Sight · Yellowstone National Park
Two hot springs with water levels that move in opposite directions.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yellowstone Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yellowstone National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Yellowstone audio tourRecorded for this place
Old Faithful and Upper Geyser Basin“You're approaching the Old Faithful area, and I'd make this more than a stop for one eruption. Check the next predicted window at the Visitor Education Center before you start walking.”
Plays as you drive up to Beauty and Chromatic Pools in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“First time driving through a national park. We used the Yellowstone tour on grand loop Road and it’s just like having a tour guide in your car with you.”
Guide
Beauty Pool and neighboring Chromatic Pool are two hot springs in Old Faithful’s Upper Geyser Basin. Treat them as a pair while you’re exploring the basin: periodic shifts in geothermal energy can raise one pool’s water level as the other’s falls.
Beauty was named for its clear, hot, bright water, but it has cooled markedly since 2002 and its colors have changed. The NPS catalog gives average temperatures of 135.6°F at Beauty and 133.1°F at Chromatic; those are catalog averages, not readings for your visit. Look for the orange thermophile mats along Beauty’s shallow edge.
Reach the pools on the Upper Geyser Basin boardwalk network near Old Faithful. Stay on boardwalks and designated trails: the water can cause severe burns, and the thermal mats shouldn’t be disturbed.
Wildlife
713 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
743 sightingsWolfMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
5,273 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
3,258 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
397 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,494 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yellowstone. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyOld Faithful to Morning Glory Pool Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 0.7 mi awayA level geyser walk ends at a spring changed by its visitors.
ModerateObservation Point–Solitary Geyser Loop1.9 mi · 2 hr · 0.7 mi awayA short climb trades switchbacks for Old Faithful from above.
EasyGeyser Hill Loop Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 0.8 mi awayCompact boardwalk loop past geysers, vivid springs, and steaming runoff.
EasyBlack Sand Basin Trail0.5 mi · 30 min · 0.8 mi awayShort boardwalk spurs past colorful hot springs and geysers.
ModerateMallard Lake Trail7 mi · 4.5 hr · 1.1 mi awayPipeline Hot Springs and a Firehole crossing lead to Mallard Lake.
EasyFern Cascade Loop Trail2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.1 mi awayA short woods loop slips down to a hidden cascade.
ModerateHoward Eaton Trail: Old Faithful to Lone Star Geyser6.3 mi · 3 hr · 1.1 mi awayBurned hill, spruce-fir forest, and a geyser at the end.
EasyBiscuit Basin Trail0.6 mi · 45 min · 1.3 mi awayA short boardwalk loop through Yellowstone's blue pools and geysers.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayOblong GeyserAt least 10,000 gallons spill into the Firehole when this pool erupts.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayGrand GeyserOne to four bursts, sometimes up to 200 feet high.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayGiant GeyserEruptions can top 250 feet, but there’s no showtime to plan around.
Sight · 0.2 mi awaySawmill GeyserA small geyser with a clear pool and a spinning burst.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayGrotto GeyserThat twisted cone is worth a stop even between eruptions.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayDaisy GeyserA 75-foot geyser can shoot sideways across the basin.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayCrested PoolA clear blue spring that boils almost constantly, rimmed in pale sinter
Sight · 0.4 mi awayCastle GeyserA castle-shaped cone, with a major eruption worth a flexible wait.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
