6 Things to See in Yellowstone You Need to Know About

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Yellowstone National Park is a massive area of natural beauty waiting to be explored, but if you head there without any sort of research it can be a very overwhelming and daunting experience. Following our first visit to USA’s oldest national park, we wanted to share not only our experiences but also our recommendations on some of the top things to see in Yellowstone. This is by no means an exhaustive list, in fact it is just a brief overview on some top attractions that we consider to be worth visiting.

From amazing encounters with wildlife to breathtaking views across canyons that you will never forget, Yellowstone National Park is a haven of natural beauty. We encourage you to share your thoughts at the bottom of this post regarding your experiences in Yellowstone and what you believe to be the top attractions that visitors cannot afford to leave off their itinerary.

yellowstone road trip

Our visit to Yellowstone was part of an ambitious road trip around Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon across just five days. If you read our recent post on “Yellowstone in a Day” you will know that our time inside the park was fast-paced, though at the same time an amazing experience.

Lewis Falls

Having spent the morning driving north from Salt Lake City, we took the scenic route via Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park which in itself was an awesome experience…but that’s another story! We arrived at the Yellowstone National Park entrance via Grand Teton National Park around 4PM so we knew that our time that day exploring was going to be limited.

lewis falls yellowstone national park

Depending on where you are approaching Yellowstone from will determine the best course of action and where you would be advised to explore first. From the south, Old Faithful is on a direct route and given the reputation of this landmark attraction, we wanted to see this for ourselves.

lewis falls things to see in yellowstone

But as with all national parks there is plenty more to see along the way, or should I say plenty of distractions! Our first stop was at Lewis Falls which (sorry Heather) I could probably now refer to as ‘Heather Falls’ given that she stumbled a little and found her knee hitting the ground!

lewis falls

Back to the waterfall which was a pretty cool experience and you can get some great close-up shots of the falls by taking the short trail, without having to manoeuvre your way down the side of the slopes leading to the base of the falls.

lewis falls yellowstone

We did manage to see a couple of folks in the river doing some fly-fishing though the highlight was certainly Lewis Falls itself.

Kepler Cascades

A short drive from Lewis Falls took us on to the Grand Loop which is approximately 140 miles long. With a maximum speed limit of 45mph, it is for the most part a slow process to move around but one of the benefits of this is that you are able to experience more of what Yellowstone inherently offers just from the comfort of your car.

kepler cascades things to see in yellowstone

As we made our way towards Old Faithful, we stumbled across Kepler Cascades which offers one of the many stops along this part of the loop. From scenic overlooks to confronting bears (both of which we experienced), there is plenty to keep you occupied. Kepler Cascades is a waterfall on the Firehole River and offer a drop of about 150ft from multiple spots.

kepler cascades

The overlook provides a great viewpoint and with the sound of water rushing over the edge from multiple angles, this is a popular spot before arriving at Old Faithful (it’s only 2.5 miles from the iconic attraction).

things to see in yellowstone

Old Faithful and Upper Geyser Basin

Unfortunately our timing was a little awry as we arrived at Old Faithful a couple of minutes after the previous eruption at 6:38PM. However, the silver lining was that this allowed us time to explore more of the hydrothermal activity throughout the Upper Geyser Basin.

upper geyser basin yellowstone

We even lucked out in catching the eruption of the Beehive Geyser which only erupts once each day.

beehive geyser and old faithful

Our opinion of Old Faithful was a little disappointing, primarily because of the hype surrounding this landmark and also because we simply experienced other geyser eruptions that were more impressive in Yellowstone.

old faithful upper geyser basin

Watching Old Faithful erupt just before it went dark was an interesting experience though for such a popular tourist attraction, I would have figured a little more lighting would have made this a truly spectacular experience (perhaps Yellowstone is trying to maintain the natural feeling of the geyser, but I feel this is already lost with the specific schedule this is on for eruptions!).

old faithful things to see in yellowstone

Take a moment to watch our video highlighting all of the amazing Yellowstone geysers we experienced – it’s well worth it!

Norris Geyser Basin

Day 2 started with us arriving at the West Yellowstone entrance around 9:45AM after a lengthy drive from our previous night’s accommodation in Big Sky, Montana (Highly recommend River Rock Lodge if you don’t mind driving just over a hour to the park entrance).

norris geyser basin yellowstone

We planned on revisiting Old Faithful to experience the eruption during the day, but I also wanted to ensure we had enough time to explore the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We opted to visit this attraction first but en route we stumbled across another awesome spot – Norris Geyser Basin.

Home to the world’s largest active geyser, Steamboat, this is an exhilarating location with a myriad of hot springs and hydrothermal pools and geysers.

steamboat geyser things to see in yellowstone

Due to time constraints (come on guys, we are exploring Yellowstone in a day here!) we opted against all the way around Norris but this would be a great place to start on a return visit! The views from the top of the trail overlooking the geyser basin are stunning with puffs of steam occasionally rising from various parts of the landscape.

norris geyser basin yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Nothing is quite like the experience of visiting the Grand Canyon, but after exploring the equivalent version in Yellowstone National Park it is a pretty good alternative. The scenic Rim Drive loop of Lower Falls offers an incredible view of the waterfalls and hiking trails allow you to descend to the base of the falls.

grand canyon of yellowstone

The loop also offers a myriad of overlooks providing different angles of the Grand Canyon, including the stunning Inspiration Point and Grand View Point. Not only did we experience the gorgeous views, we also encountered a bison that was close to one of the parking lots and offered some pretty cool photograph opportunities.

grand canyon of yellowstone

Grand Canyon is famous for both the Lower Falls and Upper Falls. Views from the North Rim Drive of the Upper Falls are limited but you can still experience both if time constraints prevent you from driving this route along with the South Rim Drive.

