Images of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park – Northwestern Wyoming, taken in July 2019.

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park is a large geothermal formation where hot water from springs cool and deposit calcium carbonate on a hill of travertine. The various colors are derived from the algae that live in the warm pools of water.

Things have changed dramatically since I last visited this area in 2011. Because of minor earthquake activity the spring vent has shifted leaving some of the terraces dry. However the Canary Spring and the terraces below it are as spectacular and colorful as ever, just not as expansive as they once were. In my mind this does not detract from the spectacle of the spring as a whole as the contrast between the “wet” and the “dry” terraces adds to the dramatic scene.

Although it has been eight years between visits to these springs, one thing is a constant at least in my experience, the weather. It just so happens that both times I have come here there has been cloud cover and the threat of rain. I’ve not seen these terraces under blue skies but I can’t imagine that they would be any more spectacular than they are under the dark ominous ceiling that has been draped over them each time I have been here. The colors seem to explode but I like the way the trees that have succumb to the hot volcanic waters look against an angry sky. The pictures tend to look a little apocalyptic like the earth has been scalded and now lays barren and unlivable…ah, I mean dramatic. A remarkable scene no matter what the mood…