Punch Bowl Spring, the Most Beautiful in Yellowstone Nat. Park. Wyo.

Publication

Punch Bowl Spring, the Most Beautiful in Yellowstone Nat. Park. Wyo.

Description

PUNCH BOWL SPRING, MOST BEAUTIFUL IN YELLOWSTONE NAT. PARK, WYO. The Punch Bowl, easily the msot symmetrical and beautiful hot spring of its type in the Park, we encounter about a mile and a half N. of Old Faithful Inn. It is the crowning gem in a group of rarely lovely companions. Among them are the Daisy Geyser, Splendid Geyser (quiescent since 1892), Bonita Pool, Brilliant Pool and Comet Pool and the White Pyramid geyserite mound. The Punch Bowl, elevated upon a mound about 5 ft. above the surrounding level, holds its pool of bubbling water imprisoned in a perfect circlet of glitering, colored formation, some 10 ft. in diameter and 18 inches high, like a flashing saphire set in a hand of enameled gold. The gorgeous rim of sinter deposit, molded by the waters into elaborate and delicate forms, has been colored by algae in mingled shades of red, burnt orange and yellow, brown and olive green. All around the crest of the brilliantly decorated rim the agitated water, incessantly boiling over, has carried the coloring matter in runnels down the slope of the mound. Thus is lent to the whold formation, viewed from the little distance, a barbaric beauty unlike that of any other spring in existence. (View looking S. W. Elev. 7,300 ft. Lat. 45° N.; Long. 111° W.)