Unnamed Thermal Spring
This one has no name of its own. It is a thermal point in Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone, tied in the record to Emerald Spring, sitting around five hundred feet off the basin road. Near boiling, and the 2007 sample read neutral. Gallatin County. The land is federal park ground with open access. The closest town anyone records is West Yellowstone.
The record gives Norris Geyser Basin as the nearest road, 516 feet off. Elevation around 7,500 feet. Snow on record a bit over eleven feet, annual average mid thirties, moderate precipitation. National park land. The USGS holds a site record here. If the Emerald Spring link is right, this is a named and visited feature, though the record itself carries no name.
Near-boiling water. Stay on the established route. December through February are on record as best, so check road status before a winter visit. Indian Creek Campground is the closest camp on record, eleven miles away. No fee on file.
Wikipedia's Emerald Spring, which the record ties to this point, is described as a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin. The USGS site record carries a water sample from September 2007.
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 this spring.
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 south.
- Highest ground nearby
- 78 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
A slice through the ground from south to north, 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 3, 2022. This spring's heat shows up from about 440 miles up. The brightest yellow marks the warmest ground, roughly 25°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.
The water at This spring is neutral (pH 7.2). It is notably rich in sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration) and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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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...
this spring sits at 7,520 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 30% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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this spring 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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