The best time to see Norris Geyser Basin is early in the morning, before crowds arrive.
We got there by 7 AM and were very happy that the parking lot was empty. First of all, we wanted to see the main attraction, Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest currently active geyser. We heard that it was active again and may erupt anytime now.
Even when not in erupting state, Steamboat is visible from afar.
Close by, Steamboat is very loud and steamy. It totally deserves its name. We saw some people with a private tour who were waiting at the site of the geyser in hopes of seeing the eruption. They told us that the indicators show that the eruption may start soon. When soon? Today, tomorrow, or in a week… Steamboat’s eruptions are hard to predict.
However, even in its dormant state, Steamboat is a magnificent geyser.
We decided that we could not wait an unknown amount of time hoping for an eruption and went on to explore nearby sites. A very easy trail goes around the site. It took us about 2 hours to go around the all the trails including many photo-stops.
The trail goes in a loop, and as we went along, the lighting changed with each turn producing unexpected landscapes.
There was a nice little geyser that was erupting every minute or so. It was quite erratic in a sense that it was going on every couple of minutes and sometimes the steam was quite high. We did not see a big eruption when the geyser goes up 30 feet but we still had fun.
Further along the path, we found a whole field of fumaroles, high heat vents (about 280F, 138C). They look very dramatic, especially in combination with sunlight.
The last stop we made was at Porcelain Basin. It was probably named that way because its vents are colored in soft, milky tones. The coloration is cased by slowly accumulating mineral deposits called siliceous sinter.
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