About 0.4-mi south of Sheepeater Canyon Bridge, (which was named for the Tukudeka of the Eastern…read moreShoshone), we saw what i'll call Lava Creek Canyon Pulloff on the east side of Grand Loop Road. The definition of the basalt slopes behind Lava Creek Canyon was amazing! No single map or guidebook pointed us to all the sights in Yellowstone National Park. We chose major destinations and routes, and then watched for groups of parked cars, or just looked for a great view like this.

South of Canyon Village, we turned from Grand Loop Road onto North Rim Drive. Just 500-feet in,…read morethere is parking for Grand Canyon Of The Yellowstone: North Rim Parking Lot, also named Brink of the Lower Falls. Then, immediately off the beginning of the parking area, we walked south from the observation area, and took the right branch of Brink of the Lower Falls Trail onto North Rim Trail. About 700-ft from the parking area, we had a nice view through the trees of the Upper Falls. We were here about 6 weeks ago. The lat-lon 44.7185, - 110.4994166667 is the exact location of a point on the trail with a clear view south to the upper falls. Of course there are separate fuller views of the falls from across the canyon off South Rim Drive. We went there first, and it was fun to see from this viewpoint, too. It was fun to see several views of the falls on this trip, without strenuous hiking on various trails to the edge of Yellowstone River. Note: This is my corrected review of this location. The view here is to the south, not to the east. Just now, Yelp isnt letting me delete or fix my earlier review.

The view from curving Grand Loop Road, on the western side of the North Loop, is so stunning, we…read morestopped here at the further-north pulloff, after stopping at the nearby Rustic Falls pulloff. At this pulloff, we found a great photographic view of Rustic Falls up the canyon behind us! We were right on the canyon edge, guarded by a low wall, and it did stir some primal wariness, so a couple of us stayed in the car for a more secure feeling. It wasn't precarious. I think it was a combination of looking vertically downward at the Falls from the last stop, and looking at the cliff-hugging roadway curving out of sight ahead.

These photos are from a platform on the trail at Lat-Lon 44.7243611111, -110.4836944444 . That is a…read morelittle ways north of the parking area named "Grand View", .

55 million year old petrified tree…read more I've always been fascinated by petrified wood! There's about 30 petrified trees still-standing in the forests in these hills, and another 10 or so on the forest floor, of around 800 trees of over 30-species throughout the Park. Near here is the home of the largest petrified forest in the world! To get to this site, we took a southwest turn for a quarter-mile, off of Grand Loop, Road, about 1.25 miles north of Tower Junction. The sign for the turn is small and would be easy to miss. This petrified tree is a 20-ft-tall more-or-less-50-million-year-old stone sequoia-redwood-relative. There used to be three trees right at this location, which is why this one was fenced to help preserve it. (Jul 2026)

Yeup, believe it or not, we're still in Yellowstone. Who'da expected to encounter petrification way…read moreout here? Of course, the lahar! (Ancient volcanic mudflow and ash.) I understand the temptation to collect some exotic heirlooms, but for the sake of the sanctity of this old Earth, please don't. The other 2 trees were vanquished because of that. Now, only 1 left... - Not much else here. No restrooms. . Little shade. + Peaceful lil pit stop on the way to the Serengeti of North America.

The two main roads coming into West Yellowstone have great photo-ready Welcome signs. This…read morelocation on the Yelp map is on Gallatin as you come from the north, across the road from a rather-hidden motel, just north of where all the buildings start. I like this Welcome sign more than the other, because it's easier to get trees for your background. Be sure to angle around to try for the mountain-shaped top and bottom edges of the sign!

About 1-mile east from Grand Loop Road, long North Rim Drive, is a parking area named for the…read morenearby Grand View. You can walk north or south on the North Rim Trail for spectacular views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. There is no outhouse that we saw at this parking area, though one is listed in the NPS app (Jul 2026)

The Bighorn Pass Trailhead is about 20mi north of West Yellowstone, on the east side of US-191…read moreGallatin Road. It's one end of two strenuous 20-mi hikes. They warn that the hikes are through grizzly country. We parked down the short road from the pull-off on the east side of the road, at the actual trailhead, where, thoughtfully, there's an outhouse. (Jul 2026) On Gallatin Road for the next 5mi south from here, you have left Montana and you're driving in Wyoming! Though everyone I know denies it ever happened, when we crossed a state line, my dad always said "Pick up your feet and make a wish"! I was about 5 years old. We all enjoy it. I remember him saying it; everyone else remembers me saying that he said it :-) Welcome to Wyoming! Welcome back to Montana! With elk and bison and a bear and cranes, geysers and pools and pots and canyons, snow (!), steaks and barbecue and huckleberry ice cream, with friends and family, and a Swifty tribute band in the park in one of Tay-Tay's favorite towns, my wishes all came true that week :-)