Sight · Yellowstone National Park
A quiet pool with a very loud history.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yellowstone Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yellowstone National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Yellowstone audio tourRecorded for this place
Norris Geyser Basin“You're coming up on the entrance to Norris Geyser Basin, where I'd allow about an hour to explore on foot. For a shorter visit, choose Porcelain Basin, an open sweep of pale ground, blue pools and hissing vents.”
Plays as you drive up to Porkchop Geyser in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“First time driving through a national park. We used the Yellowstone tour on grand loop Road and it’s just like having a tour guide in your car with you.”
Guide
Porkchop Geyser is a small, gently roiling hot spring beside the boardwalk at Norris Geyser Basin. It’s not a predictable eruption stop anymore; I’d pause for the fractured rim and the story behind it. The pool can look quiet beside all that rock, so expect geology more than a show.
The spring was once a roughly 3-meter pool with a porkchop-shaped opening and small, irregular eruptions. In 1985 it became a continuous spouter, sending water 6 to 9 meters into the air for more than four years. Its roar carried about 2 kilometers, and winter spray built ice cones over 7 meters tall.
On September 5, 1989, the geyser suddenly exploded. Blocks over a meter across were uprooted; smaller pieces traveled over 60 meters. The blast left a crater over 10 meters wide; the old pool shape was gone. Scientists think a narrow vent that had been throttling the eruptions failed, letting pressure drop quickly. The hot spring now roils gently in the crater. Stay on boardwalks and designated trails: hydrothermal water can cause severe burns.
Wildlife
713 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
743 sightingsWolfMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
5,273 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
3,258 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
397 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,494 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yellowstone. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyPorcelain Basin Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.4 mi awayLoop past steaming geysers and vivid runoff in a pale basin.
EasyBack Basin Trail1.5 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.4 mi awayA wooded thermal loop with geysers scattered through the pines.
ModerateSolfatara Creek Trail6.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 1.3 mi awayA long thermal creek walk through forest, meadows, and hot springs
EasyArtists Paintpots Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.4 mi awayA short loop past bubbling mud and a steep climb.
ModerateMonument Geyser Basin Trail2.4 mi · 2 hr · 3.2 mi awayA steep climb from the Gibbon River to a pale thermal basin.
EasyIce Lake Trail1 mi · 45 min · 3.6 mi awayA short forest walk to the western edge of Ice Lake.
EasyWolf Lake Trail2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 4 mi awayA short waterfall walk through Yellowstone's forest and wet meadows.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayMinute GeyserA low spout and a cautionary story about visitor damage.
Sight · 0.3 mi awaySteamboat GeyserThe world’s tallest active geyser—and you can’t plan its eruptions.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayEchinus GeyserA 66-foot acidic geyser with sea-urchin spines around a red rim.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayEmerald SpringSulfur yellow and reflected blue light make this hot spring emerald.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayNorris Geyser Basin Museum and Information StationA 1930 stone and log museum opens onto Norris’s geothermal story.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayPorcelain Basin OverlookA short boardwalk reveals changing colors across a thermal basin.
Picnic area · 1.1 mi awayNorris Meadows Picnic AreaA quieter riverside lunch stop near Norris Basin
Sight · 1.2 mi awayMuseum of the National Park RangerA small log museum traces Yellowstone's ranger profession.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
