Beyond the 200 geysers, the other 10,000 geothermal features in Yellowstone include hot springs, mud pots, fumeroles, steam vents, terraces, and more. These are all caused by an active volcano that lies just three to eight miles below your feet. Quite literally, any (or all) of them could blow at any minute!
Do we look worried? Actually, we are sitting in front of our absolute favorite geothermal feature, the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the country, third largest in the world. What I really loved about it was the way the steam reflected the colors of the pool and surrounding microbial mats.
Click on this panoramic by Al to get a better feeling for the massive size of this colorful spring.
From rainbow colors to the more subtle earth tones of the mudpots and steam vents.
Here are a couple of beautiful pools…
And the elaborate terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs…
Steam vents are everywhere…
This one is called Dragon’s Mouth and it really did look, sound, and feel like you would expect one to.
Leave a Reply