Photography

Steamy Blue

Camping along the Snake River in Southern Yellowstone National Park is one of the highlights of my time there. Due to the long hikes required and sparse camping sites, there is virtually nobody else on these trails, unless you count the abundant bears and wildlife.

We camped at the beautiful 8C1 campsite, just a hundred or so feet from the river and nestled among the pines.

Besides the soaring mountains and gorgeous pine forests, you also witness some of the most beautiful hot springs in the park. The Snake Hot Springs flow majestic and blue, parallel to the Snake River. The Springs themselves are extremely hot – far too hot for a human to enter – which likely explains its blue color. Not much can survive other than specific types of thermophiles.

After a day of exploring and swimming in the river, we were returning to our campsite when I spotted this angle on the hot river. The light and colors were just perfect and I snapped a couple quick shots. Minutes later, we came across a lone Grizzly crossing the Snake River right near our campsite. Fortunately, we followed proper procedure and had hung up all our food away from our site to keep it out of reach of hungry bears.

Categories: Landscape, River, Thermal Feature
Location: Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park
Tags: blue, Grass, mist, Pine Trees, steam, sunset
Country: USA
Date Taken: August 26, 2021