Lower Falls

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The Lower Falls area is located just to the east of Canyon Village in Yellowstone National Park. A one-way loop drive takes you to the brink of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and offers four views, with the last stop at the trail that leads to the top of the Falls.

Lower Falls is the biggest waterfall in Yellowstone. The 308 foot tall waterfall is believed to be the second most photographed spot in Yellowstone, with Old Faithful Geyser being the first. There are numerous views of the Falls from both the east (Inspiration Point, Grandview Point and Lookout Point) and west (Artists Point) sides of the Grand Canyon, most of which require only a short walk or virtually no walk to see. The trail to the top of the Falls (3/4 of a mile roundtrip, but steep with many switchbacks) is a must, as the experience of standing atop the Falls is one of the most breath-taking experiences in the entire Park.

The canyon's colors were created by hot water acting on volcanic rock. It was not these colors, but the river's yellow banks at its distant confluence with the Missouri River, that occasioned the Minnetaree Indian name which French trappers translated as roche jaune, yellow stone. The canyon has been rapidly downcut more than once, perhaps by great glacial outburst floods. Little deepening takes place today.

Over the years the estimates of the height of Lower Falls has varied dramatically. In 1851 Jim Bridger estimated its height at 250 feet. One outrageous newspaper story from 1867 placed its height at "thousands of feet". A map from 1869 gives the falls its current name of Lower Falls for the first time and estimates the height at 350 feet.