Its Gettin’ Steamy Over Here

You can’t visit Yellowstone without taking some time to appreciate all of the massive thermal features in the park. Clearly, the spouting celebrity in the park is Old Faithful, but we were determined to avoid the masses that gather there every two hours for the big performance. We sought out his lesser known, steamy brethren instead. There is a certain part of the park where thermal activity is VERY present. In this part, its not usually to see steam rising from streams and water shooting up in spouts here and there. We went on a hike (uphill, of course, cause that’s how we roll…) to a lookout vista that included steaming mud pots, steam vents and other thermal activity. The next day, a park ranger directed us to the Midway Monument Basin and said that it was a “must see”. I thought it was a good sign that I hadn’t heard of it and the signage wasn’t very big. As we pulled in, we saw the parking lot stuffed full of RV’s and minivan’s. Oh well. We did manage to find a parking spot and walked up to the walkway that led us to the alien-looking, bubbling and steamy landscape. Some of the pools were bright turquoise, some were lined with intense, orange edges. Others just looked like pretty little ponds with an area in the middle that was just bubbling away. It was all very surreal and beautiful. Here are some of the ones that I liked the best.