Sight · Yellowstone National Park
A small geyser with a clear pool and a spinning burst.
Overview
Map
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 Sawmill 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
Sawmill Geyser is a named geyser in the Sawmill Complex of Upper Geyser Basin, near Old Faithful. It fits as a short pause on the basin’s boardwalk walk toward Grand Geyser. Stay on boardwalks and designated trails; hydrothermal water can cause severe burns.
When Sawmill erupts, water spins in its crater like a sawmill blade; that motion is the park’s explanation for its name. Eruptions vary widely, from about nine minutes to more than four hours. There’s no dependable prediction, so enjoy a burst if you catch one instead of planning around a set time.
Geyserite rims the pool, left by earlier periods of higher water. The clear pool lets you see thermophiles in the vent below, and a dry outwash channel marks where water once ran higher. Activity in the wider Sawmill Complex shifts between Sawmill mode and the quieter Penta-Churn mode.
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 · 0.5 mi awayA level geyser walk ends at a spring changed by its visitors.
ModerateObservation Point–Solitary Geyser Loop1.9 mi · 2 hr · 0.5 mi awayA short climb trades switchbacks for Old Faithful from above.
EasyGeyser Hill Loop Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 0.6 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 · 0.8 mi awayPipeline Hot Springs and a Firehole crossing lead to Mallard Lake.
EasyFern Cascade Loop Trail2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.9 mi awayA short woods loop slips down to a hidden cascade.
ModerateHoward Eaton Trail: Old Faithful to Lone Star Geyser6.3 mi · 3 hr · 0.9 mi awayBurned hill, spruce-fir forest, and a geyser at the end.
EasyBiscuit Basin Trail0.6 mi · 45 min · 1.6 mi awayA short boardwalk loop through Yellowstone's blue pools and geysers.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayGrand GeyserOne to four bursts, sometimes up to 200 feet high.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayCrested PoolA clear blue spring that boils almost constantly, rimmed in pale sinter
Sight · 0.1 mi awayCastle GeyserA castle-shaped cone, with a major eruption worth a flexible wait.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayBeauty and Chromatic PoolsTwo hot springs with water levels that move in opposite directions.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayLion Geyser ComplexSeven thermal features, but Lion’s eruptions keep no schedule.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayOblong GeyserAt least 10,000 gallons spill into the Firehole when this pool erupts.
Gas station · 0.3 mi awayOld Faithful Gas and Service Station - LowerUnleaded, diesel and a seasonal store in Lower Old Faithful.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayDoublet PoolTwo clear pools, with a pulse that sometimes makes the water jump.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
