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| Norris Geyser Basin, September 2023 |
Date: July 18, 2020
Place: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Coordinates: 44.726334, -110.702049
Length: 2.7 miles
Level: easy
Yellowstone is a huge volcanic caldera, where the magma is fairly close to the surface. When water seeps through cracks in the earth's crust it heats up from the magma and rises up again in the form of geysers and hot springs. Yellowstone National Park encompasses many such geothermal basins of varying sizes, each with its own unique features, colors, and odors. The majority of the time I spent in Yellowstone, in all of my three visits there, was on checking out these geothermal basins, trying to see as many of them as I possibly could. Like the Old Faithful Basin, the Norris Geyser Basin was one that I visited in all of my visits. Looking at my photos, while the basic features are the same, the looks of the place was different each time, and so was at least part of the plant community. In this blog post I wrote primarily on my July of 2020 visit with my chikas and their friends as part of the impromptu road trip we took that summer. I also included photos and descriptions from my most recent visit there with my sister last fall, in September of 2023.
On our July 2020, visit me and the youth in my company arrived at the Norris Basin in the morning of our second Day in Yellowstone, after
having visited the Old Faithful Geyser Basin the day before, when we drove up from the Grand Teton National Park. We strolled quickly down the short trail leading from the parking area to the basin. This trail goes through the basin's visitor center, which was closed due to the pandemic, as were all other visitor centers within the park. Past the visitor center the basin loop trail started, and we took to the left, hiking the loop in the clockwise direction.
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| Our hike as captured by my GPS, July 2020 |
On my last visit there with my sister, we arrived at the Norris Geyser in the afternoon, after having visited the Old Faithful Basin earlier that day, and the days were already getting short. We hiked the larger Norris Basin loop only, and hiked it in the counter-clockwise direction. I have however, placed the photos from that visit within the correct location in the description of the 2020 hike. That trail going down to the basin from south starts in the forested area on the slope overlooking the basin.
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| Trail, September 2023 |
We were coming down south on the trail, skirting the basin from the east. When we emerged from the trees we had a lovely view down onto the geyser basin. Steam was emerging from the ground in many places, most of them clustered in small groups. Turquoise colored pools like gems, decorated the basin floor. Every now and then a geyser would erupt, but none of the geysers I've seen erupting there on either of my visits, was in the magnitude of the Old Faithful geyser.
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| Norris Geyser Basin, July 2020 |
The steam holes are fumaroles. The water seeping down the cracks in the earths crust heats up by high level magma and steams right up the crack back into the atmosphere. Fumaroles are very common geothermal feature, but the density of them in the Norris Geyser Basin is incredible.
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| Fumarole, July 2020 |
Thermal pools are another common feature in geothermal areas. Some of these pools are actual hot springs and other pools were just that - depressions in the basin floor where the hot water erupting from the geysers collects and pools into.
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| Geothermal Pools, July 2020 |
From the geysers and hot springs the hot water flows on the surface until it collects in a thermal pool or joins a bigger creek or river. The hot, wet surface this mineral-rich water flows across supports thriving communities of thermophilic microorganisms. These microorganisms add their special colorful tough the the place's overall beauty.
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| Thermal water flow, July 2020 |
There is a spectrum of temperatures in each thermal flow, and a population of microorganisms suited best for a specific temperature range. The greens are the lower temperature range, and that color is given by single cellular algae. Other microorganisms include many thermophilic bacteria, and archaebacteria. Where the artistic eye sees colorful and textural beauty, the biologist eye sees a thriving unique ecosystem that is very local and endemic, as each surface thermal flow, each thermal pool, supports a very specific population of species.
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| Thermal water flow, July 2020 |
The richness of geothermal formations was astounding. The most prominent ones are featured in my photos from all three of my visits there, but others I have seemed to focus on only once, like the mound with a hole that looked like the Beehive Geyser from the Old Faithful Basin.
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| September 2023 |
Another one that I noticed only on my most recent visit at the Norris Geyser Basin was the tin, double geyser that looked like dragon nostrils. It is very possible that on my previous visit I didn't focus on this one because it wasn't active at the time. Geothermal areas are a very dynamic thing.
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| September 2023 |
Just like in the Old Faithful Basin and in the other geothermal basins, the path through the active area was on a raised boardwalk. Stepping off the board walk would be very dangerous, because the soil crust there is very thin and there's a real risk of falling through into the hot water. Besides the danger, extensive human traffic through the area would simply ruin it. The Wind River Shoshone, the native people of Wyoming, did move freely through the geothermal basins and have used the thermal pools for their own enjoyment, knowing well which were safe for human use and which to avoid.
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| Norris Geyser Basin, Fumaroles. July 2020 |
We took our time, trying to appreciate every sight, every geothermal feature we saw. As always, I was attracted to the plant life as well, especially to the plants that were blooming.
