7 MUST DO Activities for Your Yellowstone National Park Bucket List

A trip to Yellowstone is one you will be talking about for years to come. In this post I will review 7 MUST DO activities that should be on your Yellowstone National Park bucket list. These activities cover some of the most unique places in the park and will leave you in awe of the natural power and beauty of this fabulous National Park.

The main figure-8 road in Yellowstone is called Grand Loop Road and is 142 miles. All of these activities can be found along this road. If you want to get an idea of how to spend a couple of days at Yellowstone check out my 2 Day Yellowstone Itinerary to help you organize your trip.

To get into the park you will need to purchase a park pass. A standard 7 day pass is $35.00 for U.S. residents. If you are combining this trip with other National Parks (like neighboring Grand Teton National Park) you may want to look into getting the America the Beautiful Pass since each park charges a separate entry fee.

For your trip to Yellowstone I recommend finding overnight lodging within the park if you can. This will give you an advantage to an earlier start than all the people who stay outside the park.

Old Faithful is one of the famous geysers within Yellowstone and gets its name because its eruptions are consistent and predictable. Predictions for eruption times can be found at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, on the National Park Website or the National Park Service App.

Old Faithful expels between 3,700-8,400 gallons of boiling water during each eruption and the height ranges from 106-184 feet. Each eruption lasts between 1.5-5 minutes. It puts on an impressive performance and with its predictable schedule allows you to plan what time range to be there to experience this Yellowstone National Park bucket list item.

There is a very large parking lot at Old Faithful. We started off our first day here to watch an eruption and had no problem finding a parking spot. It is noted on the park website that it can get crowded during peak times of the day.

Grand Prismatic Spring is the beautiful rainbow colored spring you see in pictures of Yellowstone National Park. It is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and is located in the Midway Geyser Basin. If you get up early to see Old Faithful erupt this is a great stop to make early in the morning as well because of its popularity.

There are two different places you can view the Grand Prismatic Spring. You can park in the Midway Geyser Basin parking lot and walk on the boardwalks around the spring for a close up view. Alternatively you can park about a mile south of the Midway Geyser parking lot in the parking lot for the Fairy Falls trailhead and walk 1.2 miles round trip (0.6 miles each way) on the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail to get a view overlooking Grand Prismatic Spring from above.

If you are driving here from Old Faithful you will get to the Fairy Falls parking lot first. It is a small parking lot.

I had never heard of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone until we got to Yellowstone. It is definitely worth a visit during your time there. This is another area I would recommend as a starting point for your day before it gets too crowded. We got there early in the morning and it felt magical getting to enjoy it without the crowds. The only con was the morning we went it was quite foggy so we did hang around for a little extra time to wait for some of the early morning fog to lift.

Places to check out in the Grand Canyon area include North Rim Drive to visit Lookout Point, Grand View and Inspiration Point. Then check out South Rim Drive where you will find Artist Point which gives you a picturesque view of the canyon and the Lower Falls.

Hayden Valley is a spectacular place to view wildlife. Animals tend to be more active near dusk and dawn but we visited a couple times in the middle of the day and saw plenty of action. Plan for there to be traffic through this section whether it is from cars stopping to look at animals or from bison jams. Every time we went through this area we encountered multiple bison jams. There are also areas to pull off the side of the road for viewing. Don’t forget to bring your binoculars.

Since this is a very active area be aware of your surroundings both in and out of the car. Make sure to keep a safe distance from the wildlife. It is so fun to see all the animals existing and going about their daily lives in a natural environment. Your Yellowstone National Park bucket list isn’t complete without experiencing some wild life.

If you have already seen Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring you have visited the Upper and Midway geyser basins and can check this item off your list. However, Yellowstone National Park has so many unique geothermal features that can be found in some of the other geyser basins I think it is more than worth your time to make the effort so see a few others.

Other geyser basins and hydrothermal areas you should consider checking out include Norris Geyser Basin, Mud Volcano, West Thumb Geyser Basin, and Lower Geyser Basin. Each geyser basin is a little bit different its definitely not a once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all sort of situation.