About Upper Falls (of the Yellowstone River)
Upper Falls was the other major waterfall that we saw on the Yellowstone River.
We thought it tended to be overshadowed by the Lower Falls further downstream because it wasn’t plunging within the depths of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
Nonetheless, this impressive 110ft waterfall held its own in terms of scenic allure, especially when we considered its power. In fact, I’d bet there would be an entire state park or reserve devoted to this waterfall had it been on its own outside the National Park boundaries.
To our knowledge, I don’t think it was possible to get down to the river level to see the falls at its base (or at least not possible from the obvious lookouts and trails sanctioned by the Park Service).
We’ve managed to experience this waterfall in a couple of ways, which we’ll get into below…
Upper Falls from Uncle Tom’s Lookout
This viewpoint gave us the classic view of Upper Falls. We were able to get here from the car park for the Uncle Tom’s Trail.
From the Canyon Junction, we drove south past the Chittenden Bridge, which was that bridge above the falls, and then we turned left onto the South Rim Drive.
After about 0.6 miles on the South Rim Drive, we reached the car park.
Once we parked the car, we headed towards the western end of the lot. That was when we saw a trail that continued west and provided the frontal view of the falls.
We didn’t go very far on this trail, but I’d imagine the angle of the view would change the further west we’d go.
Brink of the Upper Falls
As the name implied, we were able to get right up to the edge of the Upper Falls.
From there, we could appreciate the waterfall’s power as well as make feeble attempts at trying to communicate it in our awkward photos.
From the designated car park, we took a short trail that terminated at the overlook.
The car park for this spot was at the end of a turnoff 1.7 miles south of the Canyon Junction (near Canyon Village) along the Grand Loop Road.
Authorities
Upper Falls resides in Yellowstone National Park. For information or inquiries about the park as well as current conditions, visit the National Park Service website.
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