Quagmire Group
Quagmire Group is a set of hot springs in Yellowstone, about a half mile off the Grand Loop Road in Gallatin County. The temperature on file sits at the boiling point for this elevation, so nothing here is for getting into. West Yellowstone is the nearest town listed. Open park land. A USGS site number is attached, which means someone has measured it.
The approach is short, a walk of around half a mile starting at the Grand Loop Road. Elevation is a little over seven thousand feet, and the climate on record is cold, with an average in the mid thirties and a snow season that piles up close to twelve feet. Precipitation is moderate. Yellowstone National Park, managed by the Park Service.
Boiling water. Keep to established paths and do not test the edges. The winter months come up as best on record, which in this snow country means over-snow travel. Indian Creek Campground is the nearest camp listed, but it is more than twenty miles off. No fee is on file.
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 Quagmire 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
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the northeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 126 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, December 30, 2023. This spring's heat shows up from about 440 miles up. The brightest yellow marks the warmest ground, roughly 8°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 90% 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 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...
Quagmire Group sits at 7,300 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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Quagmire 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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