Going East….to West-13

Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls

Maps courtesy Wikipedia.

You can see all lakes and water channels in the map on Top. Uncluttered map immediately above is for better understanding by comparing with the Top map.

Four major rivers flow through the Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone River, Gallatin River, Gibbon River, and Firehole River. Last three-named rivers flow through the Northern section of the Park. Confluence of Gibbon and Firehole Rivers forms Madison River. Both the Madison River and the Gallatin River are headwater tributaries of the Missouri River. These two rivers, along with the Jefferson River converge near Three Forks, Montana, to form the Missouri. Although Snake River has its origin in Yellowstone National Park, it mostly flows through the neighboring Grand Teton National Park. Yellowstone, Lewis and Shoshone are the three major lakes in the Park (Shoshone and Lewis Lakes are on the West of the road leading from the South Entrance). Yellowstone Lake is the largest with its perimeter measuring over 100 miles.

Angling in Yellowstone National Park is a major tourist attraction. The park contains, as you can easily guess from the Top Map, hundreds of miles of accessible, high-quality trout rivers containing wild trout populations—over 200 creeks, streams and rivers are fishable. There are 45 fishable lakes and several large lakes are easily accessible to visitors. Additionally, the park's remote sections provide anglers ample opportunity to visit rivers, streams, creeks and lakes that receive little angling pressure. With the exception of one specially designated drainage, all the park's waters are restricted to artificial lures and fly fishing. The Madison, Firehole and a section of the Gibbon rivers are restricted to fly fishing only. (Extracted from Wikipedia.)

Cascades and waterfalls are abundant as well: Tower Falls, Gibbon Falls, Lewis Falls, Firehole Falls and Keplar Cascades are the major names. Three deep canyons are located in the Park, cut through the volcanic tuff of the Yellowstone Plateau by rivers over the last 640,000 years. The Lewis River flows through Lewis Canyon in the South, and the Yellowstone River has carved two colorful canyons while flowing to the North; the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is a major attraction for all tourists in general and for the aesthetically-minded in particular. The walk along the rim of the Canyon has even a spot named as the Artist Point. Grand Canyon has two spectacular waterfalls; Upper and Lower Falls.

You can see below the tranquil lakes, turbulent waterfalls and the rapids on Yellowstone River that fall somewhere in between the two.