Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park

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The Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park is a short 0.6 mile loop trail. You’ll see countless geysers, and it’s perfect for almost anyone!

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

You’ll see 16 different sights on the Fountain Paint Pots Trail in just .6 miles! All this beauty in one small area also makes this trail insanely popular. (This is the case with most of the geyser trails in Yellowstone).

The best solution is to avoid the hours between 10am-4pm when these areas are the most crowded. We knew the traffic was going to be intense. But we decided to brave it anyway because we wanted to hike all the geyser loops!

One of the great things about the geyser hikes in Yellowstone, is they’re accessible to almost everyone because they’re built on boardwalks. (The ground is too unstable to walk on.) So, anyone from strollers to wheelchairs can see a good portion of this amazing National Park!

Hiking the Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park!

This is the first big pool you come to on this trail, and the colors are jaw dropping with the orange surrounding the aqua blue!

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

The Fountain Paint Pots Trail is aptly named because it’s incredibly diverse and colorful!

You will see some interesting oranges and reds surrounding some of the geysers. These are called Bacteria Mats. (I know… how appetizing does that sound?). Certain types of bacteria can live at high temperatures, and these pools have their own mini eco-system.

The colors of the geysers in Yellowstone vary greatly, but they're all beautiful!

They ask that you don’t throw anything into the geysers anymore. (I guess this used to be a common practice like a wishing well of sorts.) But it throws the geysers off balance – it’s similar to coral reefs in that a little disturbance could take decades to resolve itself!

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

As the path travels upwards, you come across these boiling vats of mud. This are is what the trail was named for. And just a little further you’ll find what’s called Fumeroles which are boiling spewing mud shooting out of the ground. There are several other small geysers and pools throughout this area as well.

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

The Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park is beyond colorful!

About 1/2 way through the trail you come across this geyser called Clepsydra which is Greek for ‘water clock’. It used to erupt every 3 minutes,. But now is erupts pretty much all day long, so it’s a great photo op!

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

The Fountain Paint Pots Trail is a loop, so you’ll start and end where the photo below was taken. I hope you enjoyed today’s Yellowstone National Park adventure, and there will be few more to come!

Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

Fact: Did you know, Yellowstone was the very first National Park in the United States? Somehow, I didn’t know that even though I live about 7 hours from it.

Update: You can find each of our Yellowstone posts in my 10 Tips for Visiting Yellowstone National Park. I put together everything we learned into that post. And at the end each place we visited is linked so you can read about them individually!

6 thoughts on “Fountain Paint Pots Trail in Yellowstone National Park”

  1. It looks so beautiful. I really want to get there one time. I am German and lived in New Zealand for a year. I was wondering why the Americans (or Native Americans) didn’t settle in this area? Or did they and were moved in course of time? New Zealanders resp. Maori were living/settling directly next to such spots. I mean you also have a national park like Wai o tapu but there are also smaller bubbling pools and hot mud directly next to their houses in Rotorua. Do you know about that? I find this very interesting.
    All the best!

    Reply
    • I’m not sure if they ever settled in the Yellowstone area, that would be something interesting the check out though. I don’t know a lot about New Zealand, but it’s on the top of our list to backpack there whenever travel opens up again!

      Reply
  2. When the kid’s are older we will have to take this trip. Nice pics. I can get a real feel for the hike.

    Reply
  3. These have always been one of my favorite places to see in Yellowstone. I vividly remember my sixth grade trip there and being fascinated by the colorful pots and how gorgeous they are. I always wished they were cold so I could go swimming in them. 🙂

    Reply
    • The gorgeous colors are truly amazing! All that boiling water sure makes it incredibly hot in July, we had to find a nice cold river for a refreshing swim! 🙂

      Reply

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