West Thumb Geyser Basin

June 27,
We decided on our second venture into Yellowstone, we would go East and check out The West Thumb Geyser Basin. It overlooks Yellowstone Lake and the Absaroka Mountains. The top pools are Seismograph and Bluebell. The colors around the spring are created by heat loving bacteria, called thermophiles. Usually green and brown indicated cooler waters and orange and yellow-warmer.
The fishing hole was so named because a legend told of mountainmen catching fish and, while the fish was still on the line, swinging around and cooking it in a boiling pool.
Abyss Pool is one of the deeper hot springs in the park--53 feet. It was last active in 1992. It is now a quiet feature with the lake and mountains in the background.
The paint pots are an interesting feature. Their water is more acidic and dissolves the underground into a wet clay mud that looks strangely similar to boiling paint.