Yellowstone National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the U.S. for a reason. This park is filled with gorgeous scenery, breathtaking views, and unique wildlife and plant life. If you’re looking for a way to experience this park to the max, we recommend taking a motorcycle tour.
Yellowstone is surrounded by roads and bike routes that allow you to take in its beautiful sights from your vehicle. Read on to learn more about taking a Yellowstone National Park motorcycle ride.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a 3,500-square-mile recreation area that sits on a volcanic hot spot. Most of the park is located in Wyoming, but the national park also spreads into Idaho and Montana.
Yellowstone was the first recreation area designated as a national park. President Ulysses S. Grant established the park in 1872 and signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law.
Yellowstone is a popular tourist destination due to its unique natural features and wildlife. The park features sweeping canyons, lush forests, steaming hot springs, gushing geysers, and sparkling lakes and rivers. The park is also home to numerous animal species, such as bison, elk, antelope, wolves, and bears.
Best Routes Around Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone features numerous scenic drives that allow you to view the park’s unique scenery from the road and stop and take pictures. Here are a few of the best scenic drives through the park:
Grand Loop Road
This 142-mile loop makes a figure-eight through Yellowstone National Park, stopping at most of the park’s major attractions. Along the route, you can see attractions such as:
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Norris Geyser Basin
- Grand Prismatic Spring
- Old Faithful
- Mud Volcano Trail
Riding this loop should take you a few hours without stops, but you’ll want to plan enough time to stop at all of the park’s attractions along the way. Additionally, the loop tends to get busy in the spring, summer, and fall, which may slow down your trip.
Grand Loop Road also connects to Beartooth Highway, one of the most scenic roads in the U.S.
Beartooth Highway
Beartooth Highway is perhaps the most dramatic, breathtaking drive through Yellowstone National Park. This route takes you through the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near the Wyoming/Montana border, then through several national forests, including Shoshone.
Then, Beartooth Highway takes you to an elevation of 11,000 feet, providing sprawling panoramic views of the lakes, forests, and ponds below. This route should take around 4.5 hours without stops, and you should keep in mind that it is not open between October and May.
Other Ways to Enjoy the Park
Yellowstone National park has so much to do and see, and you can experience its natural beauty in several different ways. While riding around the park on your motorcycle can give you a glimpse of the stunning views all around, you can also consider participating in another outdoor activity.
Here are a few of the many ways you can enjoy the park:
- Take photos of the breathtaking views.
- Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy it at one of the many picnic areas throughout the park.
- Take a hike throughout any of Yellowstone’s 900 miles of hiking trails.
- Ride a horse through a guided day trip or take a guided overnight backcountry trip.
- Go fishing in one of the park’s sparkling bodies of water.
- Take a boat on one of Yellowstone’s 600 lakes.
- Go for a refreshing swim or take a warm soak in the park hot springs.
Take our advice. Adding any of these activities to your Yellowstone National Park motorcycle ride can help you experience this park to the fullest. Here’s more great advice. Sign up for the FREE Law Tigers Rider Benefit Kit and receive valuable benefits every rider needs.
