Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It's also hundreds if not thousands of years old. A hot spring predating the geyser probably
built up its mound of geyserite, and the cone's lower shelf dates from about AD 1100.
C
ASTLE'S
N
EIGHBORS
T
OWARD THE
R
IVER
Tortoise Shell Spring
boils violently in its geyserite cone. It's one of the hottest springs in
the park—207°F (97°C) or hotter—and seems to have no connection with neighboring Castle
Geyser. According to some close observers, you can visualize not just the shell but the head,
tail, and legs of a tortoise in the spring's shape. Campers in the early days used this super-
heated spring to boil their food.
Crested Pool*
is 42 feet (13 m) deep and sometimes boils as high as 10 feet (3 m). Accord-
ing to one of the first guidebook writers, Harry J. Norton (1873): “For delicacy of coloring and
beauty of ornamentation it surpasses any we visited. It is more quiet than others, yet its sur-
face is gently rippled by constant vibrations.”
Sad to relate, in 1970 a nine-year-old boy was scalded to death in a few seconds in
the superheated water of this pool. The guardrail here and additional warnings of danger
throughout the geyser basins were erected in response to the tragedy. Old names for Crested
Pool, such as Fire Basin and Devil's Well, may have been apt after all.
Back on the main walkway
Across the pavement from Castle is a fenced hot spring called
Shield Pool
for its shape.
Leaving Castle and continuing on the paved trail, you'll pass a meadow where a few
springs quietly give off steam. This area had a short-lived geyser in 1986, when
South Orange
Geyser
erupted quite regularly.
Look through the trees to the right, just before the walkway comes close to the Firehole
River, to see a brilliantly colored mound the shape of a kiln, alive with microorganisms in the
runoff from
Limekiln Springs.
This is a favorite subject for color photographers.
