Guide to Photography in Yellowstone National Park - Lower Loop
Yellowstone National Park, the first and one of the best national parks in the United States. A park filled with mountains, rivers, lakes, geothermal features and a huge biodiversity of wildlife. Yellowstone National Park really does have it all. I’ve been lucky enough to spend a good amount of time in this park but it never seems to be enough. Yellowstone might be my favorite National Park that the country has to offer and I suggest that everyone who has a chance to visit her, do it and you will not be disappointed.
In this blog I’m going to cover my favorite areas along the lower loop of Yellowstone National Park to photograph landscapes and wildlife. I’m also going to cover the West Entrance Road, South Entrance Road and East Entrance Road. This is not a comprehensive list of everything to see by any means but a list of my favorite areas to photograph and to find wildlife. Thank you for coming along on this journey and I hope this guide helps you find an awesome photographic spot to check out. I’m going to work my way counter-clockwise around the lower loop starting with the West Entrance Road.
Table Of Contents
West Entrance Road
Firehole Falls
Fountain Flat Drive
Grand Prismatic Spring
Upper Geyser Basin
South Entrance Road
West Thumb
Hayden Valley
Lower Yellowstone Falls
Gibbon Falls
Uinta ground squirrel searching for food along the Madison River
If you are staying in West Yellowstone then you are most likely going to enter the park through the West Entrance Road. This is the best way to enter the park especially if you are planning on doing a trip around the lower loop. The road is 14 miles from the entrance gate to where it joins the lower loop at Madison Junction. This is a beautiful drive along the Madison River with photographic opportunities the entire way. I feel the best area to concentrate on though is the 7 miles of road between 7 Mile Bridge and Madison Junction. This can be quite the wildlife hot spot with many species to photograph. I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph bison, coyote, elk, squirrels and chipmunks along this stretch of road. You will also find many species of birds along the river from canada geese to ravens and even several kinds of ducks. This may be an entrance road but I could spend a whole day driving back and forth photographing the wealth of wildlife it has to offer. By the way, the landscape around you is beautiful too.
Once you arrive at Madison Junction, make a right onto the Grand Loop Road. You will not have to drive far before you reach a side road named Firehole Canyon Road. I suggest driving this one way road and taking in the canyon views. This is a beautiful 2 mile drive through a canyon created by the Firehole River. The best part of the drive however and the reason it is on this list is Firehole Falls. This is a 40’ waterfall with a beautiful landscape surrounding it. There is even a small parking area next to the falls so you don’t need to wander far.
Elk looks back at two cowbirds sitting on her back along the Madison River
Once you finish driving through Firehole Canyon, head south again on Grand Loop Road. You will pass many beautiful areas while driving along the Firehole River but the next area I have had great luck with is Fountain Flat Drive. If you are into hiking, you can park at the back lot here and take a 10 mile roundtrip hike to Fairy Falls. There is also a beautiful little picnic area as soon as you turn in off of Grand Loop Road as well. My favorite thing about this area though is the amount of bison that I’ve been able to encounter in this area. All along the road there are pull offs that you can explore the area along the river and utilize for the bison viewing. There are also plenty of songbirds in the area and waterfowl in the river. You could easily spend a few hours here taking in the beauty around you and photographing the abundant bison in the area.
Head back out to the Grand Loop Road and head south some more and you will reach Grand Prismatic Spring. I highly suggest walking the boardwalk trail that leads you right next to many geothermal features in that area but if you want to photograph Grand Prismatic, this is not the place to be. After taking a nice walk on the boardwalk head south some more on hte Grand Loop Road and pull into the Fairy Falls Trail parking area. Hike back this gravel path until you reach a split in the trail. If you take the left fork, you will hike up a steep but short side trail that takes you to an overlook of Grand Prismatic Spring. The views from here are beautiful and allow you to take in the scale and colors of the spring. Hopefully when you go you will be luckier than me as there was a lot of steam coming off of Grand Prismatic making it hard to see a clear view of the whole thing. This is the best place to photograph Grand Prismatic and the surrounding geothermal features and if you are lucky, you may get to see some bison too.
Steam rises from Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park
The next area worth checking out is the Upper Geyser Basin. This is the area that has Old Faithful but thats not why I suggest coming here. Yes, Old Faithful is awesome and worth seeing but it is not the most photographic geothermal feature in this area. If you walk the boardwalks and trails in the area you will come across tons of beautiful features in the area. The one that I would like to point out is Morning Glory Pool. This pool has beautiful colors and is surrounded by lodgepole pines making for an incredible scene. Morning Glory can be hard to photograph depending on the time of day and how much steam is coming off the pool. You do need a wide angle lens to capture the entire pool as the boardwalk that you’re on is very close to the pool. I only had my 24-70mm lens and I could barely fit the pool into my shot. I was there in the morning and I felt like that was a great time to photograph it. Just be weary of your shadow and the shadow of the railing appearing in the photo if you are too early in the morning as the sun will be rising at your back. As you are walking in the area be on the lookout for wildlife. Bison are often in the area and there are tons of songbirds to be seen. If you’re lucky, you may even come across a bear but I haven’t been that lucky yet.
