Crecelius Cascade

Yellowstone National Park / East Entrance, Wyoming, USA

About Crecelius Cascade

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Crecelius Cascade was a roadside waterfall on the eastern side of Yellowstone National Park, which was an area less known for waterfalls.

It consisted of a smaller pair of cascades dropping in succession with a cumulative height of 75ft.

Crecelius_Cascade_002_08012020 - Crecelius Cascade
Crecelius Cascade

For such an easy-to-access attraction, it was also quite an unheralded one (part of the reason why we managed to miss it on our first visit to Yellowstone back in June 2004).

Perhaps its obscurity was because the falls was unsigned and didn’t seem 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 (between Canyon Village and Artist Point just south of Canyon Junction) happened to bear his name.

Anyways, this waterfall may have had other names like “Eleanor Cascade”, “Leonora Falls”, and “Snow Fall” according to the book The Guide to Yellowstone Waterfalls and Their Discovery.

Experiencing Crecelius Cascade

Crecelius_Cascade_014_08102017 - Looking across Eleanor Lake from near the foot of the Crecelius Cascade
Looking across Eleanor Lake from near the foot of the Crecelius Cascade

On my first visit, I was able to spot the Crecelius Cascade after walking to the eastern end of Eleanor Lake.

On my second visit, I learned that I didn’t even have to make this walk as there was a roadside pullout right in front of the waterfall by the eastern end of Eleanor Lake.

Anyways, 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.

However, when I got up close, the upper drop was hidden behind the wall supporting the lower drop.

Crecelius_Cascade_019_08102017 - Looking right at the lower drop of Crecelius Cascade from right at its base
Looking right at the lower drop of Crecelius Cascade from right at its base

Crecelius Cascade was said to be seasonal though it seemed to have fairly decent flow during our both our August 2017 visit as well as our August 2020 visit.

I attribute the cascade’s staying power to the presence of mountain thunderstorms that pop up pretty frequently throughout the Summer even well after most of the snowpack accumulated in the Winter and early Spring would have been depleted.

Authorities

Crecelius Cascade resides in Yellowstone National Park near Cody in Park County, Wyoming. It is administered by the National Park Service. For information or inquiries about the park as well as current conditions, visit the National Park Service website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: yellowstone, yellowstone national park, east entrance, sylvan pass, eleanor lake, yellowstone lake, fishing bridge, wyoming, waterfall, park county



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
Read More About Johnny | A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls.