The Wolff's Tale: Artists Paintpots

Friday, October 26, 2012

Artists Paintpots - Part II

We didn't see any names for the various thermal features around the Artists Paintpots, but there were several different types that I'd learned to recognize elsewhere. I think we really visited at a good time as things were still wet and lush from rain/snow and hadn't dried out yet. Mudpots are apparently much better early or midway through the season as they have often dried out late in the summer.

When I've typed up the rest of these posts I was usually aided by a small pamphlet that we'd picked up from the area, but there was not one that I could find that covered Artists Paintpots. This is probably because the features haven't been named and there are no signs next to them. But at least it was on all of the large maps and this made it quite easy to find and we were able to plan out our day, with most of the stops determined ahead of time, fairly easily. I think that we also hit this area at the best time of day with the morning fog not having burned off yet.

Smoke was rising from a few spots, to add murkiness to the air. I suspect these were fumaroles.

I also took some fumarole video:

I know this isn't ground that I would want to run across, but the combination of green and rocks was beautiful to look at.

This piece of wood reminded me of a bleached skull.

Obviously it had rained recently, or at least water had poured between the boards onto the ground below.

One vent was right beside the path.

The mudpots were wonderful.

Here you can see a perfect sploosh of mud--not too thick and not too thin.

As we came down the hill the fog was clearing and the sights in the distance were beautiful.

I'm not sure which peak this was, but it was high enough to be still fully snow-covered in early June.

The water in this pool, like several others, seemed milky or chalky. I wonder if this because of diluted clay that if there were less water would have formed a mudpot.