Firehole River
Encyclopedia
The Firehole River is one of two major tributaries
of the Madison River
. It flows north approximately 21 miles (33.8 km) from its source in Madison Lake on the Continental Divide
to join the Gibbon River
at Madison Junction in Yellowstone National Park
. The Firehole flows through several significant geyser basins in the park to include the Upper Geyser Basin, which contains the world-famous geyser Old Faithful. The river was named by early trappers for the steam that makes it appear to be smoking as if on fire.
The Firehole contains three of Yellowstone's major waterfalls: Kepler Cascades
south of Old Faithful, Firehole Falls and the Cascades of the Firehole in Firehole Canyon.
The river is surrounded by geothermal features which empty water into it. One effect of the input of this water is to increase the temperature of the water. Temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 30 °C (86 °F) and average 5 to 10 °C (9 to 18 °F) higher than areas upstream of geothermal influence.
Water entering the river from geothermal features contains dissolved chemicals and minerals. Levels of boron
and arsenic
have been found to above the standard limits for protection of aquatic organisms. Despite these levels, rainbow trout live and spawn in these waters.
Firehole River has been a fishing mecca since the late 19th century and is known today for its excellent fly fishing
.
The River is also home to an invasive species
, the New Zealand mud snail
(Potamopyrgus antipodarum), that is being heavily studied to determine its impact on the river's ecosystem.
were first introduced to the upper Firehole in 1889, while brown trout
, the river's most plentiful trout today, was first stocked in 1890. Rainbow trout
were not introduced until 1923. Mountain whitefish
are native to the Firehole below Firehole Falls. By the late 19th century, the Firehole and Yellowstone National Park in general was a popular destination for fishermen. In 1955 all stocking programs in the park were discontinued and today's Firehole trout are completely wild populations. In 1968, based on increasing pressure on the Firehole, the Gibbon and Madison rivers, the National Park Service
designated these waters as Fly Fishing Only.
From one of the earliest accounts of fly fishing in Yellowstone:
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Madison River
Madison River
The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana form the Missouri River....
. It flows north approximately 21 miles (33.8 km) from its source in Madison Lake on the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
to join the Gibbon River
Gibbon River
The Gibbon River is a river in Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, the United States. It rises in the center of the park at Grebe Lake. It flows for a short distance into Wolf Lake. Below Wolf Lake, the river flows through Virginia Cascades into the Norris valley. It flows near the Norris...
at Madison Junction in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
. The Firehole flows through several significant geyser basins in the park to include the Upper Geyser Basin, which contains the world-famous geyser Old Faithful. The river was named by early trappers for the steam that makes it appear to be smoking as if on fire.
The Firehole contains three of Yellowstone's major waterfalls: Kepler Cascades
Kepler Cascades
Kepler Cascades is a waterfall on the Firehole River in southwestern Yellowstone National Park in the United States. The cascades are located approximately 2.5 miles south of Old Faithful. The cascades drop approximately 150 feet over multiple drops. The longest drop is 50 feet...
south of Old Faithful, Firehole Falls and the Cascades of the Firehole in Firehole Canyon.
The river is surrounded by geothermal features which empty water into it. One effect of the input of this water is to increase the temperature of the water. Temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 30 °C (86 °F) and average 5 to 10 °C (9 to 18 °F) higher than areas upstream of geothermal influence.
Water entering the river from geothermal features contains dissolved chemicals and minerals. Levels of boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
and arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
have been found to above the standard limits for protection of aquatic organisms. Despite these levels, rainbow trout live and spawn in these waters.
Firehole River has been a fishing mecca since the late 19th century and is known today for its excellent fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
.
The River is also home to an invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, the New Zealand mud snail
New Zealand Mud Snail
The New Zealand mudsnail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, sometimes previously known as Potamopyrgus jenkinsi, is a species of very small or minute freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Hydrobiidae....
(Potamopyrgus antipodarum), that is being heavily studied to determine its impact on the river's ecosystem.
Angling
The Firehole River is a famous and storied destination for serious fly fishermen. When it was discovered in the 1830s by American explorers, the Firehole was barren of trout above what is now called Firehole Falls. Brook troutBrook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
were first introduced to the upper Firehole in 1889, while brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, the river's most plentiful trout today, was first stocked in 1890. Rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
were not introduced until 1923. Mountain whitefish
Mountain whitefish
The mountain whitefish is one of the most widely distributed salmonid fish of western North America. It is found from the Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territory, Canada south through western Canada and the northwestern USA in the Pacific, Hudson Bay and upper Missouri River basins to the...
are native to the Firehole below Firehole Falls. By the late 19th century, the Firehole and Yellowstone National Park in general was a popular destination for fishermen. In 1955 all stocking programs in the park were discontinued and today's Firehole trout are completely wild populations. In 1968, based on increasing pressure on the Firehole, the Gibbon and Madison rivers, the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
designated these waters as Fly Fishing Only.
