Yellowstone National Park: Artists Paintpots

On By nationalparkswithtIn Wyoming1 Comment
Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

Wyoming 2023 Trip➤

In September of 2023, my husband and I set out to explore some National Park units in the state of Wyoming. We visited Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park, The John D. Rockefeller Parkway, and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. In Yellowstone National Park, we visited the Artists Paintpots.

Yellowstone National Park➤

President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law in 1872. This created America’s (and the world’s) first National Park. The US Army managed the park from the late 1800s through 1916 when the National Park Service was created.

The park sits on top of a massive super volcano. As a result, over half of the worlds geysers and geothermal features reside in Yellowstone. It’s also famous for being home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope. One of our guides compared touring Yellowstone’s Valleys to taking an African Safari.

This park is huge at 3500 square miles in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Divided into two large loops, the park road takes visitors to the main sites. The Lower Loop Road is 96 miles while the Upper Loop is 142 miles.

Artists Paint Pots➤

The Artists Paintpots trail is renowned for its mudpots. Mudpots are acidic features with a limited water supply. Microorganisms within the mudpots convert hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock to wet clay mud and creates the area’s smell. Various gases escape through the wet clay mud, causing it to bubble.

This one-mile trail travels through a pine forest and crosses a wet meadow on a boardwalk. It’s a relatively flat, short loop from the parking lot to the hydrothermal features. The loop showcases simmering pools, steam vents, and forceful geysers like Blood Geyser, surrounded by bright red-orange sulfur deposits. The trail offers views across Gibbon River Valley.

Yellowstone Posts➤

Location: Grand Loop Road, Wyoming
Designation: National Park
Date designated/established: March 1, 1872
Date of my visit: September 23, 2023