Sight · Yellowstone National Park
At least 10,000 gallons spill into the Firehole when this pool erupts.
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Plan your stop
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 Oblong Geyser 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
Oblong Geyser is a deep-blue pool and geyser beside the Firehole River in the Upper Geyser Basin. It fits into a walk through the basin, not a timed show: eruptions can be widely spaced, and visitors may find only a steaming pool. Stay on boardwalks and designated trails. Hydrothermal water can severely burn.
The pool sits within a raised sinter rim with sawtooth-textured geyserite and shallow overflow pools. Yellow and orange thermophiles line the hillside edge where the water reaches the Firehole. Its eruptions are less dramatic than some other geysers, but at least 10,000 gallons flow into the river during one. For a photo, include the irregular rim and an overflow channel; those details show what makes this pool distinct.
The 1872 Hayden Expedition named it for its oblong crater. The vivid pool is part of Yellowstone’s volcanic plumbing: rain and snow seep into cracks, heat underground, and rise again through geysers and hot springs. Rhyolitic lava flows and glacial deposits form the wider basin, and glacial till stores water that feeds its thermal features.
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
EasyBlack Sand Basin Trail0.5 mi · 30 min · 0.8 mi awayShort boardwalk spurs past colorful hot springs and geysers.
EasyOld Faithful to Morning Glory Pool Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 0.8 mi awayA level geyser walk ends at a spring changed by its visitors.
ModerateObservation Point–Solitary Geyser Loop1.9 mi · 2 hr · 0.8 mi awayA short climb trades switchbacks for Old Faithful from above.
EasyGeyser Hill Loop Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 0.9 mi awayCompact boardwalk loop past geysers, vivid springs, and steaming runoff.
ModerateMallard Lake Trail7 mi · 4.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayPipeline Hot Springs and a Firehole crossing lead to Mallard Lake.
EasyFern Cascade Loop Trail2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayA short woods loop slips down to a hidden cascade.
ModerateHoward Eaton Trail: Old Faithful to Lone Star Geyser6.3 mi · 3 hr · 1.2 mi awayBurned hill, spruce-fir forest, and a geyser at the end.
EasyBiscuit Basin Trail0.6 mi · 45 min · 1.2 mi awayA short boardwalk loop through Yellowstone's blue pools and geysers.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayGiant GeyserEruptions can top 250 feet, but there’s no showtime to plan around.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayBeauty and Chromatic PoolsTwo hot springs with water levels that move in opposite directions.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayDaisy GeyserA 75-foot geyser can shoot sideways across the basin.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayGrotto GeyserThat twisted cone is worth a stop even between eruptions.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayGrand GeyserOne to four bursts, sometimes up to 200 feet high.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayRiverside GeyserRiverside sends its eruption arcing across the Firehole River.
Sight · 0.3 mi awaySawmill GeyserA small geyser with a clear pool and a spinning burst.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayFan and Mortar GeysersTwo riverbank geysers share a system; eruptions are a bonus.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
