Yellowstone National Park · Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

Pelican Creek Trail

12 mi of trail, end to end · about 900 ft of climbing · 7,843 ft–8,496 ft · earth surface · trail class Minimally Developed · hiking

8,236 ft 7,927 ft · 5.7 mi high 8,283 ft

Pelican Creek Nature Trail the Park Service's write-up

30-60 Minutes · no dogs · Summer, Fall

Start Yellowstone Lake

A creek spills into a large lake with mountains in the distance.
Photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank

This short but diverse trail travels through the forest to the lakeshore before looping back to the trailhead. It is a scenic introduction to a variety of Yellowstone’s habitats and is a good place for birding.

Safety notes: Always be aware of your surroundings and look for signs of grizzly bears.

Trailheads: West end of Pelican Creek Bridge, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Fishing Bridge Visitor Center.

This hike on nps.gov

On the parks map

All 473 trails in Yellowstone National ParkFind a trailOn the parks mapPark on nps.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the National Park Service's public trails layer, the trailheads and the waterfalls, views, peaks and historic places along them the Service's public points of interest, read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end. The write-ups are the Service's own "things to do" text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the park's own site before you go.