Yellowstone National Park · Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

Norris Geyser Basin Trail

2.8 mi of trail, end to end · about 150 ft of climbing · 7,484 ft–7,593 ft · asphalt, earth, wood surface · trail class Developed, Fully Developed, Minimally Developed · hiking

Visitor centers

7,527 ft 7,548 ft · 0.2 mi high 7,561 ft

Along the way Norris Geyser Basin Museum

Trailhead Norris Geyser Basin Trailhead 7,465 ft Drive there

Norris Geyser Basin Trails the Park Service's write-up

30-90 Minutes · no dogs · Spring, Summer, Fall · season Norris Geyser Basin is only accessible by snowmobile during the winter months.

Start Norris Geyser Basin

People walk down a trail towards a steaming geyser basin.
Photo: NPS / Matt Poyner

Norris is one of the hottest and most acidic of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas. It is part of one of the world’s largest active volcanoes. Many hot springs and fumaroles here have temperatures above the boiling point (200ºF / 93ºC).

Water fluctuation and seismic activity often change features. Norris is near the intersection of three major faults. One runs from the north; another runs from the west. These two faults intersect with a ring fracture from the Yellowstone Caldera eruption 640,000 years ago. These conditions helped to create this dynamic geyser basin.

Notes: Thermal activity throughout this entire area. Stay on the boardwalks and designated trails at all times.

Check out the hike details and accessibility information at the bottom of this page.

Accessibility The trails through the geyser basin are a combination of boardwalks, paved paths, and unpaved paths. The trail leading from the Norris Geyser Basin Museum & Information Station down into both basins is steep and uneven.

This hike on nps.gov

On the parks map

Other trails from the Norris Geyser Basin Trailhead

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About this trail's facts

The lines are the National Park Service's public trails layer, the trailheads and the waterfalls, views, peaks and historic places along them the Service's public points of interest, read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end. The write-ups are the Service's own "things to do" text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the park's own site before you go.