River Group
River Group is a cluster of hot springs in Yellowstone, Gallatin County, roughly 0.8 miles from the nearest road. The record lists it near boiling, so this one is for looking at. The nearest town on the map is West Yellowstone. Park land, open to visitors. A second entry on this site carries the same name for a separate point nearby, with its own record.
The walk in is short, under a mile, though the record does not name the road it starts from. Elevation sits just under 7,200 feet. Snow on record is heavy at around thirteen feet a season, and this is one of the wetter spots in the park by the precipitation total on file. Park Service land, national park designation.
Near-boiling water; keep to the path and keep your distance from the edge. The record calls winter the best season, which only holds if you are on skis. Camping on record is the Big Springs group area in Island Park, Idaho, a bit over twenty miles away. No fee is listed. USGS has a site number for it.
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 River 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
- 27 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, February 21, 2020. 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 2½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 95% 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...
River Group sits at 7,191 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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River 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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