Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From Old Faithful Village to West Thumb Junction
From Old Faithful to West Thumb is a distance of about 19 miles (31 km), as measured from
the visitor center. Worth stopping for on the way are Kepler Cascades, Lone Star Geyser Trail,
and Isa Lake at the western crossing of the
Continental Divide,
as well as the views from Shos-
hone (pronounced “show-SHOW-nee”) Point and from above West Thumb Junction.
Road Log
0.0/19.4
Old Faithful Village and Visitor Center. Follow signs to exit the area or to find facil-
1.6/17.8
Old Faithful Interchange with the Grand Loop Road. West Thumb Junction is to the
east, Madison Junction to the north.
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Employee housing area on the south. Slow down for the pedestrian crossing!
Not far from here and just south of the present Old Faithful Clinic was the site of the Bears'
Feeding Ground in the early twentieth century.
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Small unpaved parking area for trails to Fern Cascades (west) and Lone Star Gey-
ser (south). he
Lone Star Geyser Trail
is a section of the old Howard Eaton trail. For a short-
er walk to Lone Star Geyser, park at mile 4.2/15.2. (See
page 78
for the Fern Cascades Trail.)
Fire damage from the 1988 North Fork fire can still be seen.
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Firehole River bridge. From here the Madison Plateau extends southwest as far as
the Bechler River in the park's corner and as far north as the Madison River. This plateau is a
huge, relatively young, lava flow—that is, about 100,000 to 200,000 years old.
