Artist Paint Pots: YNP, Wyoming

Tuesday, September 30, 2014
A visit to Yellowstone Historic Center, originally, The Union Pacific Depot. 
http://www.yellowstonehistoriccenter.org

Yellowstone Historic Center

                                                           

Women's Dressing Area

The east wing of the depot, which had served as the baggage storage area, was remodelled into dressing rooms and showers. Maid service was provided to help the women change from train-travel and park-travel clothes.   

http://west-yellowstone-montana.com

Arctic Cat

 It was a favourite pastime for locals and tourists to watch the bears feeding from dumpsters. In 1970, this practice was banned because of the increasing number of injuries to people. Snaggletooth earned his name from a deformed fang. He also was blind in his left eye. He was a familiar "dumpster bear". Two men shot him in 1970 and were charged $200.00. 

We walked some trails to view the Artist Paint Pots: an area of hot springs and two large mud pots.

This information answered my question about native people and their relationship with the hot springs. "For many years, Europeans believed that Native people feared and avoided Yellowstone's hydrothermal features. However, archaeological evidence and accounts from many tribes document their extensive presence in Yellowstone".  A Crow elder and historian, Grant Bulltail, tells a story about his people obtaining mud from this area to colour their tipis.

                    Close up of the red stone

                                               On the forest trail from the Artist Paint Pots

                                                        

On the way to Mammoth Hot Springs. The drive dramatically changed from fields to cliffs and mountains! 

One section of our drive was undergoing major construction. We mud-bogged for twenty minutes before our tires saw cement again. 

                                                               View of the valley

There's the rain that we had avoided for a few days!
This is the Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace Tour.
http://mms.nps.gov/yell/features/mammothtour/

                                                    Minerva Terrace
http://mms.nps.gov/yell/features/mammothtour/minerva.htm

                                                          Orange Spring Mold

Evidence of the 1988 fire which consumed 36% of the park. More of the park was burned in that year than in its' total recorded history.

The Mammoth Hot Springs area was originally Fort Yellowstone from 1890 until 1918 when the National Park Service took over control of the park  http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/ftyell.htm

Elk were numerous in this area, including signs to not approach. Some people respected the sign, many didn't. These elk were in the field by our parking spot between the hotel and the grocery store parking lot. Across from the hotel, there was a traffic jam of photo-hungry tourists and rangers who were trying to maintain control.  The tourists were not focused on these females but on the field across from the hotel with many family units, including bulls with huge antlers. 

Mammoth Hotel Lobby 

Liberty Cap, a dormant hot spring cone, is on the ground level.

Palette Spring

Devil's Thumb 

These photos are from our return drive towards the west entrance of the park.

A stop at Norris Geyser Basin: 

In this section, yesterday, we had seen several herds of bison. Late afternoon, today, these fields were taken over by elk. This lone bison controlled the road.