2 Best Sights in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Background Illustration for Sights

Along the park's main drive—the Grand Loop (also referred to as Yellowstone's Figure Eight)—are eight primary "communities," or developed areas. On the Western Yellowstone map are five of those communities—Grant Village, Old Faithful, Madison, Norris, and Mammoth Hot Springs—with their respective sights. The Eastern Yellowstone map shows the remaining three—Tower-Roosevelt, Canyon, and Lake (for Yellowstone Lake area)—with their respective sights.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Fodor's Choice

Multicolor travertine terraces formed by slowly escaping hot mineral water mark this unusual geological formation, one of the most remarkable sights in the park. You can explore the terraces via an elaborate network of boardwalks, the best of which is the Lower Terrace Interpretive Trail. If you head uphill from Liberty Cap, near the lower parking area, in a half-hour you'll pass bright and ornately terraced Minerva Spring, and in an hour you can make your way up to the Main Terrace Overlook and the side trail to Canary Spring. Along the way you might spot elk grazing nearby. Alternatively, you can drive up to the Main Terrace Overlook on Upper Terrace Drive and hike down to the Lower Terrace. Distances are fairly short amid these terraces, but give yourself at least a couple of hours to thoroughly explore them—especially if you enjoy taking lots of pictures.

Norris Geyser Basin

From the 1930 Norris Ranger Station, which houses a small museum that helps to explain the basin's geothermal activity, you can stroll a network of short boardwalk trails—some of them suitable for wheelchairs—to Porcelain Basin, Back Basin, and several geysers and other interesting and constantly evolving thermal features.

Grand Loop Rd. at Norris Canyon Rd., Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA
Sight Details
Ranger station closed mid-Oct.–mid-May

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