Yellowstone Falls consist of two major waterfalls on the
Yellowstone RiverThe Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...
, within
Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress as a national park on March 1, 1872 , is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. The park was the first of its kind, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features,...
,
WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As the Yellowstone river flows north from
Yellowstone LakeYellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park, The lake is 7,732 feet above sea level and covers 136 square miles with 110 miles of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 feet its deepest spot is at least 390 feet...
, it leaves the
Hayden ValleyHayden Valley is a large, sub-alpine valley in Yellowstone National Park straddling the Yellowstone River between Yellowstone Falls and Yellowstone Lake. The valley floor along the river is an ancient lake bed from a time when Yellowstone Lake was much larger...
and plunges first over Upper Yellowstone Falls and then a quarter mile (400 m) downstream over Lower Yellowstone Falls, at which point it then enters the
Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneThe Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the first large canyon on the Yellowstone River downstream from Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park. The canyon is up to 900 feet deep and a half mile in width...
, which is up to 1,000 feet (304 m) deep.
The upper falls are 109 feet (33 m) high. The brink of the upper falls marks the junction between a hard
rhyoliteThis page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
lava flow and weaker glassy lava that has been more heavily eroded.
The lower falls are 308 feet (94 m) high, or almost twice as high as
NiagaraThe Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York...
.
Yellowstone Falls consist of two major waterfalls on the
Yellowstone RiverThe Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...
, within
Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress as a national park on March 1, 1872 , is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. The park was the first of its kind, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features,...
,
WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As the Yellowstone river flows north from
Yellowstone LakeYellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park, The lake is 7,732 feet above sea level and covers 136 square miles with 110 miles of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 feet its deepest spot is at least 390 feet...
, it leaves the
Hayden ValleyHayden Valley is a large, sub-alpine valley in Yellowstone National Park straddling the Yellowstone River between Yellowstone Falls and Yellowstone Lake. The valley floor along the river is an ancient lake bed from a time when Yellowstone Lake was much larger...
and plunges first over Upper Yellowstone Falls and then a quarter mile (400 m) downstream over Lower Yellowstone Falls, at which point it then enters the
Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneThe Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the first large canyon on the Yellowstone River downstream from Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park. The canyon is up to 900 feet deep and a half mile in width...
, which is up to 1,000 feet (304 m) deep.
Upper Yellowstone Falls
The upper falls are 109 feet (33 m) high. The brink of the upper falls marks the junction between a hard
rhyoliteThis page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
lava flow and weaker glassy lava that has been more heavily eroded.
Lower Yellowstone Falls
The lower falls are 308 feet (94 m) high, or almost twice as high as
NiagaraThe Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York...
. The volume of water is in no way comparable to Niagara as the width of the Yellowstone River before it goes over the lower falls is 70 feet (22 m), whereas Niagara is a half mile (800 m).
The lower falls descend from the 590,000 year old Canyon Rhyolite lava flow. The lower falls of the Yellowstone is still the largest volume major waterfall in the
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
of the United States. The volume of water flowing over the falls can vary from 63,500 USgal/s (240 m³/s) at peak runoff to 5,000 USgal/s (19 m³/s) in the fall.
History
It is believed that
Jim BridgerJames or Jim Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1840...
may have been the first white American to see the falls in 1846. The Folsom Party, a private group of explorers working in close relationship with the U.S. Government, named the falls in 1869. The earliest images of the falls were drawn by Private Charles Moore, a member of the U.S. Army escort of the
Washburn-Langford-Doane ExpeditionThe Washburn Expedition of 1870, explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that a couple years later became Yellowstone National Park. Led by Henry Washburn, Nathaniel P. Langford and under U.S. Army escort led by Lt. Gustavus C...
which explored the Yellowstone River in August-September 1870. During the
Hayden ExpeditionDr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century.He was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...
of 1871, the falls were documented in photographs by Frank J. Haynes and
William Henry JacksonWilliam Henry Jackson was an American painter, photographer and explorer famous for his images of the American West...
and later in paintings by
Thomas MoranThomas Moran from Bolton, England was a painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains...
.
Over the years the estimates of the height of Lower Falls has varied dramatically. In 1851 Jim Bridger estimated its height at 250 feet. One outrageous newspaper story from 1867 placed its height at "thousands of feet". A map from 1869 gives the falls its current name of Lower Falls for the first time and estimates the height at 350 feet.
Viewing the falls
Today, there are numerous vantage points for viewing the falls. The Canyon loop road skirts the west side of the canyon with several vehicle parking areas. One trail leads down to the brink of the lower falls, a steep third of a mile (600 m). Another vantage point descends from the east down a series of stairs attached to the cliffs.
The Lower Falls area is located just to the east of Canyon Village in Yellowstone National Park. A one-way loop drive takes you to the brink of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and offers four views, with the last stop at the trail that leads to the top of the Falls.