West Thumb - Part II

After seeing Big Cone we turned away from the lake and followed the boardwalk to more features in the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

People have long been drawn to West Thumb.  Native Americans favored campsites in this area s they hunted bison in the summer.  The Crow people gathered medicinal herbs here.  Shoshone and Bannock peoples have stories about the formation of the lake.  Early scientific expeditions, which corroborated the tales of colorful hot springs mentioned by mountain men, rested here.  Visitors in the late 1890s and early 1900s appreciated a refreshing boat ride to Lake Yellowstone Hotel after several dusty days on rutted roads.  The rustic log cabin near the parking lot was the original West Thumb Ranger Station built in 1925; it is one of the few such stations remaining.  Now it serves as a summer visitor information station and a winter warming hut.
--from NPS West Thumb Geyser Basin Trail Guide

Black Pool isn't.  Well it exists, but its color doesn't match its name any more.  "The water temperature rose during the summer of 1991, killing the organisms" that caused it to appear black.

And right across from Black Pool is Abyss Pool.  It is "[o]ne of the deeper hot springs in the park...[descending] to 53 feet."

After Abyss Pool the boardwalk turns towards greener spots for just a bit before going past other features.

There were plenty of bobby-socks trees to see.

Amy was also cold by this point (despite her coat, which isn't a winter jacket).

So if I recall correctly we ended up heading back towards the parking lot instead of going by all of the other features.  Or if we (or I) did go by them it was rather quickly.  I did take a shot of a fumarole (or a few fumaroles) along the path.

The pictures of other features are from a distance and I'm afraid I don't know specifically which ones are in each photograph.

We did spend some time in the bookstore/warming hut.

Of course I had to get my passport stamp and buy some postcards.  But we also looked around and noted the winterizing features.  The stove gets rather hot and the mitten hanging on the wall is one that was improperly laid down on the stove and thereby burned.

~Matt

PS See all of the West Thumb pictures here: