Butte Springs
Butte Springs is a scalding thermal spring in Yellowstone National Park, about twenty-six miles from West Yellowstone, off East Entrance Road. The water is far too hot to touch. Park Service land, open access. Photo on file.
East Entrance Road is the nearest road, a fifth of a mile away on foot. Close to eight thousand feet, with heavy winter snow and a cold yearly average. Threemile Campground is about sixteen miles distant.
December through February rank highest. Scalding water; keep back. No fee listed. Nothing about water chemistry or a sample date is recorded.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Butte Springs.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the east.
- Highest ground nearby
- 151 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the east
A slice through the ground from west to east, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 22% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
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Overview Threemile Campground is located just three miles from the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park, and 50 miles from the full service gateway community of Cody, in northwestern Wyoming. The area is an ideal destination for a family getaway, with many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Hard-sided camp trailers and RVs are required.Recreation Great opportunities for hiking, fishing, scenic driving and wildlife viewing are available around the campground. The North Fork of the Sho...
Butte Springs sits at 7,959 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 32% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Butte Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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