Monday, May 10, 2021

Yellowstone National Park, WY

TOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,388

After school and work today, Grant, Jack and I went back to the park to check out Mammoth Hot Springs.

It was an amazing experience because we got caught in a snow storm and the park looked like a winter wonderland.

Mammoth Hot Springs are a must-see feature of Yellowstone National Park in part because they’re so different from other thermal areas in the area. This is largely because limestone is a relatively soft type of rock, allowing the travertine formations to grow much faster than other sinter formations. It has been described as looking like a cave turned inside out.

At Yellowstone each year, the rain and melted snow seeps into the earth. Cold to begin with, the water is quickly warmed by heat radiating from a partially molten magma chamber deep underground, the remnant of a cataclysmic volcanic explosion that occurred 600,000 years ago.

After moving throughout this underwater “plumbing” system, the now hot water rises up through a system of small fissures. Here it also interacts with hot gases charged with carbon dioxide rising up from the magma chamber. As some of the carbon dioxide is dissolved in the hot water, a weak, carbonic acid solution is formed.

In the Mammoth area, the hot, acidic solution dissolves large quantities of limestone on its way up through the rock layers to the hot springs on the surface. Above ground and exposed to the air, some of the carbon dioxide escapes from the solution. Without it, the dissolved limestone can’t remain in the solution, so it reforms into a solid mineral. This white, chalky mineral is deposited as the travertine that forms the terraces.

Yellowstone Photo Gallery

Click image to enlarge.

Yellowstone Video Gallery

Travel with us:

Travel Diary

Travel

This is a daily log and photos of what we’re up to.

Day 201: Glacier National Park, MT

May 16, 2021

Sunday, May 16, 2021Glacier National Park, MTTOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,777Montana’s Glacier National Park preserves 1 million acres of glacier-carved peaks and valleys, pristine turquoise lakes and streams, and dense ancient forests. It is an enchanted wilderness that...

Day 200: Travel Day | Helena, MT to Glacier National Park, MT

May 15, 2021

Saturday, May 15, 2021Travel Day: Helena, to Glacier National Park, MTTODAY'S MILES: 212 | TOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,777Today we left Helena, MT and headed for our final destination, Glacier National Park, a little over 200 miles away. Today's drive was probably one of...

Day 199: Travel Day | Yellowstone National Park to Helena, MT

May 14, 2021

Friday, May 14, 2021Travel Day: Yellowstone National Park to Helena, MTTODAY'S MILES: 177 | TOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,565Today we left Yellowstone and headed for our first stop in Bozeman, Montana. We had a vet appointment there for the puppies and also ran some errands...