Artist Paint Pots

Yellowstone National Park


The multicolored springs and fountains along a pleasant 1-mile loop hike southwest of Norris are interesting, but it's the ill-mannered belching and farting mud puddles that inspire visitors to say things like, 'This is way more fun than a geyser.'


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Yellowstone National Park attractions

1. Back Basin

2.58 MILES

Two miles of boardwalks and gentle trails snake through Norris' forested Back Basin. The main show here is Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest active…

2. Norris Museum

2.81 MILES

This tiny museum was the park's first, opening in 1930. Displays focus on the underground plumbing that makes Yellowstone's thermal features so unique.

3. Norris Geyser Basin

2.84 MILES

Norris Geyser Basin comprises Porcelain Basin and Back Basin, accessed through two connecting loops. If the world's tallest geyser, Steamboat Geyser, isn…

4. Porcelain Basin

2.94 MILES

One mile of boardwalks loop through Porcelain Basin, the park’s hottest exposed basin. (The name comes from the area’s milky deposits of sinter, also…

5. Museum of the National Park Ranger

3.62 MILES

The historic log Norris Soldier Station (1908), one of only three stations left from the era of the park's army control, now houses this small museum,…

6. Ojo Caliente Hot Spring

10.37 MILES

Just beyond the Fountain Flat Dr parking lot is this pool, which empties into the river. Just south of the bridge is the trail to Sentinel Meadows.

7. Fountain Paint Pot

10.69 MILES

Just past pretty Silex Spring, Fountain Paint Pot is a huge bowl of plopping goop that ranks as one of the biggest in the park. The action is sloppiest in…

8. Brink of the Lower Falls

12.15 MILES

The first of the North Rim viewpoints leads down a steep 0.75-mile trail, descending 600ft for exciting close-up views of the tumbling white water as the…

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