here’s a list of every rock, tree, hot spring, and geyser to see on the Grand Loop Road between the Madison Junction and Old Faithful villages of Yellowstone. This route follows the glorious and geothermally active Fountain Flats before hitting some of Yellowstone’s most famous landmarks, including the Grand Prismatic Spring.
We’ve got a LOT to see here, so strap in and let’s go!
Firehole Swimming Area
If you’ve ever had the sudden, random desire to go swimming in Yellowstone, then you’re in luck!
Just off the Firehole Canyon Drive is a stretch of the Firehole river that moves slowly enough to comfortably swim around with the dramatic canyon walls rising all around you. There’s also a stretch of river upstream where you can jump in, and let the current carry you to the slower water. It’s fun!
Fairy Falls
There are a lot of waterfalls in Yellowstone, but Fairy Falls is really like no other. That’s why while it requires a hike, I felt like it deserved its own spot on the list of attractions.
This trail is the same one that takes you to the Grand Prismatic viewing platform, and if you continue on for 3.5 miles, you’ll find Fairy Falls waiting for you!
When you arrive, you’ll find yourself right on the shore of the 220ft falls. You can wade and even swim in the falls! The water just underneath the falls is bright blue and its a magical experience, but it’s also freezing cold.
When we went, (in a freezing thunderstorm which I do not recommend at all) my sister and I had a blast-and-a-half swimming around in the bright blue water at the base of the falls. It’s amazingly secluded and perfectly shallow!
*Fun story time*
It was July, we were splashing around in Fairy Falls despite the freezing rain and shivering parents. We were just minding our own business, when all of the sudden a lightning bolt strikes a tree about 100m from us, and the tree basically explodes on impact.
The splashing was over.
We threw on our clothes at superhuman speeds and actually RAN the 3 miles back to the car. Anything to avoid mother nature’s exploding wrath.
One sibling got splinters in their feet, and the other got blisters on hers.
Nature really bested us that day.
Fountain Paint Pots
Since our cyber-roadtrip is taking us down from Madison Junction, the next spot we’ll hit in the Lower Geyser Basin is my favorite part of the whole park, Fountain Paint Pots!
But before we go further, I need to warn you that I’d only recommend visiting the Fountain Paint Pots from March to (early) June.
Why?
Because as summer wears on, the mud pots all dry up. I learned this the hard way when I raved about how cool they were to my family on our YNP road trip in July. When we got there, all there was for us to see was a dry, cracked-up piece of ground.
But when they’re not dried up, you get to walk around all of these bubbling mud pools, throwing colorful chunks of mud into the air. If you’ve ever seen a dinosaur movie, it’s exactly like that.
The two, most extravagant mud pots here are the Fountain Paint Pot, and the Red Spouter, but if you walk further along the boardwalks you can also see a variety of colorful hot springs and small geysers, with the coolest of the cool including Jet Geyser, Celestine Pool, Leather Pool, Clepsydra Geyser, and Spasm Geyser. The whole boardwalk is only a half mile, so why not see all of it!
Firehole Lake Drive
Do you like thermal features? Do you like them so much that you’d like to see even more on the road between Madison Junction and Old Faithful? Well…… you can!
Firehole lake drive is a short loop off of the Grand Loop Road, just south of the the Fountain Paint Pots parking lot, and absolutely full of thermal features. From geysers, to springs, to lakes, there are plenty of places to stop and enjoy Yellowstone’s tumultuous landscape.
Grand Prismatic Spring
I’d bet you’ve been waiting for this one. This is a sight you’re not allowed to miss. It’s on every post card Yellowstone’s ever printed, and it looks like the eye of God. Yep. It’s Grand Prismatic Spring!
You can see the Grand Prismatic one of two ways.
- The Viewing Platform
Hiking up to the viewing platform requires a half mile journey uphill. It’s mildly strenuous, but it’s THE ONLY way to get a bird’s eye view of Grand Prismatic,
(i.e. this is the angle all of the postcard photographers use)
and is DEFINITELY worth the hike. Plus you get to see some really pretty hot springs along the trail!
