More Yellowstone

 There are two options for mechanized travel into Yellowstone in the winter: snow machines or snow coaches. We generally opt for the warmer, quieter choice of the snow coach which also has the advantage of leaving the driving to someone else so you are able to enjoy the scenery.

When you travel by coach, you get to make several planned stops going in and out. After almost a decade of snow coach travel, making the exact same stops every year, we are pretty much experts in the scheduled vistas. That doesn't mean we are tired of them, just that we get to wander as the driver goes through his canned speech at each location.

On the way out from Old Faithful, headed toward Mammoth, one of the obligatory stops is Fountain Paint Pots. The guides are quick to point out that this is a rare location consisting of all four types of the thermal features found in the Park. Hot springs can be seen, of course, as well as fumeroles or steam vents.
Mud pots, depicted in the first photo above, are always a crowd pleaser. And the classic feature of Yellowstone Park, geysers, are also in evidence.

 One of the snow coaches could be seen heading north as we made our way around Fountain Paint Pots.

 There are numerous small geysers in the area including some that spout water and steam every couple of minutes 24/7!

 One of the givens at Fountain Paint Pots is that you will see huge ravens in the parking lot. The snowmobilers are told to make sure they do not leave any food in the packs on their machines but for some reason there is always someone who doesn't listen.

When we arrived this raven was easily undoing the zipper on this backpack. He looked quite proud of himself as he proceeded to pull out a whole sandwich which he took to share with another raven nearby.