Last Updated: October 11, 2026
The Grand Loop Road was not built for cars. Army engineers laid it out for stagecoaches, and for its first decade nobody was allowed to drive an automobile on it at all.
It is the figure eight of roughly 140 miles that ties together every major feature in Yellowstone, and driving all of it in one day can take four to seven hours depending on wildlife and traffic. We spent the first part of June 2022 working through it from West Yellowstone, Montana, about an hour and a half from Fishing Bridge. We were last here in the fall of 2020.
A Stagecoach Road
The early roads were whatever the first superintendents could cut. In 1891 the Army Corps of Engineers put Major Hiram Chittenden on the job, and he spent most of the next fifteen years building the loop as it still runs, choosing the scenic line over the short one. The first complete version was finished by about 1906, and it was a road for horses — narrow, steep in places and mud for half the season.
Cars were kept out until August 1, 1915. What changed the park’s mind was the pair of 1915 expositions in California celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal: a great many people were driving west for them and wanted to come through Yellowstone on the way. The date was chosen to let the roads dry out first. Within two summers the stagecoaches were gone, replaced by buses.
Most of what the park has done to the road since is the same fight in the other direction — widening and rebuilding a horse road for the traffic that now uses it. We drove the whole thing in a hybrid F-150, and on the days the bison took the road it moved at roughly stagecoach speed anyway.
Grizzly RV Park, West Yellowstone
They had 50-amp service, good water pressure, sewer, gravel sites, and internet that disappeared as the evening went on. There was a lot of turnover, which meant the park was always full and a little noisy. The nice part was the space to walk Jake, including some areas outside the park where he could be off leash.
West Yellowstone was busy, even at the beginning of June. There were quite a few restaurants and bars in town, but the food was pricey and mediocre. Groceries were pricey and very limited too. We had provisioned in Cody, Wyoming, but after a few weeks supplies were getting low, and our next stay in Gardiner, Montana, was a smaller town yet. COVID, supply chain problems, staffing shortages and too many tourists were all noticeable at the grocery store. There were times we bought the last package of chicken. Dog food was affected too, which mattered because Jake is allergic to sweet potatoes.
The Madison River
The Madison flows west to the park’s west entrance and then turns north. We have stayed in West Yellowstone before, but this time we booked a couple of weeks in case of bad spring weather. We had a number of overcast days and quite a few with rain, which limited the good photography.
The river is born inside the park, at Madison Junction, where the Firehole and the Gibbon run together. Downstream at Three Forks, Montana, the Madison meets the Jefferson and the Gallatin and the three of them become the Missouri — the river we had followed upstream from Yankton a month earlier, and whose headwaters we wrote about in 2019. So every morning we drove along the beginning of the river we had spent May driving up.
Every day we drove along the Madison to get farther into the national park, and there were always herds of bison along the way, often stopping traffic on their way to drier pasture.
There were often people fly fishing. Elk were rarely seen along the Madison this time of year; they tended to be up north around Mammoth Hot Springs.
Madison Junction to Old Faithful
South of Madison Junction is our favorite hydrothermal area, because of Grand Prismatic Spring and the many others around it. It is amazing and can only really be experienced in person. Old Faithful is always a treat; we caught this eruption on June 6. Nearby are the lodge, the general store and the restaurants. We had lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria. It wasn’t very good, but the views out the windows were great.
Firehole Canyon
A short, scenic one-way drive through a canyon cut into dark lava, with an abundance of spring water flowing through it.
Fountain Paint Pots Trail
An easy half-mile boardwalk through some impressive hydrothermal features. It is the best short walk in the park for seeing all four kinds in one place — hot springs, geysers, steam vents and the bubbling mudpots the trail is named for. Our 2023 geothermal post explains how each one forms.
Firehole Lake Drive
It is a three-mile, one-way loop that is rarely crowded.
Many of the hydrothermal features along it are stunning.