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| Goldenrod, July 2020 |
Emerald Spring is one of, if not the largest thermal spring in the Norris Geyser Basin. It is named so after its lovely greenish color, likely to be caused by the population of unicellular thermophilic algae which thrives in this water.
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| Emerald Spring, July 2020 |
The pool is certainly hot - the steam was visible even in the heat of July, but it was even more so in the cool afternoon late in September of 2023.
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| Emerald Spring, September 2023 |
The water of the Emerald Spring is very clear. Approaching it as close as the raised boardwalk allowed, I could see the depressions in its bottom, where the thermal water was springing up into the pool.
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| Emerald Spring, September 2023 |
Crossing the basin is a thin creek of hot water, the water flowing from the hot springs and geysers. It was smaller and more colorful in July of 2020. I assume the hot springs and geysers were also affected by the low precipitation levels of the previous drought winter.
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| July 2020 |
Despite it being later in the season, that same creek looked considerably wider in September of 2023. The 2022-2023 was a good, high precipitation winter and the springs kept their output throughout summer.
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| September 2023 |
Some of the geothermal features didn't look all that impressive, but there was something captivating in this particular pool, that looked a bit like fresh cement waste water.
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| July 2020 |
I'm not sure by what mechanism the water level in that pool is maintained, but it was exactly the same on my 2024 visit, plus a nice clouds reflection.
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| September 2023 |
Curving around Emerald Spring on a different angle brought us close to the colorful area where the spillover water flows out of the spring's pool. A park sign refers to the different colors as a natural thermometer, due to the different preference of temperature range of the different thermophilic microorganisms.
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| Emerald Spring, July 2020 |
Moving on with the hike we crossed an area with fewer geothermal features. There weren't many plants growing there either, but the few that did, were in bloom.
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| Groundsel, July 2020 |
We passed anther gorgeous blue pool. The deep hole in its bottom indicates it being a geyser but if it had a name I missed taking the sign's photo and I don't remember which one it was. It did not erupt on our watch.
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| July 2020 |
Not all deep thermal pools are geysers. Some are simple hot springs. I must admit they did look very inviting, especially in the cool late September day my sister and I visited Norris Basin. During the two centuries and some of the Yellowstone Caldera as a National Park, there were too many people (and dogs) who were fooled by these pools and jumped inside to their demise.
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| September 2023 |
The boardwalk rose on the gentle slope of a forested hill on the southwest side of the Norris Geyser Basin. I clearly loved how this bit of the trail looked because I photographed it again from this exact point on my recurring visit in September of 2023.
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| July 2020 |
I didn't add the second photo form the later hike, but it was there where my sister identified a couple of mushrooms growing on a bed of moss below the raised boardwalk.
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| September 2023 |
Coming across on the other side of the hill we spotted a geyser higher up on the slope. There were no trees near it, and the shooting water pillar was lopsided. According to the information sign this was the Steamboat Geyser, and we were very fortunate to see it erupting because it was a very erratic one. The sign also said that this geyser could erupt twice as high as Old Faithful, but the eruption we have seen was a small one.
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| Steamboat Geyser, July 2020 |
The sign also said that the pool of the nearby Cistern Spring would drain when the Steamboat Geyser would erupt, and take up to tw days to refill. When we came near Cistern Spring right after seeing the eruption of the Steamboat Geyser, the pool was full to the brim. I guess the eruption we've witnessed was too small to drain the pool.
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| Cistern Spring, July 2020 |
The rock sediments surrounding the Steamboat Geyser were very colorful and beautiful. The colors here I supposed, come from the minerals in the sediments rather than from living microorganisms.
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| Rocks and Sediments of Steamboat Geyser |
When I visited the Norris Geyser Basin again n September of 2023, the Steamboat Geyser was quiet. It was on off time.
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| Thistle, July 2020 |
We continued on to the next geyser, which was quiet at the time - the Echinus Geyser. The sign next to it said that this geyser too was erratic with an unpredictable eruption schedule. The sign also said that its water was very acidic and that the lovely color rings around the pool were from metallic minerals deposited by the geyser's eruptions.
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| Echinus Geyser, July 2020 |
This colorful deposits were indeed very impressive. Their texture too was very beautiful. Mother Nature is a true artist.
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Echinus Geyser, July 2020
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To be true, I lost count of the geothermal features we saw that day. There are many of them within the Norris Geyser Basin: geysers, both active and quiet, countless fumaroles, and of course, the hot springs. Each feature had its own haunting beauty. Not all of them had names and explanation signs.
We crossed the cross-basin creek again. Later I found that its name was Tantalus Creek.Tantalus is a figure from the Greek mythology, a man punished by Zeus to spend eternity in perpetual hunger and thirst while fresh water and fruits are just outside of his reach. I wonder what inspired the people who named thus this creek - perhaps seeing good looking water that was not good to drink?
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| Tantalus Creek, September 2023 |
Continuing to the south side of the Norris Geyser Basin we came in view of a chain of small pools that seemed to drain not a geothermal feature, but a larger pond surrounded by thickly grown grass.
