Terrace Spring

Terrace Spring is a small thermal area on the Grand Loop Road north of Madison Junction, reached by a 0.2-mile (0.3-kilometer) lollipop loop boardwalk from a small roadside lot. It’s a good short stop if you want to watch Yellowstone’s hot-spring water up close; several pools sit along the loop, but this is a modest stop rather than a whole thermal basin. The lot is about 0.8 mile north of Madison Junction, on the left as you head north. Give it around 15 to 20 minutes if you want time to walk the loop and pause at the pools.

The spring can look as if it’s boiling, but the water is about 140°F (60°C). Carbon dioxide escaping through it churns the pool into a boil-like roil. For a photo, include a curve of boardwalk beside a pool; it shows how close the path takes you to the water. Bison sometimes wander near the outflow, but seeing one is a bonus, not something to plan around.

Thousands of years ago, Yellowstone’s climate was wetter, and the spring water had a different chemistry that let travertine form here. That gives this small stop a link to the limestone terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, even though Terrace Spring is a separate feature by Madison Junction.