Grand Prismatic Spring
One of the most photographed features in Yellowstone, and the largest hot spring in the United States. It is about 370 feet across and more than 121 feet deep. Heat-loving microorganisms called thermophiles color the different temperature zones of the spring: the center is too hot for nearly anything to live in and stays a clear, deep blue, and as the water spreads out and cools, each ring is a different community of bacteria living at the temperature it can stand — yellow, then orange, then brown at the cool edges.
We had a nice hike up to a great view of Grand Prismatic on the trail to Fairy Falls on June 10. From the boardwalk you are standing in the steam and see mostly the edge; from the hillside you see the whole thing at once, which is the only way the rings make sense.
Biscuit Basin, and What Is Not There Now
We enjoyed this basin because there was almost always parking and the hydrothermal pools are stunning. That is Sapphire Pool, and it explains the name. Biscuit Basin was named for the knobby, biscuit-shaped mounds of sinter that once ringed it. On August 17, 1959, the Hebgen Lake earthquake shook the whole park, and four days later Sapphire Pool began erupting jets up to 150 feet high. The eruptions went on into 1961, tore away the biscuits, threw the fragments into the Firehole River and nearly doubled the size of the pool. A few small mounds are all that is left on its south rim.
There was a nice boardwalk, and usually bison in the area. The boardwalk is not there any more. On July 23, 2024 — two years after these photographs — a hydrothermal explosion under Black Diamond Pool, beside the Black Opal Pool in our photo, blew out the boardwalk and threw grapefruit-sized rocks hundreds of feet. Nobody was hurt. Biscuit Basin has been closed since while the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory watches what the pool does next, and the park has said it will reopen only when the scientists say it is safe.
Black Sand Basin
Black Sand Basin is close to Old Faithful. The black sand is obsidian — volcanic glass that forms when lava cools too fast to crystallize, broken down into grains.
Old Faithful to West Thumb
Kepler Cascades, a short way south of Old Faithful, where the Firehole drops about 150 feet in a series of steps. Superintendent Philetus Norris named them in 1881 for Kepler Hoyt, the twelve-year-old son of Wyoming’s territorial governor.
Lake Village has a hotel and a general store with a restaurant, all with great views of Yellowstone Lake.
Canyon to Tower
We enjoy driving this section of the loop because it climbs to over 8,800 feet at Dunraven Pass, the highest point on the Grand Loop. In summer there are wildflowers. This time of year it was all about the snow-capped mountains.
Along the way there were the usual elk and bison. Past Tower, on the road toward Mammoth, we spotted bighorn sheep on a ridgeline near Undine Falls.
Almost every time we drove this section of the Grand Loop we came across bears. A mother black bear and her two cubs were regular roadside entertainers, the same family we watched nursing beside the road in our Fishing Bridge post. Such a precious sight to see.
We also came across a cinnamon mama bear with her older cub. A cinnamon bear is a black bear — the color is a phase, not a species, and plenty of Yellowstone’s black bears are brown or blond. We wrote about how to tell a black bear from a grizzly by shape rather than color in our Fishing Bridge post.
Norris to Madison
Along this section of the Grand Loop is Terrace Spring. The warm water running out of it keeps the ground thawed, and the marsh marigolds and mouse-ear chickweed were already in bloom around it.
Norris Geyser Basin
The area is boardwalks and dirt trails through a great many geysers and hot springs. It is the hottest, oldest and most changeable thermal area in Yellowstone, with evidence of activity going back at least 115,000 years. A scientific drill hole here recorded 459°F only 1,087 feet down, the highest temperature measured anywhere in the park. Most of the water at Norris is acidic, which is rare for geysers.
Norris is also home to Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active geyser in the world, which can throw water 300 to 400 feet. For decades its major eruptions came years apart. Then it woke up: 32 eruptions in 2018, and a record 48 in 2019.
South of Norris Geyser Basin is Beryl Spring, right beside the road.
