7 Best Sights in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

The 2-mile narrow asphalt road twists through a deep canyon of curving lava-rock formations and passes the 40-foot Firehole Falls, which are most scenic in the morning when you're not looking into the afternoon sun. In summer look for a sign marking a pull-out and swimming hole. This is one of only two places in the park (Boiling River on the North Entrance Road is the other) where you can safely and legally swim in the thermally heated waters. Look for osprey and other raptors.

Bison, bears, coyotes, wolves, and birds of prey all call Hayden Valley home almost year-round. Once part of Yellowstone Lake, the broad valley now contains peaceful meadows, rolling hills, and a serene stretch of the Yellowstone River. There are multiple turnouts and picnic areas on this 16-mile drive. Ask a ranger about "Grizzly Overlook," an unofficial site where wildlife watchers, including NPS rangers with spotting scopes for the public to use, congregate in summer. North of Mud Volcano are 11 unsigned turnouts. Look for the telltale timber railings, and be prepared to get caught in a traffic-stopping "bison jam" along the way.

This 29-mile road has the richest landscape diversity of the five entrance roads. Just after you enter the park from Cooke City, Montana, you cut between 10,928-foot Abiathar Peak and the 10,404-foot Barronette Peak. Lamar Valley is home to hundreds of bison, and the rugged peaks and ridges adjacent to it shelter some of Yellowstone's most famous wolf packs. (Wolves were reintroduced to the park in the mid-1990s.) This is the park's best place for wolf- and bison-watching, especially in the early morning and early evening. As you exit Lamar Valley, the road crosses the Yellowstone River before leading you to the rustic Roosevelt Lodge.

This one-way, 3-mile-long road takes you past Great Fountain Geyser, which shoots out jets of water reaching as high as 200 feet about twice a day. Rangers' predictions provide a two-hour window of opportunity. Should you witness an eruption, you'll see waves of water cascading down the terraces that form the geyser's edges.

Commonly called Dunraven Pass, this 19-mile segment of Grand Loop Road climbs to nearly 9,000 feet as it passes some of the park's finest scenery, including views of backcountry hot springs and abundant wildflowers. Near Tower Falls, the road twists beneath a series of leaning basalt columns from 40 to 50 feet high. That behemoth to the east is 10,243-foot Mt. Washburn.

The sheer black lava walls and boulder-strewn landscape of the deep Lewis River canyon make this somewhat underrated drive toward Grand Teton National Park highly memorable. Turn into the parking area at the highway bridge for a close-up view of the spectacular Lewis River Falls, one of the park's most photographed sights. There are several pull-outs along the shore of Lewis Lake that are ideal for a picnic or just to stretch your legs.