Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park

Geysers, springs, and pools galore! Yellowstone National Park is definitely known for all of the thermal features. With ten days to spend between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park, there was a lot to explore. There are some can’t miss geyser basins, and others that are a bit over-rated. I feel like part of the “over-rated” piece is that we saw so many features by the end they didn’t seem unique. Either way, I have all the details below for what we saw, and what I feel like is cannot miss. The “know before you go” advice I have for Yellowstone National Park is to be prepared for crowds. And of course the smells that come along with thermal features. Check out more about the thermal features at Yellowstone on the National Parks Website.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

West Thumb Geyser Basin was the first stop we made in Yellowstone National Park. It is centrally located within the park with great views of Lake Yellowstone. It features a 0.5 mile boardwalk loop, making this is a quick stop! The loop takes you past the thermal features and along the lake shore. Several of the geyser features are actually in the lake. This is what makes this area so unique compared to the other geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park. I would definitely classify this as a cannot miss geyser basin within Yellowstone.

Upper Geyser Basin

Home to Old Faithful and about 40 other geysers and springs, Upper Basin is the most iconic stop in Yellowstone National Park. We stopped in here on our first day in the park and on one of our last days. I ventured off to see Old Faithful and explore one of the boardwalk loops. They took me along Firehole River past sawmill geyser, castle geyser and many many more. There is a schedule for the main geysers in the basin, posted on the main walking path. So if you plan to spend the day here exploring, check that out.

I spent about 4 hours over two days exploring this geyser basin. In reality you could spend an entire day here. Upper Geyser Basin is also the location of one of the lodges for Yellowstone National Park and the main visitors center. There are also several longer, off boardwalk hiking option that take you farther away from the crowds of in the upper geyser basin

Black Sand Basin

Black Sand Basin does have its own parking lot, but is also accessible via a paved walking path from Upper Geyser Basin. The basin itself is on the smaller side compared to some of the other ones. It features several colorful pools and geysers, including Cliff Geyser. This was probably my favorite geyser on the trip. We somehow got super lucky with our timing at many of the geyser basins, including Black Sand Basin. Cliff Geyser was actively going off during our stop, as well as some of the smaller geysers in the basin. It was a really cool stop that was just a preview of what was to come with the vibrant colors of the pools and springs.

One thing about all the geyser basins that I found so interesting – even though they are all so close together geographically all the pools, springs, and geysers are so massively different. Some are clear, some are murky, some have vibrant colors while others are more muted.

Biscuit Basin

Biscuit Basin sits along Firehole River – as does Upper Geyser Basin. The features here are primarily pools and springs. While there is a dedicated parking lot of Biscuit Basin, it is also connected to Upper Basin via a paved walking path. The basin also has the trail head to Mystic Falls, as well as backcountry connector trails. We spent a decent amount of the day in this area! We did the “quick” hike to Mystic Falls and continued up to the overlook of Biscuit Basin. Check out the blog dedicated to that hike here! Within the basin Sapphire Pool was my favorite! Its crystal clear blue water was just amazing.

Midway Basin

Midway Basin features the iconic Grand Prismatic Spring as well as Excelsior Geyser plus many many other smaller features. A big pro tip for this geyser basin is to go check out the observation point for Grand Prismatic. The view from above is significantly better than the view from the basin boardwalk of Grand Prismatic. The parking area for the view point is about half a mile down the road from the parking area for the Midway Geyser Basin. Even with the two separate parking areas and viewing areas, expect crowds. We did not make it up to the observation point since we had already done about 5 miles of hiking that day. But even still the boardwalk views were really inspiring.

Excelsior Geyser Crater — Firehole River

Mud Volcano

While most of the geyser basins are located near each other on the west side of Yellowstone National Park, Mud Volcano is located on the east side of the park. We made this stop on the way to Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. My favorite feature at this basin is called Dragons Mouth. I felt like it was the most unique… it was also the most smelly. Sadly the large loop trail at the Mud Volcano Basin was closed when we stopped due to bear activity. I really wanted to stop back by this area later in the trip but we just didn’t make it over to this part of the park again. This was also one of the first stops we made where we saw some of the wildlife of Yellowstone National Park – Bison! The other thing I LOVED about this stop was the wildflowers.

Mammoth Hot Springs

I will tell you dear readers that Mammoth Hot Springs was the most disappointing stop on our visit. The area is built up as THE thermal feature in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park. It features terraced hot springs. Initially, due to the massive flooding events in Yellowstone just 1 month prior to our visit, we did not think we would even be able to see this area. Luck was in our favor, the road opened just a week before my trip.

Due to the changing landscape of the park many of the springs in this area have dried up. Certain areas of Mammoth Hot Springs were obviously still gorgeous. Overall though, I was definitely disappointed with this stop. Never the less check out the photos below and make your own decisions about whether to skip this stop or make it a priority.

Before you go

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Yellowstone National Park is MASSIVE! Looking at maps it honestly does not do the vastness of the park justice. It is so huge, and with that size comes a good amount of time to get from place to place. We stayed on the south side of the park. This was a great central location for going between Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. However it did make several days SUPER long – especially driving to the more northern parts of the park. If I was to return, I would definitely re-locate where I was staying to see different parts of the park to reduce driving times.

There is so much to do! Even being in the area for 10 days we barely scratched the surface. Primarily hitting the more touristy things to do in the park. I would love to return and check out other things we missed.

Like most national parks, Yellowstone is not very dog friendly. Rightfully so with all the thermal features. My pup Winter sat out on this adventure. The park fees are standard, and they do honor the national parks pass if you have one, which of course we did.

There is so much more to Yellowstone National Park than just the geyser basins! Check out the National Parks Page on the website to see all the other adventures we had over our 10 days visit. These adventures include: