Tag Archives: paint pots

Kootenay National Park lies just west of Banff on the eastern (i.e. wetter) part of the Continental Divide.  It’s a great park to drive through , especially popular with antique car owners in the summer, with grand vistas.  Situated in this vast landscape is a small place covering a few acres, where large amounts of pigmented material lies on the earth’s surface.

I discovered the Paint Pots while exploring trails in this area.  There are three “pots”, formed by cold mineral springs with deposits of iron oxide rich soil around them.  As these deposits increase the rim is elevated — hence forming a “pot” instead of just a pool.  The water is a greenish (where a …

Read More