Yellowstone National Park has over "Hiking in the Park" page of Yellowstone:Plan Your Visit section of National Park Service website , retrieved May 19, 2007. of blazed and mapped hiking trails, including some that have been in use for hundreds of years. Several of these trails were the sites of historical events. Yellowstone's trails are noted for various geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal features, and for viewing of bald eagles, ospreys, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, bighorn sheep, pronghorns, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk.

Prehistoric times

In the Middle Prehistoric era, humans appear to have continued living in mountain areas through droughts severe enough for plains populations to disappear.Earl H. Swanson, Jr., "Cultural Relations Between Two Plains", Archaeology in Montana 7, no. 2 (April–June 1966), pp. 1-2, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One. Evidence suggests that the Yellowstone Plateau was occupied continuously, with seasonal movement among preferred places. Foragers wintered in protected valleys along the edges of the plateau, and summered in higher hunting grounds that might have extended fifty to a hundred miles away.Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One, Yellowstone Library and Museum Association / Colorado Associated University Press, 1977, . Some of the seasonal routes developed into often-used trails. Artifacts from this era are found throughout the park, with large enough concentrations around Yellowstone Lake to suggest a substantial population.Carling Malouf, "Preliminary Report, Yellowstone National Park Archaeological Survey, Summer 1958", mimeographed, Montana State University, Missoula, January 5, 1959, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One.

Early 1800s

First white discoverer used Indian trail sections

John Colter (or Coulter), a former member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, spent the winter of 1806-1807 trapping along the middle Yellowstone River. With the information he learned there, he was hired by the Missouri Fur Trading Company to invite Indian tribes to the trading post the company built at the mouth of the Big Horn River in October 1807.M.O. Skarsten, "George Drouillard", in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, volume 4, Arthur A. Clark Co., 1966, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One. In the winter of 1807-1808, soliciting trade with the Crow and other native tribes, Colter traveled alone on a route that included the Yellowstone Plateau, making him the first white man to see Yellowstone Lake and some of the area's unique features.William Clark's Map of the West, in Nicholas Biddle, History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, volume 2, Bradford and Inskeep, 1814, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One. Colter's route included Indian trails both inside and outside the current park, such as over Pryor Gap near Cody, Wyoming; around the west shore of Yellowstone Lake and down Yellowstone River to the crossing near Tower Fall (a geothermal area on the east bank is "Hot Spring Brimstone" on Clark's map); and continuing up Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek and Clarks Fork to return to the Pryor Gap trail.Merrill J. Mattes, "Behind the Legend of Colter's Hell: The Early Exploration of the Yellowstone National Park", Mississippi Valley Historical Review 36, number 2 (September 1949), pp. 253-54, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One.

Bannock Trail

By 1840, bison (buffalo) had been hunted and trapped to extirpation west of the Continental Divide. The Shoshone and Bannock tribes had established a plains-style culture based on the buffalo on the Snake River plains, but the regional extirpation forced them to organize hunting migrations across the Yellowstone Plateau. These tribes established a route that became known as the Bannock Trail.Aubrey L. Haines, "The Bannock Indian Trails of Yellowstone National Park", cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One. The route began at Camas Meadows in Idaho, went over Targhee Pass, followed the Madison River basin, went over the Gallatin Mountains near Mount Holmes, down Indian Creek to the Gardner River, through Snow Pass to Mammoth Hot Springs, up Lava Creek, through the meadows of Blacktail Deer Creek, to the "Bannock Ford" crossing of the Yellowstone River near Tower Fall, up the Lamar Valley, and over the Absaroka Range into the Clarks Fork Valley. From there, Bannock and Shoshone (often with Flathead and Nez Perce) would choose between the Yellowstone Valley and the Wyoming Basin to hunt bison. For forty years ending in 1878 with the Bannock War, tribes used the Bannock Trail for access to drainages such as the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone, Stillwater, Clarks Fork, and Shoshone valleys, and through them to a more distant arc of buffalo ranges.

Folsom party used Indian trails

The most organized of the numerous explorations into Yellowstone in the 1860s was the 1869 Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition. It was particularly well documented as having traveled on existing Indian trails. From the Bozeman Pass area, the three-man group rode on a former Indian trail up Meadow Creek from the Gallatin drainage to the Yellowstone drainage, and down Trail Creek (named for its old trail) to the Yellowstone Valley, as miners had done since 1864. They followed Indian trails up the Yellowstone River the rest of the way south to the mouth of the Gardner River, where the trail forked. The party used the fork over Blacktail Deer Creek Plateau to the head of Rescue Creek.Charles W. Cook, David E. Folsom, and William Peterson, The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965, cited in Haines, The Yellowstone Story, Volume One. Portions of their later travels used other trails long used by natives. An article by Charles W. Cook and David E. Folsom describing the expedition was published in a Chicago magazine in 1870, raising popular attention. David Folsom worked with Walter W. deLacy, another explorer of Yellowstone, to revise deLacy's 1865 map; the 1870 edition aided that year's Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. They followed the same route into the area as far as Rescue Creek, then used the Bannock Trail eastward. Like the Folsom party, Washburn's group used other Indian trails around parts of Yellowstone Lake and elsewhere in the future Park.

