Yellowstone Day 1: Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is a small village just inside the North boundary of Yellowstone National Park. After we arrived we were quickly out of our cabin to explore to take advantage of the weather break. It was late afternoon, still, but bitterly cold as we walked through the village to check out the springs for which the town is famous. Before we saw the springs we also managed to see a bit of wildlife in the form of one of the resident elk herds.

Thermal areas are a major feature of the Yellowstone landscape (sitting on top of a super volcano after all) and the ones at Mammoth are particularly interesting and a bit different to some of the other thermal features in the park as they sit on a moderately terraced hillside. The mineral rich water makes some amazing patterns in the ground as it flows from the springs down the hill.

The contrasting areas of snow and ice (where the warm water and steam can't reach) adds to the otherworldly scenes.

As we walked further up the hill we passed through an area of less thermal activity where snow covered the whole landscape and decorated the trees and rocks.

The upper thermal areas were heavily terraced and even more colourful and looked beautiful in the late afternoon light.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a magical destination and even after seeing a lot of thermal features in Iceland we were blown away by the beauty of steam, water and snow in combination.

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