Earthquake Lake Visitor Center

The Earthquake Lake Visitor Center stands on top of the landslide that dammed the Madison River on the night of August 17, 1959. It is run by the Custer Gallatin National Forest at the Madison River Canyon Earthquake Area, on US-287 about 28 miles northwest of West Yellowstone. Below it lies Earthquake Lake, commonly called Quake Lake.

At 11:37 p.m. that night an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 by most accounts (some sources give 7.5) struck near Hebgen Lake; the epicentre was about 15 miles north of West Yellowstone. A whole mountainside, about 50 million cubic yards of rock, collapsed into the Madison Canyon, hitting the Rock Creek campground, where tourists were camping. Twenty-eight people died. The slide blocked the river, and the rising water formed Earthquake Lake. To keep the natural dam from failing, the US Army Corps of Engineers cut a channel 250 feet wide through the debris, with a second channel finished on October 29. The Forest Service later put a plaque on one of the fallen boulders in memory of those killed in the slide, and the visitor center was completed in 1967. The plaque honours the 19 to 21 people killed in the landslide itself; the others died elsewhere in the area that night.

Inside, exhibits explain what happened that night and why the mountain fell. Because the building sits on the slide itself, you can see how much rock came down and how it blocked the river.

The center is open from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through September 15, daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including federal holidays in summer. Admission is free. These dates come from the Forest Service page last updated in September 2025, so confirm 2026/27 dates before you travel. The building is now closed for the season. Off-season questions go to the Hebgen Lake Ranger District; the visitor center number is 406-682-7620.

Allow about an hour at the center, plus driving time. Even out of season, US-287 runs past the slide, so you can see the lake and the scar from the road. In winter, check road conditions first.