Artists Paintpots is one of the more popular viewing sites in Yellowstone, and with its typical small parking lot, we thought we’d get ahead of the crowds by arriving early. The concept was good, and we did get a good parking spot, but the combination of cool morning air and heated ground made so much steamy fog, that we were unable to see the famous colors of the area.
Yellowstone is one of those places that is different each time you visit, and even with the lessened visibility, it still has charm. The boardwalk surrounding the area climbs to an overlook.
The Paintpots (or mudpots) are acidic thermal features with a limited water supply. Various gases escape upward through the hot clay mud, causing bubbles to continually rise to the surface and pot. Artists Paintpots was given its name due to the many colors from the presence of agents such as sulfur, iron and chlorophyll. 
Although visibility was clearing by the time we finished the mile long walk, we’ll still have to return another time to witness all the colors of Artists Paintpots.
Norris Geyser Basin, is the hottest geyser basin in Yellowstone. Many of the springs and fumeroles (steam vents) have temperatures above the boiling point. 
It’s hard to imagine a setting more volatile, as it is part of one of the world’s largest active volcanoes, and sits on the intersection of three major faults. 
It is so volatile, in fact, that this area has been closed occasionally to tourists in times of extreme activity.
All of Yellowstone’s thermal features are fueled by magma (molten rock) beneath the park. Geysers form when an underground channel contains a constriction. Between eruptions, temperatures in the pressurized water builds up, creating steam, which eventually has to erupt from the gro
Steamboat Geyser is the world’s largest active geyser. Its eruptions occur on an irregular basis, from as little as a few days to as far apart as 50 years. When it does, water shoots as high as 300 - 400 feet or more, and often showers down on any watchers on the boardwalk.
Today, it was quite steamy and was sending shoots of water up several feet.
Porcelain Basin is another section of the Norris Basin. A short walk on the encircling boardwalk lets one view several of its colorful features.
Leaving Norris Basin, we headed southwest again, taking a short side trip through Firehole Canyon drive, and came upon this beautiful waterfall next to the road, Firehole Falls.
It’s hard to say which of Yellowstone’s many features are the most impressive, but our last stop of the day has to rank toward the top of the list.
Midway Basin contains Excelsior Geyser Crater, a hot springs. 
Until 1890, it was an active geyser that often erupted to 300 feet high. It is believed that powerful eruptions damaged its internal plumbing system, and it now boils as a hot spring most of the time. The Excelsior Geyser pool discharges 4,000 to 4,500 gallons of 199 °F water per minute directly into the Firehole river. In the first photo below, the hot water is streaming over the colorful mineral beds.
In the next 2 pictures, it is seen falling over the steep bank in to the river. 
As you continue around the boardwalk, the striations in the stone have an artistic quality to them, similar to a marble slab. 
Then you round the corner and your sight is arrested by one of the most colorful scenes in the park, Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot springs in the U. S. and the third largest in the world. 
Seeing the Grand Prismatic Spring is like seeing a rainbow on the ground. A photo cannot do the colors justice. The vivid colors in the spring are the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water, and vary in color with the season, more oranges and reds in the summer, greens in the winter. The water in the spring is a vivid blue. I couldn’t resist showing this aerial view of the spring I found on the web which really shows the color of the water well.
While in the park these past 2 days, we’ve seen several elk and bison. As we left today, we had one last close encounter.
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