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Home › Waters › Wyoming › Firehole River
River · Northwestern Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, the geyser basins of the upper Madison drainage · Wyoming

Firehole River Fishing Guides

The strangest trout river in North America, running warm through the Yellowstone geyser basins and fishing like an English chalkstream.

A mountain river running clear through conifer forest in the Rockies

Map of the Firehole River

26 numbered points: 5 access points, 6 campsites, 2 parks and conservation areas, 1 agency office, 3 regulation section limits, 3 hazards, 5 springs, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 23, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (5)
  • Campsite (6)
  • Park / conservation area (2)
  • Agency / conservation office (1)
  • Regulation section limit (3)
  • Dam / hazard (3)
  • Spring (5)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 26 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Firehole Springs
Yellowstone NP backcountry site		Campsite44.40468, -110.82717Designated backcountry site; a park backcountry permit is required and sites are reserved. Walk-in only.
2Upper Firehole
Yellowstone NP backcountry site		Campsite44.41391, -110.81922Designated backcountry site; a park backcountry permit is required and sites are reserved. Walk-in only.
3Lone Star (OA1)
Yellowstone NP backcountry site		Campsite44.41685, -110.81374Designated backcountry site near the Lone Star Geyser trail; permit required. Two nodes are mapped 130 m apart; the closer one to the river is used.
4Kepler Cascades
Waterfall on the Firehole		Dam / hazard44.44554, -110.80587A stepped drop in the canyon above Old Faithful, with a roadside overlook 11 m away (mapped separately in OSM, one point here). Not wadeable.
5Grand Loop Road bridge above Old Faithful
Regulation section limit		Regulation section limit44.45394, -110.81949Upstream end of the park's closed reach, which runs from here downstream to the Biscuit Basin road bridge. The park describes it as the bridge about half a mile above Old Faithful. Check the park's fishing page.
6East Lot Picnic Area
NPS picnic area, Old Faithful		Access / boat ramp44.45633, -110.82491Picnic area off the Old Faithful east parking area, 290 m from the river.
7Firehole River at Old Faithful
USGS 06036805		USGS gauge44.45933, -110.82227Real-time flow and water temperature. The OSM monitoring-station node sits on the roster coordinate to seven decimals. A second USGS station, Firehole River near West Yellowstone, is mapped 25 km downstream at the canyon.
8Old Faithful Ranger Station
National Park Service		Agency / conservation office44.45686, -110.83175Ranger station in the Old Faithful developed area; park fishing permits and current closures.
9Upper Geyser Basin
Thermal basin along the river		Park / conservation area44.46228, -110.83741The basin the Firehole runs through above Biscuit Basin. Boardwalks and thermal ground on both banks - stay on the boardwalk and off the crust.
10Riverside Geyser
Thermal feature on the bank		Spring44.47347, -110.84092Erupts from the east bank out over the Firehole; the most river-bound geyser on the reach and a reliable landmark.
11Biscuit Basin road bridge
Regulation section limit		Regulation section limit44.48296, -110.85242Downstream end of the park's closed reach, which runs upstream from this bridge to the Grand Loop Road bridge above Old Faithful.
12Biscuit Basin
Thermal basin along the river		Park / conservation area44.48555, -110.85501Thermal basin on the west bank at the lower end of the closed reach.
13River Spouter
Thermal feature on the bank		Spring44.51748, -110.83209Named for its discharge straight into the Firehole; one of the warm inflows on the Midway and Lower basin reach.
14Excelsior Geyser
Largest thermal inflow on the river		Spring44.52627, -110.83674Excelsior's crater discharges continuously into the Firehole and is the single biggest heat load on the river; the reach below it runs warm in summer.
15Midway footbridge
Regulation section limit		Regulation section limit44.52765, -110.83608Centre of a short closed span - the park closes 200 yards either side of this footbridge. Check the park's fishing page before you fish.
16Grand Prismatic Spring Parking
NPS parking, Midway Geyser Basin		Access / boat ramp44.52907, -110.83612The Midway lot; the closest parking to the river on this reach, 86 m off the water.
17Goose Lake
Yellowstone NP backcountry site		Campsite44.54469, -110.84405Designated backcountry site; a park backcountry permit is required and sites are reserved. Walk-in only.
18Ojo Caliente Spring
Thermal feature on the bank		Spring44.56294, -110.83879A large hot spring discharging into the Firehole at the Fountain Flats meadows.
19Sentinel Meadows East
Yellowstone NP backcountry site		Campsite44.56489, -110.85337Designated backcountry site; a park backcountry permit is required and sites are reserved. Walk-in only.
20Maiden's Grave Spring
Thermal feature on the bank		Spring44.57140, -110.83351Roadside hot spring on the Firehole at the Nez Perce Creek meadows.
21Nez Perce Picnic Area
NPS picnic area		Access / boat ramp44.57860, -110.83141Picnic area at the Nez Perce Creek confluence, 72 m from the river.
22Fire Hole Picnic Area
NPS picnic area		Access / boat ramp44.59331, -110.83106Riverside picnic area above the canyon reach.
23Cascades of the Firehole
Waterfall in Firehole Canyon		Dam / hazard44.61639, -110.85525A drop in the canyon above Firehole Falls, alongside the one-way Firehole Canyon Drive.
24Firehole Falls
Waterfall in Firehole Canyon		Dam / hazard44.62881, -110.86333A 40-foot fall in the canyon. Historically the barrier that kept the river above it fishless; the park does not use it as a regulation boundary.
25Madison Junction Picnic Area
NPS picnic area		Access / boat ramp44.64356, -110.86042Picnic area at the Gibbon confluence, where the Firehole ends and the Madison begins.
26Madison Campground
NPS campground, Madison Junction		Campsite44.64445, -110.86614The developed campground at the mouth; reservable. Serves the lower Firehole, the lower Gibbon and the upper Madison.

