Artists' Paintpots in Yellowstone is known for it's mudpots, which put on an intriguing show of splattering mud as they erupt. Mudpots are acidic hydrothermal features with a limited water supply. Microorganisms use hydrogen sulfide, which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source to help convert gas to sulferic acid, which breaks down rock to wet clay and creates the area's distinctive smell of rotten eggs.
The area is covered by a one-mile (1.6 km) loop trail that enters a partially burned lodgepole pine forest then winds across the wet meadow on a boardwalk. The hydrothermal area on the loop trail has colorful hot springs, mudpots, and small geysers with wet clay bubbling due to the gases escaping through the ground.
Artists' Paintpots
Boardwalk in
First views of paintpots
The Blood Geyser has a high concentration of iron oxide in the water, staining the surrounding rocks a rich red color. The geyser has been erupting since 1882 and can erupt up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) and discharge 150 gallons (567 liters) a minute.
Blood geyser
Continuing through the paintpots
The hydrothermal system at Artists' Paintpots acts like a double boiler, with boiling water underneath the ground generating a hot acidic steam that heats the ground above it, causing the rocks to dissolve into clay. The clay receives water from precipitation and snow melt, causing mudpot consistency and activity to vary with the season and amount of preciptation.
Mudpots
As the trail loops around to the other side, we get more spectacular views of mudpots and paintpots.
Looping around to the entrance
What a spectacular (and unexpected) walk through the beauty and geography of this fabulous hydrothermal display.
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