First years as a national park

Yellowstone's first superintendent, Nathaniel P. Langford, served without salary from 1872 to 1877. He also worked without funds, and entered the park only twice in his five years of service. Under Langford, no trails were developed, and existing trails were maintained only by their users and guides.

Trail development by P.W. Norris

Yellowstone's second superintendent, Philetus W. Norris, served from 1877 to 1882. His administration, unlike Langford's, had a budget for roadbuilding and trailbuilding. In his five years, the park trail system was increased from to , many miles of existing trails were improved into roads, and wooden signboards were added at many trail intersections and natural features.

Superintendent Norris added the trail (later a road) east through Lamar Valley and out the park's northeast corner, in 1878. He discovered, explored, and cleared a trail over the Washburn Range through Rowland Pass, in 1878.Lee H. Whittlesey, Yellowstone Place Names, Montana Historical Society Press, Helena, Montana, USA, 1988, .

In his final annual report, published in 1881, Norris listed five individual foot trails. This included the six-mile Terrace Mountain trail, a one mile path leading to Undine Falls (formerly called East Gardner Falls), a one mile trail that led to Monument Geyser Basin, and two short footpaths located in the Yellowstone Falls area. Since these trails were never mentioned in any of his previous reports, it’s assumed they were constructed during the 1880 season.Doran, Jeffrey J. (2026), Ramble On: A History of Hiking,

Current trail system

Many trails in Yellowstone traverse Bear Management Areas and are seasonally closed or restricted to reduce human contact with bears.

Interpretive and attraction related trails These trails are primarily associated with park attractions, especially geothermal features, and are sometimes out and back day hikes, and in many cases are improved boardwalks and supported with interpretive signs and exhibits. Trail NameDescriptionTrail Head(s)Length (OW-One Way, RT-Round Trip)Norris Geyser Basin AreaArtist Paint PotsInterpretive trail that explores the Artist Paint Pots near Gibbon Meadows in the Norris Geyser Basin south of Norris Junction Cygnet Lakes TrailRelatively flat out and back trail to marshy lakes popular with wildlife observers. east of Norris Junction Monument Geyser BasinA moderately difficult out and back trail to the seldom visited Monument Geyser Basin south of Norris Junction Mammoth Hot Springs AreaBoiling River TrailTrail to hot springs on the edge of the Gardner River used as a swimming area.North Entrance-Mammoth Road Beaver Ponds TrailGentle loop trail through meadows and beaver ponds on Clematis CreekMammoth Hot Springs near Liberty Cap Wraith Falls Short hike to a cascade on Lupine Creek Wraith Falls trailhead: Madison River AreaHarlequin LakeTrail to shallow lake just north of the West Entrance Rd near Madison Junction. Popular with birdwatchers.1.7 miles west of Madison Junction Purple Mountain TrailSteep trail to the top of Purple Mountain el. with good views of the lower Gibbon River meadows. nouth of Madison Junction Lower and Midway Geyser BasinFountain Paint Pots TrailAn easy loop trail through the Fountain Paint Pots area at the southern end of the Lower Geyser Basin near Midway.Fountain Flats Freight RoadAn old gravel road between Fountain Flats and Midway Geyser Basin closed in the 1970s. It is currently used as a bike path that gives access to several backcountry trailheads, Goose Lake and the Firehole River.Northern trailhead: Southern trailhead: Upper Geyser Basin-Old Faithful Area Upper Geyser Basin Trail The Upper Geyser Basin trail is a series of long walkways that traverse the basin's thermal features between Old Faithful and Biscuit Basin. There are multiple loops and routes thru the basin using these trails. Old Faithful trailhead: Biscuit Basin trailhead: to Biscuit Basin TrailBlack Sand Basin TrailLone Star Geyser Basin TrailTrailhead is 2.5 miles south of Old Faithful on Grand Loop Road OW Mystic Falls Trail Parallels the Little Firehole River to the base of the falls through burned over lodgepole pine and rocky talus. Trailhead departs west side of Biscuit Basin loop. to base of falls. Connects with Biscuit Basin overlook trail, loop is ~ RTCanyon AreaUncle Tom's TrailA steep descent into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the south rim near the Lower Yellowstone Fall.Just east of the Lower Falls south rim parking area West Thumb Geyser BasinWest Thumb TrailAn oval loop trail with an inner path that surrounds the major West Thumb geothermal features at the edge of Yellowstone LakeJust east of West Thumb junction: Hayden ValleyMud Volcano TrailA loop trail that passes Mud Geyser, Black Dragon's Caldron, Grizzly Fumarole, Mud Volcano and other geothermal features. north of Fishing Bridge Lamar ValleyTrout LakeSteep trail through fir forest to small alpine lake popular with anglers. east of Tower Junction: Yellowstone Lake AreaPelican Creek Nature Trail east of Fishing Bridge: Tower-Roosevelt AreaLost Lake TrailEasy loop trail to fishless Lost LakeBehind Roosevelt Lodge:Tower Fall TrailEasy walk to platform to view Tower Fall south of Tower Junction: Yellowstone River Picnic Area TrailEasy trail along the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone between Tower Fall and the Tower Junction bridge across the Yellowstone River. Connects with the Specimen Ridge trail. east of Tower Junction on Northeast entrance road.