Hike Your Way To Rewards at Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

On our trip to Yellowstone this year, my Dad and I were very fortunate to stay in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (which I will refer to as the canyon area here). All of the other hotel rooms in the park (including almost all of the campgrounds) were reserved. This year was a record breaker for the park - a total of 2.5 million visited in June, July and August.

The Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone is aptly named - it offers a mini Grand Canyon in the eastern corner of Yellowstone. The canyon area is also a good reason why the park is named "Yellowstone"; the primary color of the canyon rock is yellow!

If you have a good amount of time to spend in the canyon area, it would be unwise not to hike a couple of these trails.

I'll discuss the trails that we embarked on, but keep in mind there are others out there that are definitely worth a look also.

The first trail we took was the Brink of Lower Falls, which led to an overlook at the top of the falls. It was very similar to one of the viewpoints at Upper Mesa Falls, which is discussed in the last post. The trail was a half mile down hill, and it was a tad steep, but not bad.

The view of the Lower Falls
from the Brink of Lower Falls trail.

The viewpoint let you see across the canyon. To the right, you could see another viewpoint of the falls (the end of Uncle Tom's Trail). "I bet that viewpoint is pretty spectacular! Wow, I wish we could be there," I thought. Luckily, I would be getting that wish not too long.

The climb up was a little on the strenuous side, since we had to climb back up the hills we came down.







The next trail, Brink of Upper Falls, was much shorter (1/8 mile) than than the previous one but it was not quite as rewarding. However, we got a broad neat view of the river. The way it flowed down the falls was quite beautiful.

View of the Yellowstone River
from the Brink of Upper Falls trail.

The final trail we took, Uncle Tom's Trail, was the most strenuous, yet the most rewarding. On our way down, we were greeted by a sign giving background info of the trail and a message below that cautioned:

"It is extremely difficult and steep climb down and back to this point. At this altitude 8,000 ft. This trip is definitely not recommended for those suffering from heart or breathing problems. Take your time enjoy the scenery, and rest often."


Knowing the challenges that lied ahead, we headed down the trail. The climb down was not that difficult, but it was fairly lengthy, like the Brink of Lower Falls trail. There were several flights of stairs and hills on the way down. At the end was a spectacular view of the Lower Falls from nearly front on, and we ended up quite close to it too! It certainly was well worth the trip down.

The view of Lower Falls
from Uncle Tom's Trail.

A short while after we reached the point, a massive tour group came in and we had to leave. All those flights of stairs we went down and little hills we went down? Yep, we had to go all the way back up those. Luckily, we managed through it pretty well. It may have been a fairly strenuous hike, but it was well worth it.

The canyon area is in the eastern part of Yellowstone. Near the start of some of the trails are trail map dispensers. For only 50 cents, you can get a trail map so you can find all of these points and trails worth exploring in the canyon area.

Check out more of my pictures of the canyon area in Yellowstone (videos too!):

http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=52619990%40N06&q=yellowstone+canyon&m=text

Short descriptions of the hiking trails in east Yellowstone: http://www.americansouthwest.net/wyoming/yellowstone/hiking-east.html