Day: October 27, 2023

There was lots more snow yesterday than the day before and it was at least 25 degrees colder but when my daily Mule Deer visitors came yesterday, snow hadn’t been falling so their coats were free of snow. Instead of snow however, globs of ice clung to the eyelashes on the left side of this doe’s head. She munched the flixweed growing in the space between the road to Yellowstone and my room. Unfortunately, the weather turned out to be treacherous for many early arrivals at the park yesterday. The road to Mammoth from Gardiner was closed when we arrived at the Entrance because accident scenes blocked it. It took hours to clear the accidents and because of the hazardous conditions, the park was closed to visitors while the park service worked to make the roads safer for driving. On our last two days here, we were unable to enter the park. Despite that, however, we had a great time and our two days in the park were very special, indeed.

Visiting Artist’s Paint Pots in Yellowstone National Park a couple of days ago was a first for me in Yellowstone. This mesmerizing wonder is a mile walk off the main road on a trail head through the forest that culminates in the bubbling, spewing paint pots at the top. I’ve been to the Mud Pots and Artist’s Point but watching the thick mud splatter to the sounds of burps and burbles accompanied by the pungent odor of rotten eggs at Artist’s Paint Pots was a memorable experience for me. Some microorganisms use hydrogen sulfide from deep in the earth as an energy source that breaks down rock into wet clay mud and creates the area’s smell. As various gases escape through the wet clay mud it bubbles and spews. I can’t recreate the sound or the aroma but I did create a gif to illustrate a little of what I experienced. You can see all kinds of things in the exploding bubbles. I see a barfing head.