Unfamiliar with the park? Not a problem! Check on the location map of where each of the webcams is located and which direction they are facing. Interested in learning more about the webcams used here at Yellowstone? Check out the frequently asked questions.
Live-streaming Webcam
Located near Old Faithful Geyser, this webcam provides a streaming view of this geyser, as well as other happenings around the Upper Geyser Basin.
Look at a live view of Old Faithful and the surrounding geyser field.
Static Webcams
View current conditions at various locations around the park. Images from these webcams refresh roughly every 30 seconds.
North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs
North Entrance - Roosevelt Arch
This webcam is on the park's North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana. It shows current conditions at the entrance with Roosevelt Arch in the background.
The arch became known as Roosevelt Arch after President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing in the park, spoke at the ceremony to lay the cornerstone in 1903. The arch is inscribed with a phrase from the legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park: "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
Morning views from this webcam are spectacular, especially during the winter when the morning sun touches Electric Peak.
Look for wildlife—elk, bison, and pronghorn can be seen grazing here. Occasionally you may see the top of oversize vehicles—RVs, tour buses, and delivery trucks—as they stop at the entrance station.
Mammoth Hot Springs - Travertine Terraces and Parade Ground
Yellowstone is a place of change, and this view highlights a place where change is constant and evident—the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. Terraces form when water rises through limestone, which then allows the water to carry high amounts of dissolved calcium carbonate. At the surface, carbon dioxide is released and the calcium carbonate is deposited, forming travertine, the chalky white rock of the terraces.
In the foreground are the parade grounds for historic Fort Yellowstone—the focal point of daily life at the fort. Each day began early with a bugler sounding Reveille. Another bugle call brought horse-mounted soldiers trotting onto the field for the flag-raising. Assignments were then announced. Troops either headed out to patrol the Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces and other nearby attractions, or remained at the fort to care for the horses. At dusk, the bugler called all troopers back to the grounds for the lowering of the flag, and the day was concluded with a cannon firing from the top of Capitol Hill. Taps was played as lights winked out and quiet settled over the fort.
When the US Army was based in Fort Yellowstone, this is where the officers and their families were housed. Because of its good facilities, relaxed discipline, and interesting surroundings, Fort Yellowstone was considered a prized assignment by many officers and enlisted men. Protection of the park did not suffer. Soldiers were ordered to "conduct themselves in a courteous and polite, but firm and decided manner" when carrying out their duties. Today, these buildings make up the Albright Visitor Center, offices for park operations, and living quarters for employees.
This webcam faces south, so the view may appear washed out in the morning. The webcam points through two panes of historic glass of the old headquarters for the Corp of Engineers (circa 1903), and we've done our best to sharpen the view. As leaves drop during the fall and the trees remain bare all winter, the buildings and their red roofs will be more noticeable.
At 10,243 feet, Mount Washburn towers above Dunraven Pass between Tower Junction and Canyon Village. A fire lookout stationed at the summit provides a popular destination for day hikers, as well as housing for an employee who watches for and tracks fires throughout the summer. This webcam is located inside the living quarters on the top floor and looks out to the northeast.
This webcam atop Mount Washburn captures a south-facing view of the north-central part of the park. During summer, the webcam is often re-positioned by the fire lookout, and smoke from wildfires burning in the park may be visible.
Geothermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park
Old Faithful Geyser
Old Faithful, named by members of the 1870 Washburn Expedition, was once called “Eternity’s Timepiece” because of the regularity of its eruptions. Despite the myth, this geyser has never erupted at exact hourly intervals, nor is it the largest or most regular geyser in Yellowstone. It does, however, erupt more frequently than any other of the large geysers.
This view of the Old Faithful Geyser is captured from a webcam inside the visitor education center. At this location, time is not measured by a clock, but by this geyser. Visitors make decisions on when to eat, take a tour, interact with exhibits, or watch the visitor center film based on Old Faithful's next eruption.
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory's Webcam at Yellowstone Lake
The camera view is south-southeast over Yellowstone Lake from the cell phone tower near Fishing Bridge. Stevenson Island is visible within the lake on the right. The view extends down the Southeast Arm between the Promontory (low ridge rising from the lake) and the eastern shore. Above the shore, the acid-bleached Brimstone Basin remains white even when the snows have melted. The Absaroka Mountains in the background are composed of approximately 50-million-year old volcanic rocks that long precede the current volcanic activity at Yellowstone, which started about 2.2 million years ago.
