Yellowstone: Easy Hikes
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🦬Yellowstone: With Kids 5-Day Itinerary
Looking for some easy hikes to incorporate into your Yellowstone trip? The park is full of easy-to-access trails, boardwalks, and hikes.
Boardwalks
The easiest hikes for the family are the boardwalks in Yellowstone National Park. Generally flat, and short in duration the boardwalks are in the most popular areas of the park.
- Old Faithful: Take a few hours and explore the Upper Geyser Basin, which has 150 hydrothermal features.
- Mammoth Hot Springs: 1.7-mile loop, beautiful terraces. We have seen bighorn sheep in this area when it snowed in June.
- Norris Geyser Basin:
- West Thumb
- Mud Volcano
- Biscuit Basin
- Forces of the Northen Range:
Short hikes
- Pelican Creek Trail: located near Yellowstone Lake, is a 0.6-mile loop, a short hike through trees that leads to the lake and back again.
- Wraith Falls: located in the northern part of the park, is a 79-foot falls and is a 1-mile hike there and back again.
- Harlequin Lake Trail: 1-mile total, near Madison on the West Entrance Road. This trail leads to Harlequin Lake, there is an uphill section.
- Artists Paint Pots trail: a 1.1-mile loop, gravel and dirt trail with an uphill section at the top of the loop. There are beautiful pools of various colors and small geysers. Listen to the mud bubbling.
- Grand Prismatic Overlook: 1.2- miles total. Access the trail at the Fairy Falls parking area.
- Mystic Falls Trail: access through Biscuit Basin (area may be closed), 2.4 miles roundtrip. We always make a point to hike this trail, it is one of our favorites.
Additional Hikes
- Lone Star Geyser: 4.8-mile hike roundtrip, on a flat worn-out road. This is an easy-to-walk trail that gives a spectacular view of Lone Star Geyser. It erupts every three hours for about 30 minutes. You can check with Rangers at the Old Faithful Visitor Center or check the logbook at the geyser to get the predicted eruption time.
- Fairy Falls: 4.5-mile or 6.7-mile hike, depending on which trailhead you begin at. This trail is a fairly easy, flat hike. It is one of the most spectacular falls in the park.
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