Yellowstone: Norris Geyser Basin

On By nationalparkswithtIn Wyoming
Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

Wyoming 2023 Trip➤

In September of 2023, my husband and I set out to explore some National Park units in the state of Wyoming. We visited Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park, The John D. Rockefeller Parkway, and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. In Yellowstone National Park, we visited the Norris Geyser Basin.

Yellowstone National Park➤

President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law in 1872. This created America’s (and the world’s) first National Park. The US Army managed the park from the late 1800s through 1916 when the National Park Service was created.

The park sits on top of a massive super volcano. As a result, over half of the worlds geysers and geothermal features reside in Yellowstone. It’s also famous for being home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope. One of our guides compared touring Yellowstone’s Valleys to taking an African Safari.

This park is huge at 3500 square miles in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Divided into two large loops, the park road takes visitors to the main sites. The Lower Loop Road is 96 miles while the Upper Loop is 142 miles.

Norris Geyser Basin➤

For our second day in Yellowstone, we took a guided tour of the Upper Loop with Covered Ground Tours. This included stops in Shoshone National Forest, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin and a wildlife safari through Lamar Valley.

Norris Geyser Basin sits on the intersection of two major fault lines, creating an environment rich in geothermal activity. It has the hottest and most acidic geothermal features in Yellowstone.

The basin is divided into two main areas: Porcelain Basin and Back Basin. Porcelain Basin is characterized by its stark white appearance due to the silica deposits, while Back Basin has a more diverse range of geothermal features.

Norris Geyser Basin is named after Philetus Norris, who was the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, serving from 1877 to 1882. Norris played a significant role in the early development and management of the park and mapped many of the features found in Norris Geyser Basin.

Yellowstone Posts➤

Location: Grand Loop Road, Wyoming
Designation: National Park
Date designated/established: March 1, 1872
Date of my visit: September 25, 2023

2 thoughts on “Yellowstone: Norris Geyser Basin”

  1. We were reminded of the Yellowstone geysers a few days ago on the Oregon Coast where the Spouting Horn at Cooks Chasm looked pretty much the same although the cause was different: Ocean waves forcing water into a cave with a hole on top where the water is shot out of due to the pressure. I featured it in my last post.

    Reply

Leave a Reply