Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Upper Geyser Basin Table of Contents

• Interactive map and geyser tour
• Photographs
• Tours of the geyser basins
• Old Faithful Geyser
• Geyser Hill; thermal features near Old Faithful
• Castle-Grand Group
• Giant-Grotto Group
• Daisy Group
• Morning Glory-Riverside Group
• Biscuit Basin
• Black Sand Basin
• Trails of the Upper Geyser Basin

Map and Geyser Tour

Map of the Upper Geyser Basin, showing all roads, trails and named thermal features, 71 of which are linked to detailed description and photograph pages.

Photographs

Upper Geyser Basin (main area), Biscuit and Black Sand Basins.

Tours of the Geyser Basins

Explore the geysers and waterfalls, starting from Jackson or West Yellowstone.

Old Faithful Geyser

Like many of Yellowstone's larger geysers, Old Faithful was named by the 1870 Washburn Expedition, the first modern day explorers of this region, on account of its regularity, discharging as it does every 45 to 90 minutes to heights of 180 feet, with the interval proportional to the duration of the previous eruption, though this geyser is none of the tallest, most impressive, prettiest or most frequently erupting. But it is definitely the most watched since it is right next to the carpark, the visitor center and Yellowstone Lodge. The geyser is half encircled by a curved, raised viewing area, 300 feet from the vent, allowing up to 2,000 people to see the performance, and the full compliment are often present on busy days in midsummer. Depending on the amount of steam and the wind direction, Old Faithful may be difficult to photograph effectively; the best views are often from above at Observation Point, 250 feet up and 1/4 mile away in the hills on the far side.

Geyser Hill

Walking northwards from Old Faithful, the first group is at Geyser Hill, on the far side of the Firehole River - over 40 geysers are found here, together with other vents and pools, spread over an elevated area that gives good views up and down the valley. A boardwalk loops around the hill and an extension climbs to Observation Point for an even better perspective, continuing on to Solitary Geyser, a large pool in a clearing in the woods surrounded by colorful mineral deposits. On Geyser Hill, the biggest geysers are twice-daily Beehive, and Giantess, which erupts only occasionally. The main opening of Anemone Geyser is circled by delicate sinter formations and discharges about every 10 minutes to heights of 10 feet, with a second, smaller vent also frequently active. Doublet Pool has two adjacent springs filled by deep blue waters, surrounded by flat terraces. Other notable features are the Lion Group, Aurum Geyser, Pump Geyser, Sponge Geyser and Plume Geyser.

Castle-Grand Group

The other geyser groups receive proportionally fewer visitors the further away they are from the carpark. Next is Castle-Grand; Castle Geyser has a huge cone that points to it being one of the oldest in the whole basin. It erupts quite dramatically on average every ten hours and is one of five that has estimated times posted at the visitor center, as does Grand Geyser. This is one of the highlights of the park, reaching heights of 200 feet and producing a great fountain of steam and water lasting for around ten minutes in several bursts, with performances every 7 to 15 hours. Nearby Turban and Vent geysers are part of the same system, usually spouting before and after the main event. Also near Grand is Spasmodic Geyser, and as the name suggests, this erupts irregularly to different heights, through several interconnected vents. Two beautiful hot springs in this area are Twilight Spring and Crested Pool.

Giant-Grotto Group

The Giant-Grotto Group comprises a small collection either side of the Firehole River. Grotto Geyser is photogenic even when not erupting because of its unusual, multipart cone, though it does discharge forcefully for up to 10 hours, with intervals varying from an hour to two days. Two smaller adjacent geysers, Spa and Rocket, are linked to Grotto via underground channels. Giant Geyser is also most notable for its cone, 12 feet tall, as its eruptions are infrequent and the activity variable, but it can reach heights of 250 feet. The other three main sites are Oblong Geyser, right on the river bank, which is unusual for the very large volume of water discharged, plus two more large blue pools: Beauty and Chromatic.

Daisy Group

The Daisy area is a little further away from the Firehole River, west of the main path, and is centered on Daisy Geyser, another of those with predicted times. This shoots boiling water up to 100 feet at a 70° angle, so on windy days produces a great curtain of whitewater and steam. Intervals between eruptions range from 2 to 4 hours. The cone of Daisy in is the middle of quite a large mineralized plain that also contains the Comet and Splendid geysers. Away from these, the land is more wooded and other thermal features are more isolated. One famous pool is 200°F Punch Bowl Spring, permanently bubbling and encircled by a raised lip of deposited geyserite.

Morning Glory-Riverside Group

The northernmost group on the east side of the Firehole River is Morning Glory-Riverside, based around what could be the prettiest hot spring in all the basin - 23 foot deep Morning Glory Pool. This has a clear, dark blue center and a green-yellow-brown edge, though its beauty has lessened in recent years owing to debris from thoughtless visitors which has clogged the vent and reduced the temperature and hence the brightness of the colors. Nearby are three linked geysers: Fan, Mortar and Spiteful, also adjacent to the river and totalling over ten separate vents which erupt noisly but not predictably, as there could be months or hours between activity. One more large geyser is Riverside, in a trailless area on the east bank of the Firehole, viewable from a spur path on the west side; this is another of the five predicted geysers, erupting every 6 hours to 75 feet.

Biscuit Basin

Biscuit Basin is a compact area of small geysers and springs, on the west side of the Firehole River near its confluence with Iron Spring Creek. All features can be viewed on a short loop trail; there is Mustard Spring, a boiling vent enclosed by rocks coated an attractive yellow-brown color by deposited sulphur, and Saphire Pool, which has particularly clear, bluish water. The main geysers are Shell, Jewel (the highest in the basin - up to 30 feet) and Rusty. From Avoca Spring at the west edge of the basin, a 1.2 mile trail leads along the canyon of the Little Firehole River to 70 foot Mystic Falls.

Black Sand Basin

There are only five main features at Black Sand Basin, one mile west of Old Faithful, but all are interesting. The basin itself contains patches of fine black sand, eroded from obsidian (volcanic glass), and sits on a bend in Iron Spring Creek, a tributary of the Firehole River. A short spur road and then a boardwalk trail leads first to Opalescent Pool, a calm, dark blue, reflective pond made especially beautiful by the stark color contrast with reddish brown algae mats around the edge and silicified white dead trees just beyond. On the opposite side of the creek is the effervescent Cliff Geyser, that erupts irregularly but noisily from a circular vent just a few inches from the stream and at the same level as the water. The biggest pool in the basin is Sunset Lake, often partly obscured by the steam it produces. Two other pretty springs are Emerald Pool and Rainbow Pool.

Hiking in Upper Geyser Basin

All trails in the Upper Geyser Basin

Featured Trails