upper and lower falls grand canyon of yellowstone

Grand Loop Road

By the time we left the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we were already deep into the Grand Loop Road.

hayden valley yellowstone

As mentioned earlier, this scenic loop is over 140 miles and will take a full day on its own probably without having time to see much in between because of the speed limits and amount of traffic passing through.

yellowstone wildlife

We covered a shorter ’96 miles’ loop but this still took about 5 hours to complete including various stops. Here are the distances and some of the iconic landmarks in between that you should consider visiting:

  • Madison Junction to Norris Junction (14 miles) – Gibbon Falls and Beryl Spring
  • Norris Junction to Canyon (12 miles) – Norris Geyser Basin, Virginia Cascade and Grand Canyon
  • Canyon to West Thumb via Fishing Bridge (37 miles) – Yellowstone Lake and Hayden Valley
  • West Thumb to Old Faithful (17 miles) – Kepler Cascades and Old Faithful
  • Old Faithful to Madison Junction (16 miles) – Lower Geyser Basin

Some of these distances are ‘deceptive’ to say the least because of the speed limit issues I mentioned. But the beauty of the Grand Loop is that these restrictive speed limits ensure that you have enough time to appreciate the beauty that is surrounding you.

things to see in yellowstone national park

Overlooks are frequent so be sure to take the time to stop at some of these for an impromptu view of Yellowstone’s finest scenery.

Summary

We are just about recovering after a fun-filled adventure exploring Yellowstone National Park but we wouldn’t change anything if we could do this all over again. This list is anything but exhaustive, however it does provide a few key highlights that in our opinion you simply cannot afford to miss when you visit Yellowstone.

Whether you are a first-timer to Yellowstone or a frequent return visitor, you will appreciate the natural beauty each and every time you step through the entrance…Welcome to Yellowstone!

You can view all of our photos from our EPIC trip to Yellowstone here: Yellowstone National Park

Weekend Wanderlust


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Chris Boothmanhttps://abritandasoutherner.com
Chris Boothman is the co-founder of A Brit and A Southerner. Born near Manchester, England, Chris moved to USA in 2006 where he soon after met his wife and travel partner in crime, Heather. They have since embarked on an amazing journey of travel as they challenge others to follow in their paths of working full-time but also being able to travel frequently! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Chris at [email protected]

17 COMMENTS

  1. Beautiful photos!!! Well the geysers are probably the main reason I want to visit Yellowstone one day! What you mean by Yellowstone is trying to maintain the natural feeling of Old Faithful? Isn’t it erupting naturally?

    • Thanks so much Anna for your kind comments! Yes of course Old Faithful is erupting naturally though with the frequency and how accurately the park can predict it’s eruptions will almost make you feel like it is unnatural. The ‘natural feeling’ was in reference to my suggestion to have lighting for the night eruptions but perhaps they don’t want to incorporate this as it would then become more about the landmark as a tourist attraction than a natural phenomenon.

  2. Yellowstone is so unique. We spent 3 days there first staying in Red Lodge, Montana and exploring the Mammoth Hot Springs area (which was unlike anything I had ever seen. ) Then we switched over to West Yellowstone and explored Old Faithful and the geysers and Yellowstone Lake along with the Grand Canyon area. All so different and everyone in our family liked someplace different. I really loved the non-touristy feel of Red Lodge and the less visited northern area. Would love to go back someday, maybe even in a different season to get an even different feel!

  3. Wow – Great photos, guys. I wouldn’t mind seeing those views every day! In addition to the NPS keeping the natural look of Yellowstone, I love how they’re also preserving the rustic appeal. Surrounded by such timeless scenery, it’s awesome to walk into Yellowstone Inn or Yellowstone Lodge and actually feel like it could still be the early 1900s. That “National Park Service Rustic” architecture really completes the experience.

  4. Your photos are stunning! The grand canyon of Yellowstone looks fantastic. Are there ways to go down into the canyon to do some hiking along the river? I’m with you regarding Old Faithful. It’s such an attraction, so my expectations are high. I would want to see something special, too!

  5. I like this post a lot for several reasons. First, I think it shows the variety of landscapes in the park. Second, it presents some sight that I have never hear of (like the waterfalls). Like you said in the post, research is important in order to make sure you are making the most out of your visit.

  6. Wow, sounds like a whirlwind trip and you covered quite a bit of ground! While we have never visited Old Faithful, we tend to agree that geysers for us have been a let-down. We found that to be true during the Golden Circle Tour in Iceland, the geyser was our least favorite stop. Based on your descriptions and photos, North Geyer Basin would likely be on the top of our list when we make it to Yellowstone!

  7. I’m a sucker for waterfalls so I can tell exactly where I’ll be headed! Actually, I’d love to visit all of these places. Thanks for the great list! 🙂

  8. Yellowstone is definitely one of our favourite national parks in the entire world. You’ve presented it beautifully here with your photos 🙂 Our favourite experience was getting to see a Grizzly bear and her cubs up close which was an absolute thrill! Cheers guys and looking forward to reading through more of your blog.

  9. We camped in Grant Village for six nights. We took average bites of seeing the park, then a side trip to Jackson Hole for the tram . Wow the view from a 10,450 ft Teton is amazing. The waffles were excellent in the cafe. The grand Canyon of Yellowstone was beautiful. My group decided to go down the stairs. I waited. My favorite day was Mammoth. Hard to describe the terraces. You have to see them. I did not like the mud volcano day , too stinky. I loved our side trip to Cody and the museum.

  10. Wish you guys had more time to do some hikes. It’s the best way to get away from the crowds in Yellowstone that can get a little bit much. It’s a special place for sure!

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