You can get to the trailhead by pulling into the Fairy Falls parking lot, it’s the pullout after the Midway pullout.
- The Boardwalks
If you don’t want to do the hike, you can still see both the Excelsior and Grand Prismatic hot springs by strolling down the boardwalks at Midway Geyser Basin. For the most part, you’ll see vast amounts of steam rising from the massive springs, but you can just make out the rainbow color along the edges of the pools.
*Pro tip*
The sunnier and hotter the weather is, the more easily you’ll be able to see the colors!
Midway Geyser Basin
The Grand Prismatic hot spring is actually located in the Midway Geyser Basin, where its boardwalks allow you to walk right around the perimeter of this legendary spring. But there are lots of other springs and features to see here too like Flood Geyser, Excelsior Spring, and Opal Pool. The boardwalks make a short loop, so they’re an easy, popular spot to get up close and personal to the colorful bacterial formations.
Biscuit Basin
Biscuit basin is another small geothermal basin encompassed by boardwalks near Old Faithful village, featuring small, deep blue pools that are apparently the shape of biscuits. Very specific observation for a generally round shape, but excellent marketability! Some neat sites in Biscuit Basin include Wall Pool, Jewel Geyser, and Black Pearl Geyser.
Hiking
Fountain Flats
Fountain Flats trail is forked trail, meaning it makes for a fun little choose-your-own-adventure kind of hike. You can either take a right and take the Sentinel Meadows 3-mile detour and explore the rarely seen thermal features of the Lower Geyser Basin. This detour eventually rejoins the Fairy Falls trail.
Or you can take a left and head towards Fairy Falls. Without the Sentinel Meadows detour, it’s about 5 miles from the Fountain Flats parking lot. This is the longer of the 2 trails to Fairy Falls.
The Fountain Flats trailhead is located down Fountain Flats Drive, a branch off the Grand Loop Road around 7 miles south of Madison Junction.
Nez Perce trail
The Nez Perce trail actually crosses all the way from the western half of the park to the easter half- around 30 miles. However, the starting portion of the trail allows you to check some cool thermal features like the Porcupine hill geyser at the beginning. The trail continues past the serene Morning Mist Springs while following the Nez Perce Creek.
Fairy Falls trails
As you’ve seen above with the Fountain Flats entrance, there’s more than one way to get to Fairy Falls. The Fountain Flast entrance approaches form the north, but the more commonly traversed route travels east from the Midway Geyser Basin. I like this route more because the first mile (though uphill), leads to a fantastic overlook for Grand Prismatic Spring. Another 2.5 miles beyond that will take you to the Fairy Falls.
Three Senses
Sounds exciting, right?
This short, 0.4 mile trail encourages hikers to hear the hissing and bubbling of geysers, feel the steam of fumaroles on your skin, and smell the sulfuric fumes of hot springs at the Fountain Paint Pots.
Mallard Creek
The Mallard Creek trail is another long hike, stretching all the way from 0.5 miles south of the Fairy Falls trailhead, to Old Faithful village, crossing 4 miles in total.
On this hike, you’ll get to enjoy many of Yellowstone’s waterways, including the Firehole River, Mallard Creek, and Mallard Lake. You can also see the remnants of Yellowstone’s last great fire, with burned lodgepoles and little saplings dotting the trail.
Artemesia
This trail begins at the Biscuit Basin parking lot and travels through the Upper Geyser Basin, eventually ending in Old Faithful Village, though you can also detour to Black Sand Basin. Artemesia trail is and especially cool way to explore the Old Faithful basins on foot.
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And that’s everything to see on the Grand Loop Road between Madison Junction and Old Faithful Village in Yellowstone! As you can see, there is just so much to visit along this stretch of road, and so if you’ve got any extra time, I would absolutely encourage you to spend it here, take one of the side roads, check out off-the-beaten-path thermal features. It’s all such a great way to appreciate the wonder of this crazy place in relative peace and quiet.
I hope you enjoyed this post! If I missed anything, please let me know and I’ll update straight away. And if you have any questions, ask away 🙂 I’ll either happily answer, or connect you with sources that can provide a better one.
Love y’all, have a great day!
~WTB