We stopped at Norris Geyser Basin on our way back from Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to our lodging in West Yellowstone. Home to Steamboat Geyser, the Norris Basin is an easily accessible area full of different water features. There is a good size parking lot with plenty of overflow parking. There is also a good display center and bathrooms here. When you get to the trailhead, you have options. To the left before the museum, you can start the trail for the back basin heading towards Steamboat. You could go right, pass through (and stop and see) the museum, and then head on towards Porcelain Basin. The Back Basin trail is about 2 miles and is mostly boardwalks. There is a marked cut off so you do not have to hike the whole two miles (we did the shorter version). The Porcelain Basin is shorter. Either route will take you past many water features. We did not hike Porcelain Basin, but we did take a minute at the top of the hill to look over the Basin before departing.
The thermal features were interesting, but I would not say they were my favorite. I would characterize it as “thermal fatigue” (lol). I saw a few, got the idea, and was ready to move on. My husband did not agree and I think the kids liked them to some degree. So, we hiked a bit and saw a bunch of thermals.
While the back basin does have a boardwalk, again, as with most places at Yellowstone, I am still not going to recommend a stroller. I saw one stroller family back near Veteran Geyser and they did seem to be struggling a bit. The trail is not completely boardwalk, so you do have some nearly mud patches. In addition, the boardwalk that is there is not flat and would make for a bumpy ride. Baby wearing would be great as the hike is otherwise not all that difficult.
The boardwalk does go over and near thin crust areas. There are many signs posted and many stories online of people stepping off the boardwalks and seriously injuring themselves or dying. I was terrified my kids would step off or be playing around and fall off. Thankfully, they did not. We had an honest discussion about it EVERY time we got out of the car by a thermal feature and they were closely supervised at all times. My kids are nine and five (nearly 6). If you have a wandering toddler or an otherwise non-listening child of any age, please consider a strategy before you take them to any of these places. They are dangerous.
While this is a pretty easy spot and you do see many thermal features, IF you only have time for ONE stop to see geysers, the area around Old Faithful is better.
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