10 Easy Day Hikes in Yellowstone National Parks
Excited to see Yellowstone but need a break from the car? Check out these 10 easier hikes in Yellowstone National Park to stretch your legs and view some amazing scenery. Park entrance fees required and no dogs allowed. Check out Alltrails.com for more details, directions & most up to date trail conditions:
1. Lone Star Backcountry Geyser
Distance: 4.8 miles, Out & Back
Difficulty: Easy, 121 ft elevation gain
Directions: Parking lot is east of Old Faithful
Need to know: Enjoy this easy hike to one of Yellowstone’s closest backcountry geysers. The trail is a partially paved old forest service road that follows the firehole river. Bikes are available for rent at the Old Faithful Inn. Lone Star Geyser erupts up to 45 feet from a 12 foot cone. Because this is a backcountry geyser, eruption predictions are not available online. Your best bet is to pack a lunch and aim to get there around noon. Be prepared to hang out and check out the river while you wait. Check the ledger when you arrive, eruptions happen about every 2.5-3 hours. Watch for the indicator eruption, 3-5 foot bursts and 30 minutes later the major eruption will start.
2. Mystic Falls
Distance: 4 mile loop or 2.4 miles, Out & Back
Difficulty: Moderate
Directions: Park at Biscuit Basin parking lot. Trailhead starts at the end of the boardwalks.
Need to know: Watch old Faithful erupt from up high! Head left at the junction to check out the waterfall then head up past the falls to an overlook of the Upper Geyser Basin. If you time it correctly you can watch Old Faithful erupt from the rocky overlook. Bring binoculars to scope out the Old Faithful Inn and look for the crowds gathering on the boardwalks when it’s time.
Distance: 2.9 mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Norris Junction just past Canyon area.
Need to know: Stop by and see the hottest and most actively changing geyser basin in the park. Try to check out Echinus, in the back basin area, which erupts between every 2 hours to 4 days. Stop by Steamboat, the largest geyser in the park on your way out and read up on its recent history of large but unpredictable eruptions.
Distance: 3.6 loop (has stairs)
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Park at the Upper Terrace Drive.
Need to know: The only place in the park where you can see the 5th type of thermal feature, the travertine terraces, makes this a must stop. Travertine terraces are a build up of limestone as water bubbles up and over the features. This otherworldly landscape is worth the stop and look for elk that love to hang out on the grassy lawns here.
Distance: 1 mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: South of Norris Junction.
Need to know: This basin contains hot springs and bubbling colorful mud pots. Check out the milky blue pools and the pink to purple hued mud pots for which the area gets its name.
Distance: .6 mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Between Madison junction and Old Faithful area.
Need to know: See four out of the five types of thermal features at this stop. Try to pick out the fumaroles, hot springs, geysers and mud pots. Head clockwise around the loop and look for the Clepsydra Geyser, which erupts almost constantly, and Morning Geyser, which can erupt up to 200 feet.
7. Grand Prismatic Overlook / Fairy Falls
Distance: 1.5 miles total. In and Out / 5.4 miles. In and Out (120 ft of elevation gain)
Difficulty: Easy (the last .2 miles of this hike are uphill)
Directions: Park at the Fairy Falls Trailhead.
Need to know: Grand Prismatic is the largest and most iconic hot spring in the park and the third largest in the world. Head down the fairy falls trail, around half a mile the trail splits and you head left, uphill for .2 miles. When leaving the overlook head right to reconnect with the fairy falls trail and continue another 2 miles on to the tallest front country waterfall in the park. *Parking is limited to the pullout just past the parking lot for rVs, buses and cars with Trailers
8. Upper Geyser Basin (Home to Old Faithful)
Distance: Up to 5 miles of boardwalks
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Exit towards Old Faithful and go over the bridge. Take the first left after the bridge into the Old Faithful area and park just past the Hamilton general store by the Old Faithful Inn.
Need to know: The upper geyser basin contains the world's largest concentration of hot springs in the world, making up one square mile. Be sure and check the prediction window for Old Faithful’s eruption time beforehand as cell phone service is limited in the park. While you are in the area check out beehive (erupts about every 12 hours) and castle geysers (14 hours). There is also an option to rent bikes at the Old Faithful Lodge to ride to morning glory pool or to the Biscuit Basin area.
Distance: 1 mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Park at West Thumb Geyser Basin.
Need to know: Located on the edge of Lake Yellowstone from here you can see thermal features that are actually in the lake. Deep in the lake are numerous thermal features but this is the only spot you can view those without equipment. Kayak tours of the thermal features in the lake are also available through tour companies.
10. Mud Volcano
Distance: .8 mile loop
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: Park at the Mud Volcano Parking lot.
Need to know: Here you will notice that iconic sulfur smell thermal features get a bad rap for. Listen closely at Dragon’s Mouth Spring for its eerie sounds. If you see a park ranger in this area ask about how the area has changed recently because new features are always popping up and dragon’s mouth has changed a lot in the last couple years.