When finished at the Upper Geyser Basin head back out to the Grand Loop Road. Continue heading towards West Thumb and you will cross Craig Pass. This is a beautiful drive and will give you a nice view overlooking Yellowstone lake as you descend from the continental divide. When you arrive at West Thumb, to continue on the Grand Loop Road you would make a left but for this guide I am going to cover the South Entrance Road first. I recommend continuing on the loop if you are trying to see the entire loop in one day and save the South Entrance Road for a separate day where you can follow it all the way down into Grand Teton National Park. There are many beautiful views and hikes along this stretch of road but my favorite to photograph is Moose Falls. This is a short hike from a small parking area along the South Entrance Road. This is not a busy place and is often overlooked but the falls are beautiful. The waterfall itself is only 30’ but is surrounded by lodgepole pines that make a stunning scene. I recommend coming here on a cloudy or foggy day. The sun can be harsh and make it hard to photograph if you are there midday.
Coyote catches a squirrel meal in Yellowstone National Park
If we jump back to West Thumb, as soon as you turn to continue on Grand Loop Road, there will be a developed area for West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is a great area to see some more geothermal features but in my opinion, this is one of the best areas in the park to see elk. Every time that I’ve been there, I have come across a bunch of elk all along the boardwalk trail and even in the parking lot. I’ve even been lucky enough to come across a mother and it’s fawn. If you are more into birds, there are also tons of songbirds in the area along with ravens. And if you are like me and enjoy the smaller mammals as well, chipmunks are all around playing and searching for food on the deadfall. You can also get some landscape images here as you are along Lake Yellowstone and the Absaroka Mountain Range looms in the background.
Continue north now along Grand Loop Road until you get to Fishing Bridge. Here you can turn off the loop to head towards Cody, Wyoming via the East Entrance Road. I’ve never had the chance to drive this road but I’ve always heard how beautiful the drive is and that there are good spots for finding bears along it. As I do not have any fist hand experience I will skip over the East Entrance Road but in my future travels, it is very high on my list to see. From Fishing Bridge, continue straight on Grand Loop Road until you get to Hayden Valley. This is a large open valley with the Yellowstone River flowing through. This is a hotspot for wildlife photography and is a destination for many who come to Yellowstone. You can find bison, bears, elk, and even wolves in the valley and hillsides along the river. Birding is also good hear with an abundance of waterfowl in the river and in ponds within the valley. You cannot go wrong coming to Hayden Valley early in the morning or near sunset when the wildlife is more active.
Lower Yellowstone Falls from Artists Point
Right up the road from Hayden Valley is Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. This is a gorgeous canyon that the Yellowstone River flows through. Lower Falls gets most of the attention but Upper Falls is a cannot miss as well. There are many viewpoints for each falls but my favorite view is Artist Point overlooking Lower Falls. You get a beautiful view up the canyon showing you why Yellowstone got its name. If you come for sunrise the sun will be rising behind you illuminating the falls and the canyon making the colors really pop. If you are lucky enough to have some clouds in the western sky, they may also pop with some color making the scene even more magical. You really can spend a long time exploring the different viewpoints of each waterfall and I recommend doing so to find your favorite view. You may also find some wildlife in this area from birds to squirrels and also some chipmunks.
After leaving Yellowstone Falls to head back towards West Yellowstone, you will need to take Norris Canyon Road. This is a beautiful drive but I have no particular areas along it that I have photographed. You will get to Norris Junction after a 12 mile drive. At the junction you will have 3 options. Right will take you onto the upper loop of Yellowstone National Park. Going straight will take you into Norris Geyser Basin which is full of geothermal features including the parks largest erupting geyser, Steamboat Geyser. For this guide we will be taking a left back onto the lower loop towards Madison Junction. Before arriving at Madison Junction however is another waterfall spot. This is Gibbon Falls which is a picturesque waterfall that is easy to access. There is a parking area along the road with just a short paved walk with many viewpoints of the falls. The falls and the tree and cliff lined river leading to the falls make this a shot with high potential.
Gibbon Falls framed by mist
When finished at the falls, continue back south to Madison Junction where you can take the West Entrance Road back out to West Yellowstone. Keep your eye out for more wildlife along this stretch. To do the lower loop in one day is doable but is long. Add in doing photography and searching for wildlife and it is even longer. I suggest taking a few different days to explore the lower loop so you can get the best light on each subject you want to photograph and to put yourself out there at the best times to view and photograph the wildlife. Make sure to bring some snacks or a picnic and enjoy your time in Yellowstone National Park.
Is there any places I missed that you would like to recommend? If so, please leave a comment below! I will be going over the Upper Loop, North Entrance Road and Northeast Entrance Road (including Lamar Valley) in a future blog.
