A huge geothermal spectacle just south of the north entrance to Yellowstone; clear here is how the features keep changing – where hot water bubbles up and provides nourishment to bacteria, the colors are bright, but where the water no longer runs the bacteria die leaving just the white of the minerals laid down when the water flowed!
Our drive was halted for a while when a herd of Bison near the road attracted traffic, and eventually chose to cross the road between cars (they seemed smarter than some people, checking for stopped traffic before crossing!); very up close to one Bison that crossed in front of our car!
After that spectacle, we continued driving north eventually into Montana (our next stop) just beyond the north gate of Yellowstone. More geothermal features, more mountains, more incredible scenery …
Driving north once more, we reach the Middle Basin (with famous Grand Prismatic Spring) and Lower Basin (with Fountain Paint Pot); the cold weather made for so much steam from the hot springs that our view and photos were nowhere close to the famous images – even walking up to the recently added Grand Prismatic Spring view; but still the area is beautiful and snow on the Bison added to our day!
M&I / GBMINI 