The 132 foot drop framed by volcanic pinnacles whose Thomas Moran painting helped establish Yellowstone itself in 1872, a short walk from the Tower General Store.
Mid May through mid July
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Tower Creek
Climatology
Data on this page
Tower Creek is ungauged
NPS Yellowstone
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Tower Fall, and when
Tower Creek is a modest snowmelt stream, so the fall runs biggest with the plateau melt from mid May into July and slims through late summer. Unlike the mainstem Lower Falls, this one visibly feels the season; the overlook view in June and the one in September are noticeably different waterfalls.
Typical best flow: Mid May through mid July
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What the agency itself says
The 132-foot (40-m) drop of Tower Creek, framed by eroded volcanic pinnacles has been documented by park visitors from the earliest trips of Europeans into the Yellowstone region. Its idyllic setting has inspired numerous artists, including Thomas Moran. His painting of Tower Fall played a role in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872.
Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service)What a snowmelt year looks like at full send: Palouse Falls in mid April, when the Palouse River is still carrying the melt. The same falls in late August is a ribbon. Timing is most of the visit. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
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Right now
Current flow at Tower Fall
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The fall is visible from an overlook near the Tower General Store, per the Park Service. The lower trail to the base has been closed for years due to severe erosion; the walkable stretch past the overlook ends with a view of Tower Creek meeting the Yellowstone River.
Yellowstone's bigger drop, the Lower Falls, photographed by the Park Service from Lookout Point. Tower Fall is its slender sibling twenty road miles north, on the same melt calendar. “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
Common questions
Tower Fall flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is Mid May through mid July. Tower Creek is a modest snowmelt stream, so the fall runs biggest with the plateau melt from mid May into July and slims through late summer. Unlike the mainstem Lower Falls, this one visibly feels the season; the overlook view in June and the one in September are noticeably different waterfalls.
Tower Creek has no USGS gauge near the falls, so the seasonal pattern above is the flow guide for Tower Fall, and Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service) is the source for current conditions on the ground.
No, but it narrows considerably by fall. The Park Service keeps the base trail closed for erosion, so the overlook is the view at any flow; the melt window gives it the full voice.
Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service). The fall is visible from an overlook near the Tower General Store, per the Park Service. The lower trail to the base has been closed for years due to severe erosion; the walkable stretch past the overlook ends with a view of Tower Creek meeting the Yellowstone River. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "Can I hike to the bottom of Tower Fall? No, the lower part of the trail is closed because of severe erosion. You can walk past the Tower Fall Overlook for 0.75-mile (1.2-km), ending with a view of Tower Creek flowing into the Yellowstone River." That sentence is Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
The 308 foot centerpiece of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, nearly twice Niagara's height, on an undammed river that peaks with the plateau snowmelt.
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Yellowstone National Park (National Park Service). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
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