This spot gives you an amazing panoramic view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the north…read moreside. Lookout Point is one of a few lookout spots you can stop at when you drive on North Rim Drive (a one-way drive). Just heads up, the parking lot isn't very large. If you continue on with your drive on North Rim Drive, you will eventually end up in Canyon Village. If you want to make an adventure of your stop here, I suggest hiking the North Rim Trail east to Inspiration Point and enjoy the beautiful views along the way. There is also a paved path and some wooden steps below that take you down to a viewing platform called Red Rock Point. This will give you a close full view of Lower Falls. Lookout Point was one of my favorite spots to stop at on the North Rim. I highly recommend checking it out.

At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone there is a lower and upper portion of the falls. This is the…read morelookout point on the lower falls and I think this is the best view of the lower falls. You can go to the brink of the lower falls to see the top of the waterfall, but this lookout overlooks the entire thing which I think is better. Another underrated view is the red rocks view which is right next to this lookout point. Instead of going straight to the lookout you go down the stairs, walk a bit and then get to the red rocks view which is a bit closer to the waterfall and more eye-level. There are also fewer people here so you'll have more time to take nice pictures and videos without the crowds.

Artist Point has an amazing canyon view of a 308-ft waterfall. Easy to get to…read more We heard that Artist Point, near Canyon Village, was one of the best sights in Yellowstone National Park. The drive from the West Entrance was essentially west to east, with a jog to the north halfway-there. The elevation was increasing most of the way, getting as high as 8244-ft. We found the turns on the drive to be visually confusing, because the curving roads turned our sense of direction. At the Madison stop sign, though the turn seemed odd, we turned left onto Grand Loop Road. That was northeast. It's correct. Passing Norris Geyser, it looked odd but we turned right (east) onto Norris Canyon Rd. Coming up to the east branch of the Loop Road, we turned right (south). The entrance to South Rim Drive was then a left. It's even more confusing on the way back, because they never seemed to put a sign saying "to West Entrance" until a mile past the turns :-). Pro tip: Keep a map in front of you at those turns! Once we turned onto South Rim Drive, we drove the winding way for less than 2-miles to the end. There was a large parking lot with plenty of open spaces, plus outhouses. It was a high elevation there, about 7700-ft, and some of us felt it. Conveniently, we could drop off those who walk less comfortably at the furthest end of the parking lot, about 250-feet from the best vista. We walked to the overlook on the left. t. The 1-mile view to the west along the Yellowstone River was stupendous, with the huge crashing misting Lower Falls waterfall dropping 308-feet. We were awed by the midday view. In fact, three of our group had gone their separate way by now, and when they saw our photos, they drove here on their own the next day! They say that sunrise often creates a rainbow in the mist, but we could not manage to pass through the west entrance early enough for the at-least 90-min (usually longer) drive. From what I read, you need a low sun-angle (less than 45°) to get a rainbow in the mist. Based on a (very-)very-nerdy NOAA Solar Calculator webpage, using the Lat-Lon and time, we might have been able to see a rainbow as late as 8:50am in July. (2026). I won't say who in our group figured that out, because I'd also have to say it was After our trip :-)

