Sight · Yellowstone National Park
A 60-foot cascade along the old road east of Norris.
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 area
Ice Lake Trailhead“The Ice Lake trailhead is coming up, a good choice for a short, easy lake walk. Allow thirty to forty-five minutes for the one-mile round trip through conifers, with a gentle climb after a small footbridge.”
Plays on the road 0.7 mi from Virginia Cascade 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
Virginia Cascades is a 60-foot waterfall on the Gibbon River, passed by a three-mile stretch of Yellowstone's old road east of Norris. It's a compact roadside sight and a good reason to pause if you're already taking that route. If you're choosing only a few waterfall stops, the park's larger falls deserve priority.
The Gibbon is especially small here, but the water still drops about 60 feet over a rocky slope. Some roadside views may show only the upper falls, so take a moment to find a safe angle with the full run in view. Include some of the pine-covered slope around the whitewater to show its scale.
Virginia Cascades sits on the boundary of the Yellowstone Caldera. It's a striking bit of context for a waterfall that might otherwise look like a quick roadside stop.
The old road may be open to cross-country skiing in winter, depending on conditions. Check the park's current status before planning around it.
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
EasyIce Lake Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.7 mi awayA short forest walk to the western edge of Ice Lake.
EasyWolf Lake Trail2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 1 mi awayA short waterfall walk through Yellowstone's forest and wet meadows.
ModerateSolfatara Creek Trail6.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.8 mi awayA long thermal creek walk through forest, meadows, and hot springs
EasyPorcelain Basin Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.9 mi awayLoop past steaming geysers and vivid runoff in a pale basin.
EasyBack Basin Trail1.5 mi · 1.3 hr · 2.9 mi awayA wooded thermal loop with geysers scattered through the pines.
ModerateCygnet Lakes Trail8.2 mi · 3.5 hr · 3.7 mi awayAn exposed lodgepole walk reaches a marshy meadow with waterfowl.
EasyArtists Paintpots Trail1 mi · 45 min · 4.7 mi awayA short loop past bubbling mud and a steep climb.
EasyGrebe Lake Trail6.2 mi · 3.5 hr · 4.8 mi awayA long, gentle fire road walk to a lakeside turnaround.
Picnic area · 0.7 mi awayVirginia Cascade Picnic AreaA shaded table break on the way through Virginia Cascade Drive.
Picnic area · 2.4 mi awayNorris Meadows Picnic AreaA quieter riverside lunch stop near Norris Basin
Sight · 2.7 mi awayEchinus GeyserA 66-foot acidic geyser with sea-urchin spines around a red rim.
Sight · 2.8 mi awaySteamboat GeyserThe world’s tallest active geyser—and you can’t plan its eruptions.
Campground · 2.8 mi awayNorris CampgroundA central campground beside Yellowstone’s Gibbon River meadow.
Sight · 2.9 mi awayNorris Geyser Basin Museum and Information StationA 1930 stone and log museum opens onto Norris’s geothermal story.
Sight · 2.9 mi awayPorcelain Basin OverlookA short boardwalk reveals changing colors across a thermal basin.
Sight · 2.9 mi awayEmerald SpringSulfur yellow and reflected blue light make this hot spring emerald.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
