Artists Paintpots
Artists Paintpots is a cluster of scalding thermal features in Yellowstone National Park, with West Yellowstone the nearest town on the record. The water is near boiling and sharply acidic, with iron among the minerals sampled. Public access is open. A photo is on file.
It is a walk of about a third of a mile from an unnamed road, on National Park Service ground in the high country of the park. Snow buries the place all winter, and the mid thirties is what the year averages out to. Indian Creek Campground, thirteen or so miles off, is the nearest on record.
Winter months rate best on file. The water scalds on contact and the acidity on record is strong. Park rules apply. No separate fee is listed. Chemistry dates to a 2006 USGS sample.
OpenStreetMap spells the name Artists' Paintpots, with the apostrophe. The USGS maintains a site record here and sampled the water in September 2006.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Artists Paintpots.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the south.
- Highest ground nearby
- 470 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
A slice through the ground from north to south, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 82% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Artists Paintpots is acidic (pH 5.4). It is notably rich in chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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Overview Located about eight miles (13 km) south of Mammoth Hot Springs on the road to Norris, Indian Creek Campground—elevation 7,300 feet (2225 m)—sits near the base of the Gallatin Mountains and offers breathtaking views of Electric Peak. The area offers easy access to fishing and hiking. The campground is away from the main road and provides a quieter, more primitive, experience than many other locations. For reservations at the campgrounds managed by Yellowstone National Park Lodges (Fi...
Artists Paintpots sits at 7,400 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 30% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Artists Paintpots is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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