Guides on the Firehole River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

Order on this page: premium and outfitter plans first (labelled Premium placement), then claimed free profiles, then unclaimed — one published price, no bidding for position. How placement works

About the Firehole River

The Firehole River is unlike any other trout stream in the country, and the reason is geology rather than fishing pressure. It runs directly through the Upper, Midway and Lower Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park, and the hot water those basins discharge raises the river well above the temperature a Rocky Mountain freestone would normally carry. The gauge sits at Old Faithful, draining just under forty square miles, and the water that passes it has already collected runoff from several thermal features.

That thermal loading gives the Firehole a personality all its own. The river is rich, weedy and slow in its meadow reaches, with heavy hatches of pale morning duns, baetis and caddis that come off on a schedule closer to a spring creek than a mountain river. Trout hold in the smooth glides and behind the weed beds, they see a great deal of water going over them, and they are famously selective. Long leaders, fine tippet and a careful approach matter more here than distance casting.

Brown trout and rainbows share the river, with brook trout in the colder upper tributaries and mountain whitefish through the deeper runs. None of them are large by western standards. A sixteen inch Firehole brown is a good fish, and most anglers who come here are after the experience rather than the size, because there is no other place where a dry fly is fished within sight of an erupting geyser.

The thermal input is also the river’s main limitation. By midsummer the water can climb high enough that fishing it responsibly becomes questionable, and the Park Service and most guides steer anglers elsewhere during the hottest weeks. The Firehole is therefore a shoulder-season river, best in the weeks after the season opens and again once the nights turn cold in September.

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We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

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Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Firehole River cfs

Now: 64.1 cfs, read 6:00 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 06036805, Firehole River at Old Faithful, YNP).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Old Faithful - the gauge reach, with parking at the visitor complex and walk-in access above and below.
Biscuit Basin - roadside pullouts along the Grand Loop Road reaching the middle river.
Midway Geyser Basin - foot access to the meadow water below the Excelsior discharge.
Fountain Flat Drive - the classic meadow reach, with a gravel road and several pullouts.
Firehole Canyon Drive - fast pocket water in the canyon, reached by the one-way loop road.
Nez Perce Creek - the largest tributary, joining the river on the Fountain Flat side.
Madison Junction - the downstream end, where the Firehole meets the Gibbon.

Seasons

Spring: the best window of the year, with heavy baetis and pale morning dun hatches as soon as the season opens.
Summer: thermal input pushes water temperatures high and most anglers move to colder water.
Fall: the river cools and fishes well again, with baetis on grey days and browns on the move.
Winter: closed to fishing within the park for the season.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Firehole River?

As of Nov 2, 6:00 am, the USGS gauge Firehole River at Old Faithful, YNP reads 64 cfs, with water temperature 43.2 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Firehole River?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout on the Firehole River in Wyoming.

Are there fishing guides on the Firehole River?

GuidedFloats lists 2 guides and outfitters on the Firehole River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Firehole River?

Old Faithful - the gauge reach, with parking at the visitor complex and walk-in access above and below. Biscuit Basin - roadside pullouts along the Grand Loop Road reaching the middle river. Midway Geyser Basin - foot access to the meadow water below the Excelsior discharge. Fountain Flat Drive - the classic meadow reach, with a gravel road and several pullouts. Firehole Canyon Drive - fast pocket water in the canyon, reached by the one-way loop road. Nez Perce Creek - the largest tributary, joining the river on the Fountain Flat side. Madison Junction - the downstream end, where the Firehole...

When is the best time to fish the Firehole River?

Spring: the best window of the year, with heavy baetis and pale morning dun hatches as soon as the season opens. Summer: thermal input pushes water temperatures high and most anglers move to colder water. Fall: the river cools and fishes well again, with baetis on grey days and browns on the move. Winter: closed to fishing within the park for the season.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Firehole River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Wyoming agency site: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/regulations