One of the true wonders of the modern, natural world!…read more Get here a good ~15 minutes before the next eruption, not only to ensure a good viewing spot before the crowds begin to gather, but also because Ol' Reliable isn't *quite* as reliable as she used to be, and will occasionally go off up to ~12 minutes before the predicted time (or ~12 minutes after, in some cases).

Worthwhile to see such a natural occurrence. Would highly recommend to go at least once in your…read morelife to visit it as well as the rest of the Nation's first National Park.

The Upper Falls on Yellowstone River is a 109-ft waterfall, north off South Rim Road, close to…read moreGrand Loop Road, while the Artist Point viewing area is further along South Rim. It's about a 200-ft walk west from parking to the southwest view to Upper Falls, named "upper" because it's upstream from "Lower" Falls. One of us got photos through the trees of another smaller falls, possibly Crystal Falls. And there is a different path that takes you north from parking to another view of Upper Falls, but it's a strenuous 0.2-mi hike, and we didnt take that hike. The parking area is small, but not too small for the popularity of the site. There are outhouses in the parking lot and, surprisingly, flush-toilets just to the north of the lot.

This is a short .3 mile leisurely walk to the Upper Falls View from the parking lot of the Upper…read moreFalls Overlook on the South Rim Drive. Besides the Brink of the Upper Falls, this is the best spot to view the falls. There is also a left fork right before you get to the platform view that adds a nice walk along the river with great spots to view additional cascades.

Closed to vehicles…read more We wanted to see Artesia Geyser on Firehole Lake. Part of our hope was that elk and bison are sometimes reported there in the mornings. However, Firehole Lake Drive to both of these features was closed to vehicles (Jul 2026). Note: We don't see this closure with the others mentioned on the NPS "conditions" web page. Later, we found it was clearly marked in the app, and tracked back to a "parkroads" map on the webpage.

This is one of the lesser known parts of Yellowstone National Park that is worth checking out for a…read morebit. It's a short loop near Grand Prismatic Spring (only a couple minutes north) and you turn from Grand Loop Road into a narrow road. There are a good amount of geysers on this drive although I only went to a few of them before turning around to get out. I went to the firehole spring, the great fountain geyser, the surprise pool, and the white dome geyser. I wouldn't say that there was anything special about these set of geysers and springs that you wouldn't be able to see elsewhere in the park, but I went on an early Sunday morning so there was absolutely no one which was nice and peaceful.

This was a amazing place. I would recommend going to the top look out point then going down to the…read moreactual geyser basin I liked it a lot but I think I had already seen enough hot springs/geysers that I just kinda felt bored here but it was still really cool

I hadn't heard of this area before coming to Yellowstone but I saw a sign for it on the Rockefeller…read morefreeway and a lot of cars going toward it so I followed them. I'm glad I did, it's a really neat area and in my opinion almost a better bang for your buck than prismatic springs! You walk along a boardwalk in both areas since the geothermal area is both fragile, and potentially dangerous. There are several steaming pools in this area, including some that are cloudy/hazy, and some that are crystal clear and blue as the Caribbean ocean. This was also the only place I saw elk; there were some just chilling in the middle of the area. The parking lot is huge and easily accessible here as well.

55 million year old petrified tree…read more I've always been fascinated by petrified wood! There's about 30 petrified trees still-standing in the forests in these hills, and another 10 or so on the forest floor, of around 800 trees of over 30-species throughout the Park. Near here is the home of the largest petrified forest in the world! To get to this site, we took a southwest turn for a quarter-mile, off of Grand Loop, Road, about 1.25 miles north of Tower Junction. The sign for the turn is small and would be easy to miss. This petrified tree is a 20-ft-tall more-or-less-50-million-year-old stone sequoia-redwood-relative. There used to be three trees right at this location, which is why this one was fenced to help preserve it. (Jul 2026)

Yeup, believe it or not, we're still in Yellowstone. Who'da expected to encounter petrification way…read moreout here? Of course, the lahar! (Ancient volcanic mudflow and ash.) I understand the temptation to collect some exotic heirlooms, but for the sake of the sanctity of this old Earth, please don't. The other 2 trees were vanquished because of that. Now, only 1 left... - Not much else here. No restrooms. . Little shade. + Peaceful lil pit stop on the way to the Serengeti of North America.

