Mammoth Hot Springs - Travertines

Above the town is a complex of thermal springs that form travertines. These have been created here for thousands of years. Every day, more than 2 tons of travertine in solution flow into Mammoth from these springs. Thanks to the huge number of geothermal vents, travertines continue to develop. Here, nature has created its own statue, which bears the name Liberty Cap. We stop at the upper parking lot. They are beautifully colored from a distance. What is very present here is the stench. You can smell sulfur everywhere. For people who have prone stomachs, I believe it might not be pleasant. One sees the power of nature and the great respect for it. After all, I am standing on a thin shell, which is 2 km below which flows magma. Spring water, which is up to 80 ° C, warms me on the footbridges, because I'm only in sandals. I have the opportunity to see unreal shapes that I probably won't see anywhere else in the world. Nature plays with all colors here. Then we descend under this massif and admire it from below. It's amazing how the flowing water that carries travertine creates.

The smell is very present when you arrive.

The water temperature reaches 80 ° C, so there is a risk of scalding.

Wherever travertine is flooded, it kills it.

Creates unique shapes.

Travertines are very unpredictable. They disappear and form elsewhere, sometimes very quickly. Where they were seen this year next year may not be or they will begin to form in a place where they have never been before.

Massive travertine. Probably the largest in Mammoth Hot Springs.

It is estimated that it is a 2,500-year-old 12m high Liberty Cap, which was created by a hot spring that operated in one place for a long time. Its internal pressure was sufficient to raise the water to great heights, allowing mineral deposits to build slowly and continuously for hundreds of years.

Beautifully shaped travertines, which create what you like here. In the middle you can see a gray, ie dead travertine called the Devil's Thumb.