Riverside/Morning Glory Group
and
Chain Lakes Complex
Riverside/Morning Glory Group: - Map
[Riverside/Morning Glory Group introduction provided by Kyle Chumbley.]
The Riverside/Morning Glory Group contains one of the park’s most regular geysers (Riverside), one of its most famous hot pools (Morning Glory), and several major geysers. The major geysers of the complex are: Riverside, Link, Fan and Mortar. Other geysers include Culvert, North Chain Lake, Spiteful, and the two Sentinel Geysers.
Riverside Geyser is one of the most picturesque in the park, and its isolation makes it highly regular. Fan and Mortar are also isolated, but their spectacular eruptions are still fairly infrequent. Morning Glory Pool, probably the most famous in the park, has suffered such vandalism in the past that it is not what it used to be.
Fan & Mortar Geysers: Click for more information.
Link Geyser: Click for more information.
Marathon Pool: [Map]
Marathon Pool is connected to Grotto Geyser. During a long mode eruption of Grotto, a "marathon", the water level in Marathon Pool will drop a few inches. It then usually takes a few hours for the water level to recover.
After the Giant eruption of 1988, Marathon Pool started erupting at about the time Grotto finished its long mode eruption. These eruptions were 6 feet tall. This behavior only lasted a few weeks. Since then eruptions have been very rare.
Morning Glory Pool: [Map]
Morning Glory Pool has long been considered one of the must see attractions in the Upper Geyser Basin. While pretty, it is not the prettiest pool in the basin much less the park. Its fame came when it was right next to the road and the first attraction most visitors saw when they entered the Upper Geyser Basin. Unfortunately, this fame is also responsible for its present condition. Many visitors, unaware of how fragile the thermal features are, threw coins, rocks and garbage into Morning Glory Pool. Some of these objects found their way to Morning Glory's vent and partially clogged it. Thus, robbing the pool of some of its water flow and cooling it down. As the pool cooled, algae started growing into the pool. The pool is still pretty, but you can no longer see the beautiful blues that gave the pool its name.
You can no longer drive to Morning Glory Pool. It now requires a 1.5 mile walk from the Old Faithful Visitor Center. If Morning Glory was the only thing you'd see along this walk then I question the wisdom of taking the walk, but there is much more to see along this walk than just Morning Glory. All of the geysers and pools listed on this page and many more can be seen along the trails leading to Morning Glory. Take your time along these trail and watch some of the geysers. Don't just rush down the trail to get to the much publicized Morning Glory Pool. You will be disappointed if that is all that you do.
(Morning Glory has been known, on extremely rare occasions, to erupt as a geyser. Because of this, Morning Glory has been induced to erupt in the past in an attempt to clean derbies from its vent. The last few attempts to do this failed. It is possible that there is just too much junk in the vent to allow Morning Glory to erupt any more.)
"Norris Pool": [Pictures] [Map] [Video - external link]
"Norris Pool" is the very unofficial name given to the geyser across the trail from Fan and Mortar Geysers. The name is derived from a strong acid smell that the feature possesed in the 1980s and early 1990s. This smell is characteristic of primarily acid, Norris Geyser Basin.
While thermal features have been known in this location in the past, for almost two decades prior to 1995, this area looked like nothing more than a depression. In sonme parts of the depression, there were even patches of scraggly grass. Then, in late 1995 a muddy pool started to form. It quickly grew into the soupy mudpot that was seen there until September 1998. In the late summer and fall of 1998, the character of Norris Pool changed again. By late September Norris Pool had thickened some and was developing into a nice, highly active, mudpot. Then on October 3, 1998, Norris Pool started erupting as a fountain-type geyser. Early eruptions were very muddy and only reached about a foot over the rim. By the next day, eruptions were reaching several feet over the rim and were washing mud from around the geyser back into the crater. Meanwhile, the water in Spiteful Geyser, located across the road but obviously connected to Norris Pool underground, turned muddy and started erupting regularly, which it hadn't done for months. Subsequent minor eruptions of Lower Mortar Geyser also looked somewhat opaque, indicating a connection with this geyser as well. Interestingly, the water in Fan Geyser remained clear.
As the activity of Norris Pool continued into the Fall of 1998, the geyser eroded accumulated dirt and mud from around its vent revealing the sintered vent of an old hot spring at that location. Also, the water gradually cleared as the mud washed away. By late October, eruption intervals were about 20 to 50 minutes, durations were about 4 to 5 minutes and heights of the bursting play barely reached about 6 feet but on rare occasion reached as much as 10 feet. When it started erupting as a geyser, Norris Pool was about 6'x8', by October 31 it was 12'x16' and at least 7 feet deep. It showed a definite connection to Spiteful Geyser. Spiteful's water level dropped during an eruption of Norris Pool, only to quickly rebound after the eruption had ended. Norris Pool completely emptied after an eruption of Spiteful Geyser and required longer to build to the next eruption than when Spiteful hadn't erupted.
Toward the end of 1998, geyser activity stopped only to resume with renued vigor in August 1999. Some eruptions in the fall of 1999 reached over 15 feet. Larger eruptions of Norris Pool were frequently followed quickly by an eruption of Spiteful Geyser.
Riverside Geyser: Click for more information.
Spiteful Geyser: [Pictures] [Video] [Map]
Spiteful Geyser is located along the same fissure as Fan Geyser. Spiteful erupts from a jagged and deep crater at the trail end of the fissure. Most years Spiteful's eruptions are very rare with only a handful being witnessed but some years it can become quite frequent. Spiteful is a fountain-type geyser. Durations are about 5 minutes and heights are about 15 feet. Late in 1997, Spiteful was frequent and regular with intervals around 4-6 hours.
What to look for:
The eruption starts from a full overflowing pool. There appears to be little if any warning prior to the eruption. Quickly boiling starts towards the middle of the pool and the pool rises. The bursting of the eruption starts slowly but builds throughout the eruption. As the bursting continues, water is washed over the high lips along the side of the pool. In 1997, when the eruption ended, the pool would drain out of sight and the two perpetual spouters that were located on the trail end of the pool would stop. One of the perpetual spouters would restart about 30 minutes after the eruption and the other would restart about 45 minutes after the eruption. It would take the pool 2-3 hours to refill and overflow.
Spiteful will occasionally erupt in a series of two eruptions. The second eruption of the series occurs about an hour after the first and starts from a low pool.
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Complex - Map
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] [ Grand
Group - Map ] [ Grotto
Group - Map
]
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Group - Map
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Group - Map ]
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