Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone NP

One of the most popular destinations in Yellowstone National Park - Mammoth Hot Springs - is located near the northern (Gardiner MT) entrance to the Park, 48 miles northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana, making it an ideal day-trip attraction. Mammoth is also the headquarters for the National Park Service within Yellowstone as well as home-base for Xanterra Parks & Resorts, lodging and activity concessionaires. It also features a relatively large herd of elk who, regardless of time of year, are usually feeding obliviously to the crowds of visitors snapping their pictures.

Mammoth Hot Springs features an amazing staircase of hot spring pools, known as "terraces". Heat, water, and limestone have combined to form these unique geologic formations which are continually in a state of flux. In some years, new pools form while others dry up, leaving behind the almost "bathtub" shaped limestone basin.

Water from rain and snow-melt seeps deep into the earth where it is heated by magma within the ancient Yellowstone volcano. It then rises to the surface through faults, or cracks, in the earth's crust. This super-heated water pours and steams out onto the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, where it deposits the limestone that forms the rims of the many pools that make up these terraces. As formations grow, water may flow in different directions, creating a sort of "living sculpture".

Lower Terraces, and an Upper Terrace Loop divide Mammoth Hot Springs into two sections for viewing.

Lower Terraces

Opal Terrace: This spring became active in 1926 after years of inactivity. It flows from the base of Capitol Hill, across from Liberty Cap.

Liberty Cap: Liberty Cap is a cone-shaped spring, over 30 feet in height. Its was created by hot spring mineral deposits over thousands of years. Liberty Cap is no longer active, and a large piece of it fell 1994.

Palette Spring: This spring looks like a painters palette of brown, green, and orange. The colors are created by microorganisms and bacteria within the spring formation.

Minerva Terrace: Minerva Terrace is at the center of Mammoth Hot Springs, and is very popular to to the variety of colors and formations it has to offer.

Upper Terrace Loop

Upper Terrace Overlook: One can easily view the whole Mammoth Hot Springs area, including the main terraces, from this overlook.

Canary Spring: Bacteria creates a bright yellow coloring within Canary Spring.

White Elephant Back Terrace: This old spring formation has a mounded appearance, which is thought to resemble an elephant's back.

Angel Terrace: For decades Angel Terrace was inactive and dry, but recently some of these springs have come back to life.