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone -- Lower Falls Do it in…read morethis order. Trust me. If Yellowstone had a crown jewel, this is it. We hit the Lower Falls from two different angles, and the order we did it made all the difference. Start at Artist Point. From here, you get the full picture -- the entire canyon stretching out in front of you, walls layered in pink, red, orange, and white from thousands of years of iron-stained rock. The waterfall sits in the distance like something out of a painting, and the river winds through the bottom of a canyon that drops 800 to 1,200 feet deep. It gives you the context to appreciate everything else you're about to see. Blue sky, puffy clouds, massive scale -- this view alone is worth the drive. Then hike down to the Brink of the Lower Falls. This is where it gets real. You're standing right at the top of a 308-foot drop, watching the full force of the Yellowstone River launch off the edge. In early May, snowmelt had it absolutely roaring -- thick mist rising up, patches of snow still clinging to the rocks below, and if the sun hits right, a rainbow forms right at the base. See the canyon first. Then feel the power up close. That's the move. Absolutely mandatory stop in Yellowstone -- don't skip either viewpoint.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Madison Junction is a mountainous part of Yellowstone, on the west side of the park, just within…read morethe west entrance. It's the confluence of the Madison and Gibbon Rivers, where they go from snow melt and hot springs through the park, to ultimately merge into the Yellowstone River. This area is full of wildlife- including the great American Bison! They're out here in numbers. There's so many of them. Fortunately, there's lots of pull off opportunities to get a good gander at the bison without jeopardizing the traffic. Madison offers a smaller visitors center, but the real visitors center is in West Yellowstone. Madison Junction has become one of the more major entrances to the park since the floods washed out the roads from the North Entrance. The campgrounds here looked nice, lots of shade.

My favorite part of the park I start at the west entrance and travel to the Madison junction and…read moreback to entrance I see almost every animal in the park beautiful area

We saw the Liberty Cap Hot Spring Dome south of the Mammoth WY historic district. The dome is just…read moreto the west of a parking area on Grand Loop Road at the Lower Terraces North Trailhead. It was an unusual sight: a 37-ft tall narrow standalone ski-cap-shaped formation created over hundreds of years by calcium carbonate deposits from a stationary spring in this area of constantly-shifting underground channels. The Lower Terraces North Trailhead lies south of the dome, and curves north between the dome and the terraces. The dome is easily seen from a parking area just east of the road. There's more parking a few hundred feet north on both sides of the road, and a public restroom west of the road a few hundred feet further north.

+ Nice that there are multiple entrances to view this natural masterpiece. I went the North Rim…read moreside. - Crowded yet ample parking. And crowded trails. + Rainbow! Rarely do you get to view downward on one. Can you make out where it starts and ends? Tryna find that pot of gold. + The sounds and feel of the roaring, gushing rapids, the wind in the trees, and the sights of dazzling emerald of the water through and over the waterfall exude an elating, invigorating feel.

Snow and blue skies. 70-80F tomorrow. A stunning place…read more A stop on our adventures in the region. Mark & Nancy.

Good educational exhibits. A few souvenirs…read more I admit we read every descriptive sign we came across at scenic locations. The Albright Visitors Center was the first exhibit we went into on its own. We loved the many educational and descriptive and historical displays. We liked being up close with representations of wildlife that we didn't encounter in person. I liked the comparative paw print exhibit! The A/C and restroom were nice, too :-) (Jul 2026)

This is the main visitor center in the mammoth hot springs area. It's VERY big, they have lots of…read morestaff, bathroom, fill stations, a gift shop, big parking lot, and good-sized educational area downstairs. They do a great job keeping it clean and it's in a little community with restaurants and an ice cream shop. Great stop if you're near or passing through mammoth hot springs area!

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.

The Mammoth Terraces run along two sections of west upper Grand Loop Road, south of downtown…read moreMammoth You drive southwest from the center of Mammoth, and when the road turns south, the terraces start just outside of town. You cant miss them, all white and frosty-looking for half-a-mile along the west side of the road. There are parking areas and trails. Then the road leaves the terraces, and after another half-mile, the road takes a hairpin turn north and comes back to the terraces. Take the turnoff to continue north for more trails and a great overlook! Or stay through another hairpin turn on Grand Loop Road and continue south through another half-mile of terraces. I mention this location because as of Aug 2026, Yelp placed the terraces in the middle of the town of Mammoth, and you cant see the terraces from there.

If you're coming into Yellowstone through the North entrance, definitely make a stop here and check…read moreout the hot spring terraces. The limestone rock formations and water features are very cool. The trail isn't overly long so you can make the full loop in about an hour or so (two if you're a slow walker or likes to stop a lot for photos). Parking can be a challenge, like most other popular spots at Yellowstone, but just be patient and eventually you'll find a spot.