Our #1 Yellowstone Hike

Grand Prismatic Overlook, Fairy Falls, Hot Springs, and the Imperial Geyser all in one 6.5-mile hike.

This hike is the perfect way to see some of the most beautiful features Yellowstone has to offer, and yet most people do not ever make it to the end.

Why?

They do not know it is there!

Let me show you a hike that is breath-takingly beautiful.

It does come out to be almost 7 miles long, but it is 100% worth it.

When in Yellowstone National Park, you can arrive at the trailhead either from Old Faithful or Madison Junction.

If you are coming from Old Faithful the parking area for the trail is about 5 miles north on the left side of the road. If you arrive to the Grand Prismatic Spring you have gone too far.

If you are coming from Madison Junction, head towards Old Faithful on Old Faithful-Madison Road. You will travel about 10 miles and will see the parking for the Grand Prismatic Spring on your right, this means you are getting close. Watch for the metal bridge and the Fairy Falls sign, the parking area will be on the right.

After arriving in the parking area, look for the metal bridge. You will cross this bridge to the gravel road, this road is the Fountain Freight Road. The Fountain Freight Road runs along the Midway Geyser Basin and it is a bicycle path. Please watch for cyclists and move to the side to let them pass.

You will travel along this road for a mile before reaching the Fairy Falls Trail.

You will see 2 sign posts along this route that say Fairy Falls Trail continue straight and Grand Prismatic Overlook go left. At the first of these sign posts, we encourage you to go left. It is a loop and will bring you back out to the Fountain Freight Road. The Overlook trail is up hill about 0.25 mi and down hill about 0.25 miles, but the view of the Grand Prismatic Spring make this side trail a must do.

After you have completed the overlook side trail, you will come out on the Fountain Freight Road again. Continue on this road until you see the Fairy Fails Trail sign on your left. If you chose to ride your bicycle to this point, there is a bicycle rack at the trailhead.

No bikes are allowed on the Fairy Falls Trail.

It is just over 1.5 miles from the Fairy Falls Trailhead to Fairy Falls, through forests that were burned in the 1988 fires. Stick to the trail, these forests are fighting to regrow and do not need to be trampled on.

However, listen and look around you. Even though the forest is not fully back to life the animals are. We got fairly close to several chipmunks, some we did not notice until they began to scurry away.

We did not see signs of Bison, Elk, or Bears on this part of the trail, but we did after Fairy Falls, so they are in the vicinity.

Please watch, listen, and carry your bear spray.

Fairy Falls was discovered in 1871 by Captain John Whitney Barlow who said

“The falls proved upon measurement to be a clean descent of 250 feet, and dropped into a shallow and pretty basin at the foot by the cliff. I named this fall the Fairy.”

We now know the fall is actually just under 200 feet, but the words of Captain Barlow make complete sense as you see the beauty of this waterfall.

Spend sometime here soaking up the beauty of nature and marvel at how the waterfall was created as hot lava cooled.

After experiencing Fairy Falls, do not think the trail has come to an end. It has not!

Use the fallen wood to cross the stream created by Fairy Falls. Look for where the trail continues. If you look into the trees you should see the orange trail markers.

Follow these markers to see a sight more beautiful than Fairy Falls and much less well known, and it is just over half a mile away.

We were the only ones to continue the trail at this point and as we were coming out, we had people ask us where we had come from, because they thought the trail had ended.

 You will have to cross through some marshy areas. Step carefully and look for the wood planks that have been laid out to make this pathway easier to cross. It Is only marshy for a small portion of this trail.

After surviving the marshy lands, you will walk through more trees and cross a meadow.

After half a mile, you will see a sign on that indicates the Imperial Geyser is 0.3 miles ahead and Biscuit Basin is 10 miles ahead. This sign is the only one we saw that mentioned Imperial Geyser.

Continue on in the direction of the Imperial Geyser and Biscuit Basin.

In less than 0.25 miles you will see a small trail on your right. It has no sign, but you can see the steam from a geyser. We took this trail. If you choose not to take this small trail, continue on the main trail and it will branch of to Imperial Geyser further down.

However, this small trail led us to a small geyser and a stream created from they geyser hot springs.

Follow along the side of this spring until you reach the star of the show, the Imperial Geyser.

This geyser is constantly rumbling and spewing water, into a serene aqua blue pool.

As you walk around the Imperial Geysers, mind your step. This is a geothermal area. The ground is thin and hollow, with scalding water running beneath it. There are multiple small geysers and a small mud volcano dotted around the edge of the geyser. You do not want to fall in to one of these.

It is not an area we recommend letting small children run around in. We never took Declan out of his backpack carrier in this area, as it was too dangerous.

Enjoy nature, but respect that it is alive and dangerous.

On the return trip, you can choose to come in the way that you have already traveled, or you can take the Imperial Meadows Trail. After arriving back to the sign post that pointed the way to the Imperial Geyser, you will see the trail to Fairy Falls on your right and in front of you, you will see another trail that is unmarked, other than a trail marker. We found no sign indicating the name of this trail or its distance. We would have taken this trail, but with it being unknown and it was beginning to rain, we decided to go back the way we had come.

If we hike this trail again, we will take the Imperial Meadows trail and see what wonders it holds, but it does add another 1.5 miles to the hike.

If you want to find out more about the Fairy Falls Trail, I recommend the book, ‘A Ranger’s Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes’ by Roger Anderson and Carol Shively Anderson. This book is only 1 of 2 that I have found that mentions the Imperial Geyser. Other Yellowstone hiking guides that I have read indicate that the trail ends at Fairy Falls.