Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls is a 65-foot horsetail waterfall on the Gibbon River in Yellowstone National Park, Teton County, Wyoming. The river spills over a remnant of the Yellowstone caldera rim about 4.7 miles upstream of Madison Junction, and the falls are viewed from roadside overlooks with accessible paths.

The falls

The Gibbon River drops once in a broad veil that stays in contact with the rock. The World Waterfall Database, working from one-meter lidar, puts the height at about 65 feet; earlier surveys listed 84 feet, the figure the park still uses. Average flow runs around 150 cfs for four months of the year and 75 cfs for the rest. The ledge it pours over is part of the rim of the caldera left by an eruption about 631,000 years ago.

Getting there

The falls sit beside the park road between Madison and Norris, with designated accessible parking, paths and overlooks. A walk along the overlooks is short: visitors have measured it at 0.5 to 0.6 mile round trip with about 32 feet of gain.

Yellowstone admission in 2026 is $35 per private vehicle for seven days, plus $100 per non-US resident aged 16 and older unless covered by a qualifying America the Beautiful annual pass.

When to go

The Madison–Norris road is scheduled to open to regular vehicles from April 17 to October 31, 2026, weather permitting. From December 15, 2026, to March 9, 2027, the section is open only to oversnow travel. The Gibbon River's runoff generally peaks in May and June.

On site

Stay behind the fencing and guard rails; the river is cold and fast. Pets are allowed only in developed areas within 100 feet of roads and parking, on a leash no longer than six feet, and not on trails or boardwalks.

History and name

William Henry Jackson first documented the falls during Ferdinand Hayden's 1872 survey. There is no record of how they were named, but official park accounts called them Gibbon Falls by the mid-1880s. The falls blocked fish from moving upstream: the upper river had no fish until rainbow trout were stocked above them in 1890, followed by Arctic grayling in 1920.

Nearby

Jordan Falls is about 1.4 miles away, Slide Cascade about 4 miles and Firehole Falls about 4.9 miles.

Distances are straight-line.