Fountain Group
Fountain Group, Gallatin County, Wyoming: a set of scalding thermal springs a fifth of a mile off the Grand Loop Road inside Yellowstone. The temperature on file sits near boiling. West Yellowstone, the closest town, is a little over eleven miles by the record. Park Service land, open to all. Soaking does not enter into it.
A short walk, about a fifth of a mile, separates the group from the Grand Loop Road. Elevation sits around 7,250 feet on National Park Service land inside Yellowstone. Snowfall on file is heavy, roughly a hundred and forty inches a year, with an annual average temperature in the mid thirties.
The months the record rates best are December through February, which is also the deepest snow, so confirm what is accessible before you go. Short walk, public access. Nearest camping on file, about twenty-two miles out, is the Big Springs group area over at Island Park. This is scalding water. Keep your distance and make sure anyone with you does too.
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 Fountain 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
- Open ground
- Flat, open ground all around.
- Highest ground nearby
- 49 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
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.
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 18°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 2½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 94% 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...
Fountain Group sits at 7,254 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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Fountain 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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