Yellowstone North by TheParkGuide

Sponsored by TheParkGuide

• Location: Wyoming
• Travel Type: Driving
• Tour Duration: 4 hours
• Language:

Yellowstone National Park North
By TheParkGuide

While the southern half of Yellowstone draws the biggest crowds to Old Faithful and the geyser basins, the northern loop holds some of the park's most remarkable — and most overlooked — treasures. From the eerie thermal landscape of Norris Geyser Basin to the wolf-rich grasslands of Lamar Valley, from the ornate terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs to the sweeping panoramas of Dunraven Pass, the northern loop is a world unto itself. TheParkGuide's Yellowstone North self-guided audio tour is your guide to all of it.

About this Tour

Our Yellowstone North audio tour covers the northern half of Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road and all connecting entrance roads, including the route from Madison Junction north through Norris to Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, as well as the road east from Mammoth through Tower-Roosevelt to the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate and Cooke City. The tour also covers the Norris-to-Canyon and Canyon-to-Tower segments that complete the upper loop.

The first major stop heading north from Madison Junction is Norris Geyser Basin — the hottest and most geologically dynamic thermal area in the entire park. The ground beneath Norris sits closer to the volcanic heat source than anywhere else in Yellowstone, and the thermal features here shift and change dramatically from year to year. Steamboat Geyser, located at Norris, is the world's tallest active geyser, capable of erupting to heights of over 300 feet — though its eruptions are irregular and unpredictable, which makes witnessing one all the more extraordinary. On the road to Mammoth, Obsidian Cliff stands as a geological landmark: the volcanic glass here was chipped into tools and traded by Native Americans across a network that stretched as far as Ohio, making this one of the earliest long-distance trade routes in North America.

Mammoth Hot Springs is where Yellowstone's story as a managed park truly began. The U.S. Army stationed here in 1886 to protect the park from poachers, souvenir hunters, and vandals — and their headquarters became the nucleus of what is now park headquarters. The travertine terraces at Mammoth are unlike anything in the geyser basins: here, the thermal water percolates through limestone rather than silica-rich rhyolite, depositing calcium carbonate in flowing, cascading formations that look like frozen waterfalls. The terraces change constantly, and features that were active a decade ago may be dormant today while new ones emerge elsewhere.

East of Tower-Roosevelt, the road climbs over Dunraven Pass — at 8,859 feet, the highest road in the park — with a popular trailhead to the summit of Mount Washburn, which offers a stunning 360-degree panorama of the Yellowstone caldera and, on a clear day, views stretching to the Tetons. Then the road descends into the Northern Range, a region that is drier, lower, and more open than the rest of the park. In winter, bison and elk migrate here from the high plateaus, followed by wolf packs hunting the herds — and wildlife watchers from around the world follow both.

The Lamar Valley is the crown jewel of wildlife watching in Yellowstone — often called America's Serengeti. The broad, open grasslands are home to some of the largest bison herds in the park, and since wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the valley has become the best place in the lower 48 states to watch wild wolves hunt. On any given morning, you might see bison, elk, pronghorn, coyotes, grizzly bears, black bears, bighorn sheep, and red foxes — all from the road.

Planning your visit?

• The North Entrance road from Gardiner through Mammoth is the only park road open to wheeled vehicles year-round.
•  Gardiner, Montana at the North Entrance is where you'll find the historic Roosevelt Arch, inscribed with the words "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People."
• Near the Northeast Entrance, Silver Gate and Cooke City are small but welcoming gateway communities, and just beyond lies the Beartooth Highway — widely cited as one of the most scenic drives in the United States.
• Download our audio tour before you go, and let the stories come to you as you drive.

Find More Tours Near You

TheParkGuide offers two tours of Yellowstone: Yellowstone South and Yellowstone North. (We divided it into two tours because Yellowstone is huge and there’s a lot of content on these tours.) Our audio tour works without cell service and triggers automatically as you drive. Download it before you go and leave the screen-watching to us.  If you are heading south to the Tetons, download TheParkGuide’s Grand Teton tour. Buy the bundle of all three to save money, and have a seamless experience through Yellowstone all the way through Grand Teton to Jackson, WY.

Tour Sponsor

TheParkGuide (formerly GaperGuide) creates self-guided audio driving tours for America's most beloved national parks, delivering expertly researched, richly narrated content that brings each park's geology, wildlife, and human history to life. Every tour is crafted to the same high standard, so you always know what you're getting,