From one of the earliest accounts of fly fishing in Yellowstone:
Sections
| Section | Description, |
|---|---|
| Biscuit Basin to Midway Geyser Basin | As the Firehole crosses the Grand Loop Road South of Old Faithful, it joins the Little Firehole river in Biscuit Basin. The upper reaches of this section are classic meadow water. When the river leaves Biscuit Basin it parallels the Grand Loop Road for about 3 miles (4.8 km) and is generally less than 1/2 mile away from the road until it reaches the old Fountain Flats Freight road at the Old Iron Bridge. This stretch flows through sparsely forested lodgepole pines. Just before the river reaches Midway Geyser Basin it makes a very distinct U-turn in an area known as Muleshoe Bend. |
| Midway to Ojo Caliente Spring Ojo Caliente Spring Ojo Caliente Spring is a hot spring in Lower Geyser Basin, of Yellowstone National Park. It is in the River Group which includes Azure Spring, and is located a few yards off the Fountain Flats Freight Road on the northern bank of the Firehole River.... |
There is a long riffle from the lower end of Muleshoe through Midway Geyser Basin. It is right beside the road and is an excellent piece of water for the beginner. It is loaded with insect life, mostly small, and the rough, but not too uneven bottom offers good footing. Below Excelsior Spring, which pours a steaming cataract of 200 degree Fahrenheit water into the river, there is a long, shallow stretch of relatively fishless water leading into the head of Goose Lake Meadows, a long piece of mostly gliding dry fly water. From mid-July till late September this is a grasshopper stretch par excellence. A small falls and plunge pool terminates the stretch and gives way to a continuing succession of shallow cataracts. This ends in a narrow chute sliding under the Lower Iron Bridge and on into Ojo Caliente Bend, a deep, weed-filled curve that hosts more big trout than any stretch on the Firehole. The fishing on this section is generally very poor during the warmest months of summer—July and August. |
| Ojo Caliente Spring to Nez Perce Creek | In Ojo Caliente Bend itself the abundant weeds make fishing difficult. This is true of all the weedy stretches, which includes all the slower, deeper waters from Biscuit Basin to the lip of the canyon. This section is loaded with caddis and scud. Below Ojo Caliente begins a long piece of water which traverses Fountain Flats. It is fairly even bottomed and its depth is also even, but there are some potholes and broken places in the bedrock bottom, though no really deep spots. The grass-covered banks are undercut throughout and this plus the potholes and some weeds furnish more holds for trout than at first appears. The water is a bit cooler than that of Ojo Caliente Bend. In spring this is a favored piece of water, especially for the nymph fisherman. In summer the Fountain Flats are the dry fly fisher's bane—and delight. The water is truly wonderfully propitious for the dry fly, but this open meadow is often assaulted with winds up to fifty miles an hour. It has always been so. Ray Bergman, in the thirties, speaks of winds so strong that he had to aim his cast 45 degrees away from the river's edge in order to drop the fly along the bank where the fish were holding. But wind or no, this is a very popular piece of water in summer and early fall—grasshopper time and the wind is a help here, blowing these ungainly creatures into the water and bringing the fish to feed. |
| Nez Perce Creek to Madison Junction | Shortly after the Firehole leaves Fountain Flats, Nez Perce Creek enters the river from the East. The first three miles (5 km) of this section is mostly riffle and boulder water through Lodgepole forest to the breakover above the canyon head, is smooth, well weeded, very tempting to the dry fly fisher. These are the Broads of the Firehole. Ernest Schwiebert Ernest Schwiebert Ernest George Schwiebert, Ph.D. was born in Chicago on June 5, 1931. An architect by profession, Ernest "Ernie" Schwiebert was a renowned angler and angling author... claimed that they must have been so named by some of the Englishmen who fly-fished these waters in the early history of the park. The Broads section parallels the Grand Loop Road and is rarely out of sight. At the three mile (5 km) point, the river drops into two mile (3 km) long Firehole Canyon, over Firehole Cascades, and over Firehole Falls. This is very rough and rocky terrain, but paralleled by the one-way Firehole Canyon Drive. When the river exits the canyon, it is a mere 2000 feet (609.6 m) from the National Park Meadow and its confluence with the Gibbon at Madison Junction. |
Tributaries
Significant tributaries of the Firehole are the Little Firehole River, Fairy Creek, Iron Spring Creek, Sentinel Creek and Nez Perce Creek. All these tributaries bring cool waters to the Firehole and provide refuge for trout in the mainstem during mid-summer high temperatures caused by geothermal activity.Book
In 2005, Raymond Keift published Firehole River Murder: Yellowstone Fly-Fishing Mystery Series, a story about a wealthy but obnoxious businessman who was murdered on the banks of the Firehole River in Yellowstone.See also
- Angling in Yellowstone National ParkAngling in Yellowstone National ParkAngling in Yellowstone National Park is a major reason many visitors come to the park each year and since it was created in 1872, the park has drawn anglers from around the world to fish its waters. In 2006, over 50,000 park fishing permits were issued to visitors...
- Fishes of Yellowstone National ParkFishes of Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park is home to 13 native Fish species and six introduced or non-native species. Angling for trout has been a pastime in the park since its creation and trout species dominate the fish inhabiting the park. When the park was created in 1872, 40% of the park's waters were barren...
- Fly fishingFly fishingFly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...