Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and most changeable thermal area in Yellowstone. A trail through Porcelain Basin reveals the barren beauty of rainbow colors, hissing steam and pungent odors. The more heavily wooded Back Basin is encircled by a longer trail.
Bubbling mud holes called Artist Paint Pots (bottom photo), just south of Norris Junction, can be viewed on a loop trail that passes hot springs and a section of forest burned in 1988.
