Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Grand Loop Road cut between the Norris Museum and Porcelain Basin, as shown in this H.C.
Bumpus sketch from 1935.
As you walk through Back Basin, you may wonder what has caused so many trees to fall
and lie about helter-skelter, since they were not burned in the 1988 fires. Lodgepole pines have
a very shallow root system, and when they grow very tall, as these have done, a strong wind
can topple them easily. These trees are mostly about the same age and height; thus, winds have
created a sort of domino effect among them. Park policy is to leave them lying unless they ac-
tually obstruct a path or road.
Turning south (left from the entrance walkway) near the museum, you first encounter
Emer-
ald Spring [GEO.21].
Emerald may bubble due to rising gases, even when its water is below
the boiling point. At times it gets hot enough to actually boil, and then it becomes a muddy
brown color and may erupt as high as 26 feet (8 m).
Emerald Spring is usually a beautiful shade of green, combining deep-blue water with a yellow sulfur-
ous lining.
The next feature of interest is
Steamboat Geyser,
usually steaming or spouting up to 15
feet (3m) from behind a pile of colorfully stained rocks. But on occasion, Steamboat becomes