Farther south on the Grand Loop Road is Gibbon Falls, which drops 84 feet over what is left of the rim of the Yellowstone Caldera — the crater left by the eruption about 631,000 years ago. There are so many amazing sights to experience.
What We Missed
Gardiner. We had a week booked on the bank of the Yellowstone River in Gardiner, and we never got there. Two days after our June 11 drive back to Fishing Bridge, the river came up and took the road. That is the next post.
Biscuit Basin, a second time. We assumed we would walk that boardwalk again. Check the park’s current conditions before you plan on it.
Visitor Information
Grizzly RV Park is at 210 S Electric St, West Yellowstone, MT 59758, a few minutes from the West Entrance. Call (406) 646-4466 or visit grizzlyrv.com for rates and season dates. Expect full hookups, large gravel pull-throughs and a full park in summer.
Yellowstone National Park: An entrance pass is required. Current fees, road status and closures, including whether Biscuit Basin has reopened, are posted on the National Park Service Yellowstone site. Predicted eruption times for Old Faithful and several other geysers are on the park’s geyser activity page and at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center.
Practical Tips
Climb to Grand Prismatic. The overlook on the Fairy Falls Trail is about a 1.2-mile round trip from the Fairy Falls trailhead and the only place you see the whole spring. Go on a cool, still morning for colors, or accept steam.
Build the day around Old Faithful’s prediction. Check the predicted time first, then do Biscuit, Black Sand and Midway around it rather than waiting on the benches.
Stay on the boardwalks. Biscuit Basin is the reminder that the ground here can change without warning. The crust beside a hot spring can be a few inches thick over boiling, acidic water.
Shop before you get to West Yellowstone. In 2022 groceries were expensive and thin, and specialty items like Jake’s dog food were hard to find. A bigger town on the way in is the place to stock up.
Drive Canyon to Tower early. It is the best stretch of the loop for bears, and Dunraven Pass can hold snow into June. Check whether it is open before you plan around it.
Plan on rain in early June. We had overcast and wet days more often than not. Bring rain gear and keep a list of short stops for the breaks in the weather.
Frequently Asked Questions
When were cars first allowed in Yellowstone? August 1, 1915. Until then the park’s roads were for horse-drawn traffic only. Automobile tourists headed for the 1915 Panama Canal expositions in California helped change the policy, and within two years the stagecoaches had been replaced by buses.
How long is the Grand Loop Road? About 140 miles, laid out as a figure eight connecting Mammoth, Norris, Madison, Old Faithful, West Thumb, Lake, Canyon and Tower. Most of it was built by Army engineers under Hiram Chittenden between 1891 and about 1906. Driving all of it in a day takes four to seven hours or more.
Why is Biscuit Basin closed? A hydrothermal explosion under Black Diamond Pool on July 23, 2024 destroyed the boardwalk and threw rocks hundreds of feet. No one was injured. The basin has stayed closed while scientists monitor the pool; check the National Park Service site for current status.
How big is Grand Prismatic Spring? About 370 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet deep, the largest hot spring in the United States. It is in Midway Geyser Basin between Madison Junction and Old Faithful.
What makes Grand Prismatic’s colors? Temperature. The center is too hot for most life and stays deep blue; as the water cools moving outward, different heat-loving microorganisms live in each zone, making the yellow, orange and brown rings.
What is the hottest place in Yellowstone? Norris Geyser Basin. A drill hole there measured 459°F at 1,087 feet below the surface, the highest temperature recorded in the park. Norris is also home to Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest active geyser.
Where does the Madison River come from? It forms at Madison Junction in Yellowstone where the Firehole and Gibbon rivers meet, then flows west and north to Three Forks, Montana, where it joins the Jefferson and Gallatin to form the Missouri River.
Is a cinnamon bear a different species? No. Cinnamon is a color phase of the American black bear. Black bears in Yellowstone can be black, brown, cinnamon or blond; shape, not color, separates them from grizzlies.
Next Stop
We were planning to move on to Gardiner. Instead, on June 13, the rivers rose and Yellowstone flooded.
