Sight · Yellowstone National Park
Riverside sends its eruption arcing across the Firehole River.
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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 Riverside 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
Riverside Geyser is a cone geyser on the Firehole River in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, best known for eruptions that shoot across the water. It is one of the basin's regularly predicted geysers, but activity comes in long intervals. Check the current geyser prediction before you make the walk your next stop; the estimate gives you a window, not a promise. If the timing is off, keep exploring the boardwalk basin and fold Riverside into your walk toward Morning Glory Pool.
An eruption can reach about 75 feet and last around 20 minutes. When sunlight catches the spray, a rainbow may appear. From the riverside viewing area, keep the jet and some of the Firehole in view; the river is what makes this eruption distinctive.
Riverside is a cone geyser, so its water shoots in a narrow jet from the cone. Constrictions in its underground plumbing slow water's movement and heat loss. Water below them gets hotter until building steam pressure pushes it up through the vent.
Yellow-bellied marmots are often seen among the rocks near Riverside in summer. They make a good side-show while you wait for the geyser.
Riverside is reached within the Upper Geyser Basin boardwalk network. Stay on the boardwalks and designated trails. Hydrothermal water can cause severe burns.
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
EasyBiscuit Basin Trail0.6 mi · 45 min · 1 mi awayA short boardwalk loop through Yellowstone's blue pools and geysers.
EasyBlack Sand Basin Trail0.5 mi · 30 min · 1 mi awayShort boardwalk spurs past colorful hot springs and geysers.
ModerateObservation Point–Solitary Geyser Loop1.9 mi · 2 hr · 1 mi awayA short climb trades switchbacks for Old Faithful from above.
EasyOld Faithful to Morning Glory Pool Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 1.1 mi awayA level geyser walk ends at a spring changed by its visitors.
EasyGeyser Hill Loop Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 1.1 mi awayCompact boardwalk loop past geysers, vivid springs, and steaming runoff.
ModerateMystic Falls Trail2.4 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayA creekside forest walk to a 70-foot waterfall.
ModerateMallard Lake Trail7 mi · 4.5 hr · 1.4 mi awayPipeline Hot Springs and a Firehole crossing lead to Mallard Lake.
ChallengingSummit Lake Trail15.4 mi · 8.5 hr · 1.4 mi awayA long CDT walk to an alpine lake and backcountry hot springs.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayFan and Mortar GeysersTwo riverbank geysers share a system; eruptions are a bonus.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayGrotto GeyserThat twisted cone is worth a stop even between eruptions.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayMorning Glory PoolA vivid hot spring at the end of a worthwhile basin walk.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayGiant GeyserEruptions can top 250 feet, but there’s no showtime to plan around.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayDaisy GeyserA 75-foot geyser can shoot sideways across the basin.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayOblong GeyserAt least 10,000 gallons spill into the Firehole when this pool erupts.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayBeauty and Chromatic PoolsTwo hot springs with water levels that move in opposite directions.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayArtemisia GeyserA deep blue pool that can erupt as a rolling boil.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
