Forest 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.
Forest Springs is a thermal spring in Yellowstone National Park, Gallatin County, Wyoming, that the record lists as hot without a measured temperature. The nearest town on file is West Yellowstone, roughly fourteen miles. Getting there involves a hike from South Rim Drive. It is on National Park Service land and open to the public. There is no photograph on record and no water chemistry.
South Rim Drive is the closest road and the walk from it runs a bit over a mile. This is high ground, close to 7,750 feet. The climate on file is cold and snowy, with an average temperature in the low thirties and about a hundred and thirty-five inches of snow a year. Land is National Park Service.
There are no best months on record, so let the climate decide: winters are deeply snowed in and the season is whatever the park allows on South Rim Drive. It is a hike in, on public land. For camping, Tower Fall Campground is the closest listed, roughly thirteen miles off. The temperature has never been taken, so treat the water as unknown and stay away from it until you know more.
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 Forest Springs.
- Setting
- Gentle slope
- The ground tilts gently up to the east.
- Highest ground nearby
- 68 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the east
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 89% 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 Tower Fall Campground—elevation 6,600 feet (2012 m)—is on the north side of the steep, winding, road to Dunraven Pass. The campground is near the Tower General Store and Tower Fall. The Lamar Valley, with spectacular wildlife viewing opportunities, is nearby as are several Day Hikes in the Tower and Northeast Area. Roosevelt Lodge, a short drive from the campground, offers dining and horseback riding. For reservations at the campgrounds managed by Yellowstone National Park Lodges (F...
Forest Springs sits at 7,740 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 31% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Forest Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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