Amazing! The rumors were true. + Bison nonchalantly…read morecrossing the road, slowing down lines of cars. My 3rd animal crossing this vacation! - The western entrance to Lamar Valley at Tower Junction (Tower/Roosevelt Service Station) was way backed up. Many cars, slow line. * Even with many families waiting behind you, savor the moments. Not often in your life you get to witness Bovidae walking right in front of you. . Tip: better replenish at the Sinclair gas station. Will be a long drive ahead. # Warning: Don't feed them, and certainly don't touch them. Ancestrally, bison had to view us hunters as predators. And mothers recognize their calves by scent. If you touch a calf, your human predator scent will alienate the mother; she may not even recognize her young anymore, and it won't be able to rejoin the herd Dx Disastrous fate for the calf afterwards... So yeah, stay in your car. Or exit at one of the pullouts, but keep your distance. Welcome to America's Serengeti!

I had no real expectation of the Lamar Valley, but had heard that this was a good spot to see…read morewildlife. And did we see wildlife. Pronghorn, a rare native fish, BISON EVERYWHERE, deer. We even got stuck in a kind of scary bison jam for about 20 mins. Huge bison were right next to our car and it very much reminded me of the scene of Jurassic Park when the t-rex got out and the passengers were freezing so it wouldn't see you. We found 1 particular spot to get out and hike. It was called Trout Lake. It was a beautiful, moderate (but mostly flat and easy) walk that my kids could do easily. The scenery was really pretty too. We turned the car around at Trout Lake to head toward Tower Fall, but I've heard it's still pretty when you continue on. A definitely while do. I think we spent about 4 hours in the Lamar Valley with the drive and the hike stop.

Town is convenient to this entrance/exit With multiple…read moreopportunities for lodging, dining, camping, hotels, motels, grocery shopping, bar hoping, and good family or singles fun. The park employees manning the gate are super friendly and they can get through the crowds very quickly. A sightseer paradise. Mountains, wildlife, stream, hiking, biking, photography, horse bike riding, driving and getting back to nature.

The West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park was efficient every time we went through. We never…read moreencountered a longer WEEKDAY-delay at the entrance than 15min, on different weekdays approximately 6:30am, 8am, 8:30am, 10:30am, and 11am. (Jul 2026). On the other hand, even when we entered at 6:30am, traffic built up by the time we got to popular locations to the south between the entrance and Old Faithful. Not terribly bad, but enough that we would have started earlier if we could have. Studying traffic apps, it looked like traffic was better entering before 5:30am or maybe even 6am. We never saw bad backups (besides wildlife sightings) going north, or going all the way west between the north and south loops. We never started early enough to see sunrise inside the park. At the entrance, the far right lane was for pre-paid passes. With three other lanes open, the prepaid lane wasnt even twice as fast as the others. It was around two-cars faster when the other lanes were 6 or 8 cars. Pretty efficient. And they give you a useful park map, though you can buy more detailed maps and guidebooks at the park's visitors centers and around town. We used the free ones :-) We felt that the NPS app had info that's easier to access than their website. And believe it when they say cell service is limited to the major sights and visitor centers. Even GPS was spotty. So, after our first couple hours in the park, we made a point to download maps and info before the next leg of the trip, and on the second time in, we downloaded the night before.

The Arch is Beautiful and you can walk inside and drive thru. It is on way to park and normally Elk…read moreare nearby also check out Arch park right below the Arch. Worth stopping

Yellowstone absolutely blew me away. You can drive for hours looking at the most beautiful sights…read moreyou've ever seen. I actually cried because I felt so overwhelmed by its beauty. If you visit please be respectful of nature, and leave the animals alone. Make sure to bring sunblock, water and snacks. Pro tip: Go to the visitors center before you get started. They are great at giving your advise of how to best enjoy the park, where gas stations are found in the park etc. It's also a nice change to apply sunscreen, use the restrooms, and refill your water bottles.