One of the most surprising things we saw at Yellowstone National Park was the mudpots. Imagine walking past what appears to be a white, sandy field and hearing an ominous, gurgling bubbling sound.
That’s a large pool of boiling mud in the distance,
just before the trees.
You can scroll through these pictures in 5 minutes or less for the Friday Five link up hosted at Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness, or take your time to marvel at these geothermal wonders.
Yellowstone Mudpots
The first place we saw mudpots up close was by Imperial Geyser, in that sandy-looking area on the right.
We were able to get really close to this one.
It’s worth un-muting to hear the sound it makes.
We saw more mudpots in a back country area near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (shown above), and a few more at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. The mudpots are formed by bacteria that digest the hydrogen sulfide gas seeping out of the earth and excrete sulfuric acid, which degrades the rock into wet clay.
West Thumb Geyser Basin
The West Thumb Geyser Basin is along the shore of the West Thumb section of Yellowstone Lake. You can see many thermal features from the accessible boardwalk trail.
There are several thermal features in the lake.
Back before preservation was a primary concern, you could fish here, and then cook your fish by dangling it into a hot spring like this one!
The Adventures in Yellowstone book I’m reading includes several accounts of early explorers using the thermal features throughout the park for cooking.
Here are a few more of my favorite geothermal features at West Thumb Geyser Basin:
Twin Geysers
Abyss Pool
Aren’t they all so beautiful?
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So beautiful and so interesting! As I read this, I can’t help but think why and how this happened in this spot?
Thanks for sharing so much from your amazing trip!
The earth’s crust is only a few miles thick there instead of 40+ miles thick elsewhere. Also, there was a volcano. I think the thin crust makes the difference. 😉
I’ve never even heard of mud pots before! I’ve been learning so much from your posts about your Yellowstone trip 🙂
I learned so much — it was all unexpected!
I don’t think I have ever seen those mudpots boiling like that? Are they like that all year around? How interesting
Since the heat is coming from the earth, I assume so, but it gets VERY cold and snowy there in winter, although they do offer snow shoe hikes!
I don’t think I’ve seen (or heard, literally) these before! Very interesting! So many great pics 😉
I’ve never heard of mudpots before but they sound so interesting! (I need to go visit!! *-*) Hoping to do a cross-country national park/food tour someday, haha. :D!
Very beautiful! You must have had a wonderful vacation in Yellowstone. Your pictures make me want to go back! 🙂
I’m a science nerd so of course I find this SO interesting and now I have SO many questions..lol.
Were you allowed to get close to some and not others? Is there ever a chance of one largely erupting?
You could get as close as you dared — but our guide didn’t want us to be in the next edition of Death In Yellowstone. We were very close to the one I took a video of. For some others, the ground between the trail and the mudpots was fragile and/or hot!
This is brilliant – it looks very much like Iceland! I do love a bubbling mudpot!
Aren’t they amazing!
Cook your fish on a hot spring? Genius! Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures. I never saw a geyser, mud pit, or hot spring in real life.
I’m glad you enjoyed them. They were amazing to see.
I’ve never heard of a mudpot! Those pictures are so amazingly beautiful. Thanks for sharing them with us!
Steamed fish, ready to serve!
I’m not sure I’d want to eat fish out there. I know how acidic the pits are.
Our guide said something about certain fish in Yellowstone River having a lot of mercury, but fishing is big there.
I just love your posts about Yellowstone. What a wonderful trip.
Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying them.
Everything is definitely beautiful! But the sounds the mudpots (and I’d never heard of them before) make is just plain creepy. shudders!
It was so surreal!
Yellowstone is such a beautiful park. Our big regret is that we didn’t go during the winter. I remember hearing stories (or seeing on TV) about how people used to be able to fish in Yellowstone and then cook their fish over the thermal features, but had forgotten all about that. It really sounds like you had an amazing tour!
I’m so glad we signed up for the guided program. We got so much more out of our visit — and our guide and others in the group were fun/nice to be with.
This is super cool! Your trip looked amazing. I hope I make it out there one day!
Those are more beautiful pics! The mudpot sounds like a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove! Haha
I am even more inspired to make a trip out to Yellowstone sooner rather than later!