Hike the Magnificent Canyon That Gave Yellowstone National Park Its Name

Whenever I write about Yellowstone National Park, I struggle to resist spouting superlatives because, frankly, we've all heard them more than once—world's first, most geysers, all the animals, and so on. On the other hand, the urge to mention all the amazing things about Yellowstone all at once is, like Old Faithful, difficult to contain—especially when it comes to hiking in the park. With its incredibly diverse landscape, at Yellowstone, you can hike a steaming geyser basin in the morning and an alpine meadow in the afternoon. It's all just so... superlative. Of all the hikes in Yellowstone National Park, though, there's one that I just can't (or won't) skip, and despite the crowds and occasional battle for parking, I have hiked it on each of my handful of visits to the park. The highlight of the trail is the canyon that gave the national park and its eponymous river their names. That's right, I'm talking about the Canyon South Rim Trail to Artist Point.

This 2.7-mile out-and-back walk skirts the southern rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, a masterpiece of nature that looks like an oil painting from every view. There are a few ups and downs along the way (especially if you trot down to the occasional overlook) which account for the trail's modest 295 feet of elevation gain. This earns it an "easy" rating on AllTrails, which I think is pretty accurate.

Along the way, you'll be treated to stunning, almost otherworldly views of the gorge the river has gouged through the Washburn Range of northwestern Wyoming. The river cuts through the mountains for almost 24 miles before it finally spills out into the broad Lamar Valley to the northeast.

As beautiful as the canyon itself is, the highlights are, of course, the magnificent waterfalls. Upper Falls drops 109 feet from the Hayden Valley and into the head of the canyon, where the bedrock changes from a resilient rhyolite to a softer lava rock that the river has eroded more quickly over time. Upper Falls aren't visible along this route, but you could start your hike farther upstream and walk an extra mile-and-a-half or so to include them. Lower Falls, on the other hand—beautiful, iconic, photogenic, 308-foot Lower Falls—is visible in its full glory from many spots along this trail, particularly Artist Point, which offers the view most folks are familiar with from photos and paintings. And in real life, the waterfall looks just as amazing (more so, really) as it does in all those images.

If I'm being honest, it's this view of Lower Falls that keeps me coming back to the trail. That said, there are many more can't-miss hikes in this amazing national park—more than I can list here—but some standouts you'll definitely want to add to your itinerary are:

• Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook Trail
• Mystic Falls Trail
• Lone Star Geyser Trail
• Yellowstone Natural Bridge Trail

The Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park is most easily reached from the west and north entrances. Stay near the north entrance in Gardiner, Montana, and you'll enter the park through its iconic stone arch and pass through Mammoth Hot Springs on the way to Canyon Village. Many lodging options are available in town, including this charming, standalone cabin—a perfect base camp for your Yellowstone adventure.

Have you hiked the Canyon South Rim Trail to Artist Point? What are your favorite hikes in Yellowstone National Park? We'd love to hear about them!

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