Flood Group
Flood Group is a cluster of scalding thermal springs in Gallatin County, Wyoming, just off Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road. The record puts West Yellowstone about fourteen miles away as the nearest town. Close to boiling is the measured temperature. The land is National Park Service, with access open to anyone. You come here to look.
The Grand Loop Road is a tenth-mile off, a short walk. The group sits a little above 7,200 feet, National Park Service land. Cold climate on file. Snow comes to about a hundred and fifty inches a year, with precipitation near thirty. Winters here are long and deep.
The recommended stretch is December to February. With snow like that, ask the park what is even reachable in winter. Short walk, open access. Camping points to Island Park, the Big Springs group area, roughly twenty-one miles out. The water scalds, so keep your distance.
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 Flood Group.
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 northeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 216 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, 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, January 31, 2024. This spring's heat shows up from about 440 miles up. The brightest yellow marks the warmest ground, roughly 21°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.
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Overview Big Springs Group Area is located 22 miles south of West Yellowstone, Montana in beautiful Island Park, Idaho at an approximate elevation of 6,300 feet. Visitors love Island Park for its world-class fishing and outstanding scenery and wildlife viewing opportunities.Recreation Big Springs is the headwaters of Henry's Fork and is one of the largest springs in the country. Henry's Fork is considered one of the best fly-fishing streams in the nation. Fishermen cast for rainbow and brook...
Flood Group sits at 7,235 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 29% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Flood Group 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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