Exploring Artist's Paintpots Trail in Yellowstone National Park
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There’s something to be said about enjoying a pristine pine forest and vibrant thermal activity while inhaling the aromas of a boiling cauldron of sulfur. It’s something you have to experience to fully understand that allure.
Just a few hours into our first voyage to Yellowstone National Park, we pulled off the main road to stretch our legs along the short 1-mile loop at Artists' Paintpots Trail and got to witness this thermal basin activity up close for the first time.
Up until this point, the park had offered sweeping vistas, lush greenery and historic background. But it was once my boots hit the dirt that Yellowstone revealed its iconic foundation, and I was instantly hooked.
Transitioning from a dirt tree-lined path to the established boardwalk that makes up the Artists' Paintpots Trail, the path winds through dense lodgepole pines and vibrant grassy clearings before you are presented with views of the land coming alive with activity. This hydrothermal system found along the Artists' Paintpots Trail is the result of super-heated acidic steam below the surface that heats the ground above it, causing the rocks to dissolve into clay and react with various water sources.
The first of these mesmerizing displays was the Blood Geyser. Named for the reddish-orange rocks that surround it, this thermal spring gets its color from the high concentration of iron oxide in the water that bubbles out and stains the surrounding rock. Bubbling and spraying into the air as the water boils below the surface, this geyser can erupt up to 6 feet in the air and discharges 150 gallons of water a minute and despite this being only the first of many many geysers we would witness on this trip, I could have stayed mesmerized by this one for hours.
Higher up on the hillside, we reached what are known as mudpots. Unlike the water bursts of the blood geyser which receives its water from the water table, these clay pits receive their water from snow runoff and rain. Due to the timing of our visit in late July, less water presence this late into the summer, resulted in churning and popping of thicker grey-colored mud created from the release of steam and carbon dioxide gases in the earth.
Staring out over the landscape from the top of the trail, the contrast of this raw thermal landscape of reds and whites and milky-blue thermal pools, sitting in the midst of a lush pine forest was stunning and the bubbling sounds of water and steam escaping the ground through cracks and pools was incredible, unlike the odorous sulfur smell that accompanied it. It truly felt like a juxtaposition of varied oases.
Even when we weren’t alongside a prominent geyser or bubbling surface, along the boardwalk the earth feels alive in the spaces in between. Small cracks in the ground serve as mini steam vents, while other tiny holes show no visible activity at all, except for the disassociating sounds of whistling, hissing and underground bubbling echoing from below. Staring at the landscape surrounding the boardwalk, it’s easy to be fooled into believing that the land is still and safe, but the sulphuric aromas, bubbling sounds and radiating heat from the steam rising off the Blood Geyser engage all your senses simultaneously and serve as a nice reminder of why the boardwalks throughout Yellowstone are so essential for visitor safety.
Looping back toward our starting point along the boardwalk, pools of milky-blue and white stood out amongst the red and white surface. Though milky-blue and grey in color at this point, these vibrant pools shift in color throughout the year water levels and ambient light, displaying deep turquoise in the cooler spring runoff and softening into the milky pastels we were witnessing, during the summer months.
Though this short lollipop style trail was short with only 1.05 miles to explore, for almost 40 minutes it fueled our excitement for what else the park had in store for us and was a colorful reminder that the earth beneath our feet is very much alive.
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