Echinus Geyser
Scalding and sharply acidic, Echinus Geyser is a geyser inside Yellowstone National Park, in the Gallatin County corner of Wyoming. The record puts West Yellowstone about two miles off. When the Geological Survey sampled the water in 2007 it came out hotter than anything you would want near skin, with a pH low enough to count as strongly acidic. There is no soaking in water like that. This is a geyser to stand back from, on National Park Service ground that anyone may visit.
A few hundred feet separate the geyser from the Grand Loop Road, so getting there is a short walk, well under a quarter mile. The ground is high, around seven and a half thousand feet. The climate on file is cold year round, and snow totals run past a hundred and thirty inches. Winter buries this place. The land belongs to the National Park Service as part of Yellowstone.
Deep winter, December through February, is the season rated best here, and that coincides with the heaviest snow, so check what the park has open before building a trip around it. From the road it is a short walk, and access is public. The nearest camping is Indian Creek Campground, a bit under twelve miles off. Scalding water. Keep back from the edge and hold onto children, because contact will burn.
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 Echinus Geyser.
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
- Valley floor
- Gentle slopes rise on both sides.
- Highest ground nearby
- 76 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
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.
Landsat's thermal camera passed over on a clear winter day, December 5, 2020. This spring's heat shows up from about 440 miles up. The brightest yellow marks the warmest ground, roughly 20°F warmer than the land around it.
Drag to compare. The view is about 2½ miles across, and each thermal pixel covers roughly 300 feet of ground, so individual pools blur into one warm patch.
Thermal: Landsat 8/9 surface temperature, USGS (public domain), via Microsoft Planetary Computer. Aerial: USGS The National Map. More springs seen from space.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 84% 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.
The water at Echinus Geyser is acidic (pH 3.4). It is notably rich in sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation), chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits), and iron (iron-rich springs may support circulation).
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Overview Located about eight miles (13 km) south of Mammoth Hot Springs on the road to Norris, Indian Creek Campground—elevation 7,300 feet (2225 m)—sits near the base of the Gallatin Mountains and offers breathtaking views of Electric Peak. The area offers easy access to fishing and hiking. The campground is away from the main road and provides a quieter, more primitive, experience than many other locations. For reservations at the campgrounds managed by Yellowstone National Park Lodges (Fi...
Echinus Geyser sits at 7,510 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 30% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Echinus Geyser 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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