Why Yellowstone's Waterways Matter To The American West

When you speak of Yellowstone National Park, it's likely the word wild is part of your vocabulary. Wild animals may be your first thought, followed by wild geysers, wild weather, wild terrain, wild waterways, and wild tourists. One feature that may not be labeled as wild is the park's extraordinary facts.

The seven rivers are:

Lamar River: The Lamar River has a drainage area of 668 mi2 and is the largest tributary to the Yellowstone River within Yellowstone National Park.
Snake River: Starts in Yellowstone, then meets the Columbia River in Washington.
Gallatin River: originates in the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming, in the Gallatin Range of the Rocky Mountains. It flows northwest through Gallatin National Forest, past Big Sky, Montana
Gardner River: The entire river is located within Yellowstone National Park. It rises on the slope of Joseph Peak in the Gallatin Range, in the northwestern part of the park, and winds southeast through Gardner's Hole, a broad subalpine basin that is a popular trout-fishing location.
Gibbon River: The Gibbon River rises in the center of the park at Grebe Lake and flows to the Firehole River, forming the Madison River.
Firehole River: Most of the outflow from the park’s geyser basins empties into the Firehole River, causing it to be warmer with larger concentrations of dissolved minerals than other watersheds.
Madison River: Created when the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers join at Madison Junction. One of the most celebrated fly-fishing rivers in America, it begins in Yellowstone and heads North into Montana.

The headwaters of these seven great rivers flow from the Continental Divide across the nation to the Pacific Ocean, and the gulfs of California and America. Rain and snow in the mountains and plateaus of the Northern Rockies flow through stream and river networks, providing essential moisture to much of the American West.

This video gives you a look at many of the park's water features.

Yellowstone National Park Rebuilds After Historic Flooding

After catastrophic flooding damaged portions of Yellowstone National Park in June of 2022, major reconstruction was necessary to make the park passable again. The following are photos of the improvement projects at Old Gardiner Road and the Northeast Entrance Road. All photos are courtesy of the National Park Service, photographer Jacob W. Frank.