September 25-26, Yellowstone

Plants that fall into the springs become covered with chemical deposits!

Today we drove north in the park to the Mammoth Hot Springs area. This is the location of Fort Yellowstone which was built in the late 1800's so the Army could protect the Park from 1886 - 1916.
We had been told that there were lots of elk in this village--this is their mating season and supposedly the males were even bugling in town!----however we did not see any on our visit today.

A short drive from the Fort, we discovered the beauty of some of the springs. The springs are the result of the rain and snow from the mountains that seeps into the ground where it is heated and rises to the surface. The ones we saw looked like snow and ice sculptures with various colors blended in-----but it is actually a form of rock called travertine, and calcium deposits.

Canary Spring is the one above and it is spectacular!

On the way back we saw Gibbon Falls and Aspens turning their distinctive yellow gold.

 

 

Resting in West Yellowstone...John and Debbie