Crecelius Cascade

Yellowstone National Park / East Entrance, Wyoming, USA

About Crecelius Cascade


Hiking Distance: roadside
Suggested Time:

Date first visited: 2017-08-10
Date last visited: 2017-08-10

Waterfall Latitude: 44.46832
Waterfall Longitude: -110.13909

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Crecelius Cascade was a roadside waterfall that we managed to miss on our first visit to Yellowstone National Park back in June 2004. It consisted of a smaller pair of cascades dropping in succession with a cumulative height of 75ft. For such an easy-to-access attraction, it was also quite an unheralded one (part of the reason why we overlooked it on our first visit). Perhaps it was because the falls was unsigned, and it didn’t seem like the East Entrance Road was all that busy compared to the other entrance roads throughout Yellowstone National Park. The waterfall was named by road engineer Hiram Chittenden after S.F. Crecelius who was his foreman in charge of the road passing before the falls. By the way, the name Chittenden may be familiar because the bridge over the Yellowstone River leading to Artist Point just south of Canyon Junction happened to bear his name. This waterfall may have had other names like “Eleanor Cascade”, “Leonora Falls”, and “Snow Fall”.

I was able to spot this waterfall after walking to the eastern end of Eleanor Lake (and as you’ll see from the directions below, I didn’t even have to make this walk). There was a short trail-of-use leading right up to the Crecelius Cascade once I spotted the falls. From closer to the road, I was able to clearly see both of the drops of the falls, but when I got up close, the upper drop was hidden behind the wall supporting the lower drop. The waterfall was said to be seasonal though it seemed to have fairly decent flow during our August 2017 visit (though that could be attributed to the high snowpack that resulted from heavy precipitation over the Winter and Spring months).

Crecelius_Cascade_001_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_005_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_011_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_016_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_019_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_038_08102017
Crecelius_Cascade_043_08102017
Fishing_Bridge_Rd_007_iPhone_08102017


The Crecelius Cascade was on the road between Fishing Bridge and the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The pullout nearest to the waterfall was on the east end of Eleanor Lake about 7.7 miles west of the East Entrance and 18.3 miles east of Fishing Bridge Junction. If you happened to go as far east as Sylvan Pass like we did, then you missed it. In case you’re uncertain about which unsigned pullout would be the correct one, there was also a signposted parking area on the west end of Eleanor Lake, and this was where we happened to park (which meant I had to walk along the road to the other side of the lake).

The Fishing Bridge Junction was also about 15.5 miles (30 minutes drive) south of the Canyon Junction, about 21 miles (30 minutes drive) northeast of the Fishing Bridge Junction, about 78 miles (over 90 minutes drive) west of Cody, 99 miles (over 2 hours drive) north of Jackson, and 55 miles east of West Yellowstone, Montana.

For geographical context, West Yellowstone was 58 miles (at least 90 minutes drive) south of Gardiner, Montana, 90 miles (over 90 minutes drive) south of Bozeman, Montana, and 321 miles (about 4.5 hours drive) north of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Find A Place To Stay

Sweep checking out the falls from a distance before walking right up to its base and looking back towards the East Entrance Road

Related Top 10 Lists

No Posts Found

Tagged with: yellowstone, yellowstone national park, east entrance, sylvan pass, eleanor lake, yellowstone lake, fishing bridge, wyoming, waterfall, park county



Visitor Comments:

Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...

No users have replied to the content on this page


Share your thoughts about what you've read on this page

You must be logged in to submit content. Refresh this page after you have logged in.

Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:

If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...

No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall


Have you been to a waterfall? Submit a write-up/review and share your experiences or impressions

Review A Waterfall

Nearest Waterfalls

The Waterfaller Newsletter

The Waterfaller Newsletter is where we curate the wealth of information on the World of Waterfalls website and deliver it to you in bite-sized chunks in your email inbox. You'll also get exclusive content like...

  • Waterfall Wednesdays
  • Insider Tips
  • User-submitted Waterfall Write-up of the Month
  • and the latest news and updates both within the website as well as around the wonderful world of waterfalls


How To Build A Profitable Travel Blog In 4 Steps