I am sometimes amazed at how volcanic some places are. I think of Hawaii as being volcanic, of course, but California? Wyoming? And yet these places are volcanic hotspots in their own way. I love visiting Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The mountain itself is a volcano, though quite old and as it is no longer spewing magma, it has been converted into a massive ski resort. Just a few miles from Mammoth mountain is a flat sort of desert area with a creek. If you drive along the old pot-hole infested road that follows the creek you come to some hot springs. This picture was a valiant attempt to capture the beauty of these hot springs. The water seeps down into the ground and gets heated up by the volcanic activity below (not that far below, which always makes me a bit nervous). The hot water then comes bubbling back up to the surface as hot springs. The color is amazing. Blue and green and sometimes red. The green is usually because of nasty bacteria and fungi growing in the nice, warm water, which also makes it smell. The water itself smells sulfurous, reminding one of rotten eggs or the gates of hell, depending on your perspective and prior life experience. There was a no trespassing sign and fence because people used to bathe in the warm water and then get boiled alive. (For a detailed description of this process, see the book Haunted, by Chuck Palahniuk). I wonder whether there is a no trespassing sign at the gates to hell.