The visible part of the pond was pretty small compared to the grassy wetland that extended from it. The grass closer to the water was much redder than the grass growing further from the water source - it was clearly affected by the special traits of that water, either temperature or mineral composition, or both.
Near the trail bloomed other plants - monkeyflowers that were not adapted enough to be as close to the geothermal water as was the red grass but lived and thrived a bit further away.
The trail curved again, crossing the south most tip of the accessible basin area. We ascended a small hill from which we had a nice view on the creek where it continued on, cutting through the basin's floor. The patch of red grass was very large, yet very localized. i wonder what was so special about that particular corner of the Norris Basin. It was another reminder of the unique ecosystem patchwork that geothermal areas are.
I gazed south beyond the trail loop of the Norris Basin. The creek had collected into another series of pools that eventually merged into a larger pond. Steam rose from the water surface, indicating that this water was still very hot, even a bit further from its magmatic heater source.
There were a bunch of fumaroles further towards the western side of the basin. I took more photos of them on my 2023 trip. Perhaps they were more active on my later visit there.
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| September 2023 |
The fumaroles, like the geysers, have their own unique looks, smell, and activity. The variety of these features was amazing.
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| September 2023 |
We continued slowly along the trail, now moving generally north, moving from one fascinating geothermal feature to another. The bubbling mud in the Blue Mud Steam vent reminded me a lot of the Sulfur Works geothermal area in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
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Blue Mud Steam Vent, July 2020
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From the Blue Mud Steam Vent we moved on to the Yellow Funnel Spring. I found the names of these features interesting because the blue mud wasn't blue and the yellow spring wasn't yellow. Perhaps these geothermal features change colors over time, depending on the composition of minerals and microorganisms at the time. Perhaps they wore the corresponding colors when they were named.
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| Yellow Funnel Spring, July 2020 |
The Porkchop Geyser also didn't look anything like a porkchop. There was however, a sign that explained that once the geyser did look like a porkchop, until one day it exploded and lost its shape. Since that explosion it also lost its eruption energy, and is erupting very rarely these days. Ie didn't see it erupting on either of my three visits in the Norris Geyser Basin.
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| Porkchop Geryser, July 2020 |
The Vixen Geyser was erupting when I was there in July 2020, but it was a small eruption, and a very short one.
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| Vixen Geyser, July 2020 |
The boardwalk trail doesn't come near to every geothermal feature within the Norris Geyser Basin. Some of the features we observed from a good distance away. This gave us a nice over all view pount though, and an appreciation of how the geothermal activity fits well with the nature's scenery all around.
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| July 2020 |
Continuing north we came near the Minute Geyser. The sign near the geyser said that it used to erupt up to 70 ft height, but was choked by rocks tossed in by early visitors who thought it amusing.
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| Minute Geyser, July 2020 |
Behind the Minute Geyser was a small patch of low vegetation. When the trail rounded the geyser and came near that patch I noticed there were spiranthes orchids growing there!
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| Irish Lady's Tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, July 2020 |
I called my elder chika and asked here to take a close-up photo of these pretty and unique orchids with her birding camera.
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| Irish Lady's Tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, July 2020 |
The trail's proximity to Minute Geyser suggested that it was made after the geyser was clogged. I wonder what would happen if it will erupt again in it's former strength. I probably wouldn't want to be this close to it.
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| Minute Geyser, July 2020 |
Close to completing the larger loop of the Norris Geyser Basin there was a beautiful turquoise-colored pool. The trail was too far from it to take a good photo from the level of the basin floor but on my last visit I took a photo of that pool from the upper trail, with a broad view of the south area of the Norris Basin, and the mountain beyond it.
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| September 2023 |
North if the main loop trail was a shorter loop to Porcelain Basin. My sister and I didn't go there on our visit last September. We completed the larger, south loop trail, then sat for a while, looking at the geothermal features from above.
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| September 2023 |
I diverted a little to look at a tiny bubbling pool that steamed off not far from where we sat down. It was getting late in the afternoon, but I wanted to the my sister to Mammoth Hot Springs Basin in the northwest part of Yellowstone National Park, still so eventually we got up and returned to the car.
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| September 2023 |
On my 2020 visit with the youth, we also planned to go to Mammoth Hot Springs right after the Norris Geyser Basin hike. Since we hiked at Norris Basin in the morning, and the days were much longer too, we had plenty of time still, so I decided to go on the shorter, Porcelain Basin loop.
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Crackling Lake, July 2020
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The youth didn't want to join me so I left them sitting on the benches up the main trail and went quickly through the Porcelain Basin Loop.
I haven't taken many photos on that addendum hike, but as I was going down the trail my chika photographed me.
When I returned from my little solo loop hike I gathered the youth and we marched up the main access trail through the lovely pine forest back to the parking area.
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July 2020
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