalls are its most alluring feature. This waterfall is known as Firehole Falls.
The Firehole River steams on cold days. It is warmed by the runoff of several geysers, and it is close to several heated underground chambers. The Firehole River has a place where swimming is allowed, but it was temporarily closed due to strong currents. Don't worry, though. We'll have our opportunity to get saturated by geyser chemicals/particles tomorrow.
