I need to start this post by saying that, in general, our family loves Yellowstone. We went there two years in a row (plus a few other times) and we’ve seen most of what there is to see there, but some sites are definitely better than others. After our last trip there, I asked my children what things they thought were a waste of time and these are the top three places we decided we are never going back to and we wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. After all, there are so many places our whole family loved, you don’t need to waste your time on places your children will say: “We came all the way here for this?” (Sigh)
If you like this list, you may also like these:
Petrified Tree in Roosevelt Area
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All of my kids thought it was the lamest thing ever. They did not get the point of it (and although I understood it was basically now a rock instead of a tree, I thought it was a waste of time myself). They couldn’t figure out why a person would want to look at an old tree stump. I remember thinking the same thing when I was a teenager. The only consolation is that it wasn’t far from our cabin at Roosevelt, the Lost Lake hike across the parking lot from it was nice and it’s a very short hike to see the tree. My kids were more excited about the weasel we saw in the parking lot while we were there.
Norris Geyser Basin
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Norris Geyser Basin is not one of my families favorite places in Yellowstone – unless you are lucky enough to see Steamboat Geyser go off. I would say that it may be worth a hour or so break from driving if you happen to be traveling from Madison Junction to Canyon via Norris junction.
We saw no active geysers. Just a bunch of steam, cones, fumerales, etc. but really a waste of time, if you ask me. Unless you get super-lucky and happen to see one of the non-predictable geysers go off. Steamboat is the most famous one, but it’s very unpredictable. They are so infrequent and unpredictable that you can see a listing of when it has gone off here. It can be years between erruptions, but if you’re lucky enough to be there when it goes off, you’ll get to see the world’s tallest currently active geyser. I’m sorry, but I’m just not that lucky. I’m never going back there again. But, if you like walking around on a bunch of boardwalks with stairs and seeing a lot of steam, then give it a try.
Here’s a photo of Steamboat geyser and what it looks like pretty much all the time. Pretty boring.
Tower Falls Overlook
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The walk to Tower Falls overlook is not far (.25 Mile). If you only go to the overlook, then turn around and come back, it’s not the hugest waste of time ever. But if you keep hiking down the trail, it’s a huge waste of time.
The view of the falls is not as good as it use to be because trees have grown a blocked more of the view. It used to be good but all you can do now is go to an overlook with a far off view of the small waterfall then hike down a pretty steep hike down to the bottom where you can’t even see the falls.
But, if you like waterfalls, the short walk to the overlook might be worth your time. On our last trip to Yellowstone (2015), I had planned to hike to the base of the falls, but I was out of luck. Apparently in the last few years the trail crews have had a hard time maintaining the bottom section of the trail so it was closed when we went. So instead of hiking to the base of the falls we took the Yellowstone river fishing access trail to the river. Here the kids had fun messing around for a while before attempting the climb back to the parking lot. So if you are in for a 1.5 mile hike, like I was, best check at the Tower gift shop before taking the time to hike down the trail past the overlook to the base of the falls.
Myself and hundreds of other people didn’t see the small sign saying the trail ends before you get to the falls, so a bunch of us were sweating for nothing. On the other hand, I quite liked the gift shop at Tower. We took the below image of Tower Falls, which makes it look like you can get up close to it, but you can’t. This photo is zoomed in far. It’s far enough away, that my children thought it was lame because they could barely see it far in the distance.
Do you agree with me? Do you think these three places in Yellowstone are good places to skip? Would you add others to the list?
If you visit Yellowstone in the winter months, Norris Geyser Basin is beautiful! The snow covered pine trees and the geysers steam is worth seeing via snowmobile. And the snowmobile trip is a blast!
Also the tower falls view is stunning in the winter.
It’s as if you are visiting a different Yellowstone during the winter with fun snowy adventures at Mammoth and Old Faithful.
Thanks for the tip!
My son absolutely loves the tee not sure why but he’s only five. We go every year and since he was three has always loved going to see that tree.
I can almost picture him standing there looking at it. At least it doesn’t take very long to drive to it or walk to it and it is a good science lesson. Maybe our children would be more interested if we didn’t live in Utah, where there are quite a few petrified things in museums and such.
Norris Geyser Basin is one of the best parts of Yellowstone!
There is a huge variety of colors and types of thermal features there. It is the hottest geyser basin in the park and no trip to Yellowstone would be complete without a visit to Norris.
Been going there for over 50 years, many, many times.
I’m not saying it’s not good, per se. I’m just saying there are a lot of other places I personally think are a lot better – especially if you have a stroller. Sure, it has boardwalks but we had two strollers and there are so many stairs and what seemed like miles of boardwalk and we didn’t see anything go off. Our children were very disappointed and the place was practically empty too, so I don’t think a lot of other people like it. I’d say if you have several days to spend in Yellowstone and don’t have young children, go for it. But if you only have a day or two and have children in a stroller, definitely skip it.
I have been going to Norris for over 50 years. The parking lot is usually jammed full. Cars are usually going through the parking lot a few times to find a parking place. Tour busses take up a lot of the parking area. Norris is one of the main attractions of Yellowstone! Ask the rangers!
Norris isn’t about active geysers, for heaven’s sakes. It is about many types of various hot springs whiich are different colors according to their acid content and temperature. The algaes are also very brightly colored because of the various temperatures. Norris is the hottest part of yellowstone, and if you are looking for geysers go to the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. If you want various colored and acidic springs and a huge variety, go to Norris. There is a hillside that is actually cooking because of the intense heat below ground!
We also took a stroller there and went left where there are NO stairs. If you go out on the colored algae part, there are stairs to that. That is only half of the adventure.
You are making unfair assumptions about this incredible geyser basin without the knowledge to back it up. I am setting the record very straight. I know what I’m talking about.
I still don’t like Norris, but a lot of people do – judging by the comments I’m getting on this post and in person. So I’m thinking I need to consider updating this post and replacing Norris. Any suggestions what to replace it with?
We were pretty disappointed in the petrified tree as well, until we went passed it and went on the Lost Lake hike and had our only bear spotting! We saw a mom and three cubs (another family said it was the only one to have triplets this year in the park). So glad we made that stop!
That’s so awesome! That’s actually within two miles of the only place we’ve seen a bear. We loved the Lost Lake hike!
I agree with you about the petrified tree but I really enjoyed Norris. We just got back from our first trip to Yellowstone so we had never seen anything like the hot springs . The colors of the hot springs were amazing and there was a small geyser called Vixen that went off every 3-5 minutes while we were there. It was a lot of fun to watch. The crowds were manageable too.
I appreciated your tips on hikes. That was helpful. Unfortunately, Uncle Tom’s parking lot and trail was closed when we went.