Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is at the northern entrance to Yellowstone, near Gardiner, Montana. When we visited here 2 decades ago, water was emanating from all the hot springs and all seemed well up on the terraces containing the springs. Today, most were dry -- a consequence of drought, I believe, because rain water and snow melt are required in order for the magma below the surface to come into play. Here are 3 hot springs which did have some water in them:





Travertine (the same material which formed Hanging Lake in Colorado and Havasu Falls' pools) is seen here -- dry due to lack of moisture. Most of the terraces were made of this material over the eons.



A bit of water was flowing here, and the color and pattern created were simply outstanding



Here you see more of the dry travertine, and in the far distance below in the high mountain valley is the Mammoth Hot Springs complex, including the buildings from the U.S. Army fort which defended the area.



The complex has signs all over warning visitors to stay back from the elk -- and this is why:




As I sit on the hillside in Gardiner in front of our motel tonight, writing this post, 6 elk are munching grass across the street in someone's front yard. They're everywhere!!!

Oh yeah -- we went to a river access to dry the tent (wet from this morning's frost), and as we left the river area, 2 juvenile black bears were making their way down to the Yellowstone River for a drink. If you look closely, you'll see one of them dead center in this photo: