Mammoth Hot Springs and Bison Jams Yellowstone, WY

Miles Driven:  64.8 - September 14th Mammoth Hot Springs to Madison, WY Yellowstone National Park, WY to Craters of the Moon, ID

Total Miles: 2967.6
Entrance Fees: $0
Camping Fees: $0

Another cold night in the car.  Getting up very early in Mammoth Hot Springs I decided to walk around the springs before I did the visitor center thing.  The self guided walking tour lasts about two hours.  For hundreds of years Shoshone and Bannock people collected minerals from Mammoth Hot Springs for white paint.  The minerals contribute to the beautiful terrace structures, together with heat, a natural plumbing system, water and limestone.   A network of fractures and fissures form the plumbing system, which allows hot water from underground to reach the surface.  Hot water with dissolved carbon dioxide makes a solution of weak carbonic acid.  As this weak solution rises through rock, it dissolves calcium carbonate, the primary compound in limestone.  At the surface, the calcium carbonate is deposited in the form of travertine, the rock that forms the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Minerva Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs Yellow Stone, WY

Each part of the Mammoth Hot Springs area has its own name starting with the terraces of Opal, Minerva, Jupiter and Mound.  Jupiter terrace stopped flowing in 1987.  The only flowing terrace at present is Palette Spring.  You can see the changing colors of orange and brown as the water cascades down the terraces.

Palette Springs Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone, WY

Palette Spring Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone, WY

You can also see a dormant hot spring called the ‘Liberty Cap’.  Its internal pressure was sufficient to raise the water to a great height, allowing mineral deposits to build slowly and continuously for hundreds of years.  Devil’s thump is an active hot spring, much smaller than liberty cap.

Liberty Cap Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone, WY

Heading back to the Mammoth Village visitor center after walking around the springs I watched the movie.  It was after noon by the time the movie was over and I needed to be on the road.  Having spent two nights and  almost three days in the park was not nearly enough time to see everything, but the west coast was calling and I had other places to see before I reached the coast.

I put my next destination into Penelope (GPS) and she wanted me to drive around a mountain, which would have added another 150 miles to my already long trip.  I consulted the Yellowstone map and made my own way out of the park via the west entrance (exit), which happened to be in Montana.  Thinking of the figure of eight again, Mammoth Hot Springs in on left corner of the top circle.  All I needed to do was drive down the left side of the circle to where the two circles of the figure of eight meet and drive out west (left).  Driving took longer than expected due to the bison jam, but it was worth the wait.

Bison Jam Yellowstone, WY