Mammoth Hot Springs

Such amazing scenery can be seen at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park. in the US. I thought it would be so easy to remember, or at least place on a map, each of the different formations we saw and photographed. However, I found it more difficult than I thought, especially as many of the formations change over the years and so other photos on the Internet often look different. I believe this was taken near Canary Spring.

I visited Mammoth Hot Springs and the rest of Yellowstone National Park 30+ years ago, when my kids were very young. Loved Mammoth Hot Springs, so was thrilled to get the chance to see this fascinating area again. This time, it was while I was on a wonderful week's holiday with special friends from England, in September 2012. We visited Mammoth Hot Springs on 12 September.

"Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park ... It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas... A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Hot_Springs

For a diagram of the Hot Springs layout:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MammothHotSprings.JPG

Map of Yellowstone National Park:

hfc.nps.gov/carto/PDF/YELLmap2.pdf