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.

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.

This trail still exists, except it stops where the steps once existed. So it's a very steep trail,…read morea lot of switchbacks, leading to the top of the falls. Even without the stairs, it's quite a significant climb back to the parking lot so if you're not in good condition, don't attempt!

August 2022 Update: when my fiancé and I went, two rangers informed us that they are officially…read morePERMANENTLY closing this trail. They went down to take out the sign and will not be allowing anyone to go through the stairs. They said it is too expensive to fix and costs millions of dollars with the rescues, especially with the amount of money they are spending to fix the roads from the flooding. Obviously really sad but Uncle Tom's trail is no more :(

On our second day in the park, we had visited the Grand Canyon area, and then we discovered the…read morelake. On that day, a storm must've been moving in because the wind was gusting and there were actually waves on the lake! We got out a couple times and explored the beachfront. I found a couple of bird feathers, which was exciting for me, and generally just amazing given the gusts of wind - I was surprised that they didn't blow away. On our third day in the park as we came back through from the fishing bridge headed towards Old Faithful, we went by the lake again, and we were stunned at the complete difference in personality that we were witnessing. The lake was completely and totally calm, quiet, and gentle. We had to stop and explore again, and it was such a different experience from the day before. This lakefront is amazing and it's definitely a place to be explored in the park.

I drove through Yellowstone Lake as I was going to West Thumb Geyser Basin on the eastern portion…read moreof the park. It's a HUGE lake and it took me a while to drive down the road with the lake by my side. There are a lot of pulloffs that you can soak in the views or even go down to the lake and play in the water. It'll take you a while to drive around the entire lake and there are multiple parts of it. West Thumb and Grant Visitor Center will be closest to the main sections of the park and closest to Grand Loop Road. Although the South and Southeast arms of the lake are further away I imagine they're less crowded so you can have more peace doing all your fun activities.

+ Nice vista of Grand Prismatic Spring, but not much better than from the GPS' boardwalk…read more . Bird's eye view (like in the photos) is best. - Bird's eye view G Maps doesn't show it, + but the park installed overflow parking by the entrance to Fairy Fall trail right along Grand Loop Rd, thankfully. - Crowded, + but decent amount of parking. - No restrooms.

Our family of 4 (parents and two 20-something's) booked an end-of-season trip to Yellowstone, and…read moreincluded an overnight rafting trip, and a horseback ride through the Flying Pig - we had a blast! Horsebackriding was fun up at Hells'-a-Roaring Ranch above Gardiner. The horses were all steady and kind, and the views were incredible. Our guide Mariette, was fun and had lots of experience and information about the area. The crew there is all friendly and helpful, and we picked a great day to do it for weather and visibility. It was walking (no trotting) only, but there was a large group, so it was understandable. The next day we embarked on our River camping trip. Jaxon from Flying Pig was our rafting guide, and incredible cook- he really knows the river and it was just the 4 of us, so we felt really spoiled having him all to ourselves. He was a wealth of knowledge about the park, the birds and the river itself. We even stopped to look for petrified wood at the inlet of a river while we ate our lunches. The overnight on the river was fun and rustic, a lovely campfire, hot showers (outdoor!), clean regular bathrooms, and large tent-cabins. The company provides cotton sleeping bag liners, but just a tip: Had i known that, i would have brought my own silk one! We played Corn-hole on the beach while Jax fired up the really amazing steak dinner. After breakfast the next morning, we had a leisurely float back, and saw quite a few eagles along the way. We really enjoyed our vacation to Yellowstone and The Flying Pig was a big part of that. Very helpful and great communication with the staff. Highly recommended.

Our group of 6 were all new to rafting. We had the best time ever!! Preston (our guide) set the bar…read morecrazy high for any future rafting trips, he was so fun and knowledgeable (he taught us all about rivers, wildlife, and other local attractions)! If we had more time we would have booked another full day trip and requested Preston just so we could hang out with him again. This experience turned us all into rafting aficionados! As an added bonus, we got to see a bald eagle take flight from a tree so that was cool too. Preston and our raft day made our entire Yellowstone Trip! You should ask your raft guide "Can pigs fly?" and see what happens! The only thing I wish I would've known (which I could've if I had called probably lol) is there is a bit of a tough walk down to get into the boats- but honestly 5 mins into the trip we forgot all about the trek because we were having such a great time. I'd recommend wearing all swim material clothes so that you dry quickly because even on a warm day the water can be chilly and the wind nippy. Having shorts/pants that aren't swim material will keep you cold and wet (dry fit doesn't work the same as swim material lol). If you don't have water shoes they have them available for you to borrow and they also had neoprene/wet suits but we didn't use them.

About 1-mile east from Grand Loop Road, long North Rim Drive, is a parking area named for the…read morenearby Grand View. You can walk north or south on the North Rim Trail for spectacular views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. There is no outhouse that we saw at this parking area, though one is listed in the NPS app (Jul 2026)

Another must do when visiting the Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park. A very easy walk to…read morethe Brink of the Upper Falls for a great view of the falls. Also recommend the the Upper Falls View, Uncle Tom's Trail (when it is open again) and Artist Point on the South Rim and Brink of the Lower Falls, Lookout Point (take the additional walk down to the lower viewpoint) on the North Rim.