5 days / 82 miles / 17 hours 24 minutes
"Easily the best way to get a close-up taste of Yellowstone’s unique combination of rolling landscape, wildlife and thermal activity is on foot, along the 900-plus miles of maintained trails." -
Lonely Planet Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks by Lonely Planet, Bradley Mayhew, and Carolyn McCarthy
Lonely Planet Yellowstone & Grand Teton National ParksSee more trips
Day 1
Day 2
9:00 am - 10.0 miles / 17 minutes - 9:18 am
"The meadows en route are good habitat for moose, elk, mule deer, coyote and sandhill cranes, but bring bug repellent before August"
9:18 am - 6.3 miles / 3 hours 30 minutes - 12:48 pm
12:48 pm - 6.3 miles / 9 minutes - 12:58 pm
"An easy, level riverside stroll along a former service road to one of the park’s largest backcountry geysers"
12:58 pm - 5.3 miles / 3 hours - 3:58 pm
3:58 pm - 3.5 miles / 9 minutes - 4:08 pm
Day 3
"Spend day three visiting the geyser basins"
9:00 am - 3.0 miles / 7 minutes - 9:08 am
"A short, family-friendly stroll from an interesting thermal basin to a 70ft waterfall, with the option for a longer moderate loop hike"
9:08 am - 3.4 miles / 2 hours - 11:08 am
11:08 am - 2.7 miles / 7 minutes - 11:16 am
"A short jaunt to one of the most accessible backcountry cascades, with views over the park’s most beautiful thermal feature and one of the largest backcountry geysers"
11:16 am - 0.7 miles / 25 minutes - 11:41 am
"You can’t reach the boardwalk from this trail, but you can scramble up the unofficial trails to your left for one of the park’s greatest secrets – an astonishing bird’s-eye view of Yellowstone’s most beautiful thermal feature"
11:46 am - 1.8 miles / an hour - 12:46 pm
"Patterned streaks of white water blanket the dark lower rocks, and clumps of raspberries and fireweed flourish around a pretty pool, which makes for a fine swimming hole on a hot and sticky summer day"
12:51 pm - 0.7 miles / 25 minutes - 1:16 pm
"Imperial plays almost perpetually, projecting blasts of water up to 20ft into its large rainbow pool"
1:21 pm - 3.1 miles / an hour 50 minutes - 3:11 pm
3:11 pm - 5.4 miles / 11 minutes - 3:23 pm
Day 4
9:00 am - 12.0 miles / 21 minutes - 9:22 am
Sentinel Meadows & Queen’s Laundry Geyser
"Some off-trail exploring to a little-visited geyser basin, with a good chance of spotting bison"
9:22 am - 2.1 miles / an hour 30 minutes - 10:52 am
"The historic cabin is a former bathhouse, built in 1881 by park superintendent Norris as the first national-park building designed solely for public use"
11:07 am - 3.4 miles / 2 hours - 1:07 pm
2:07 pm - 12.1 miles / 21 minutes - 2:29 pm
Day 5