Artists' Paintpots in Yellowstone

One of the easiest and most rewarding walks in Yellowstone is to take the often over-looked one-mile boardwalk loop of the Artists' Paintpots Trail in the Gibbon Geyser Basin.

It's so peaceful walking through this partically burned lodgepole forest.  The Park's practice is to leave all the burned trees where they fell after the devastating 1988 fires in Yellowstone so that they may naturally decompose and fertilize this very poor soil, just as nature intended.

While there are no interpretive signs in this area, the boardwalk is well maintained and very easy to navigate.  During this short walk, you can see examples of all four types of thermal features: geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and most common here, mudpots.  Seeing thermal features in a forest setting is unusual and picturesque.  Old Faithful area and the famous Norris Geyser Basin are both of set in very barren land.

The run-off from this hot spring meanders gently down the slope carrying the near boiling water off to the Gibbon River.

 It looks so mysterious and ghostly here:

 There are two small geysers along this walk.  I caught this one erupting:

The beautiful rust and pink tones in the soil are from iron oxide.  The heavy mineral content of this area gives the mudpots their beautiful colors.

This hot springs is churning violently.  The water is not only 185 degrees Fahrenheit, but it is also full of sulfuric acid.

The earth's crust is so thin and crusty here that staying on the boardwalk is not only following Park rules, it is a matter of safeguarding your life.

Falling into this fumarole would give you more than just a twisted ankle.  A fumarole is the hottest of all thermal features.  All the liquid boils away leaving only the hiss of steam and the smell of rotten eggs:

 This colorful opening looks like a cross between a hot spring and a fumarole.

The colorful mudpots are what make this area special.  This mudpot gets its slate blue color from dissolved silt in the mud.  I think it looks like a dog's bone.

There were a couple of these blue mudpots and all were very beautiful:

Depending on the time of the year and how much water has fallen, the mudpots will change consistency.  In the spring,  they will be very liquid and in the fall very thick and slow.  The various colors from the mudpots comes from the different minerals suspended in the mud.  This one was a pastel beige: 

If you look closely, you can see the mud gurgling away.

This rust colored mudpot has a lot of iron oxide:

The highlight of the walk is to get to the top of a gently sloping hill and to look at this very large fiercely bubbling white mudpot:

It's fun to watch mud spurt out of this little hole.  I tried to get a photo of it in action, but it was too quick and unpredictable for my slow reflexes.

The wildflowers and the nature around makes this walk really special and even in the very height of the tourist season, we were nearly alone on the trail:

Mountain views, mudpots, geysers, peaceful forest, and running streams - what more could you ask for in a gentle walk?

Next time you get the opportunity to visit Yellowstone National Park, save an hour for Artists' Paint Pots and you will be highly rewarded with a memorable walk.