Wraith Falls Hike – Yellowstone National Park
Wraith Falls waterfall inside Yellowstone National Park is an easy hike that leads to an 80m foot waterfall along Lupine Creek. The waterfall is a ‘ribbon’ type waterfall that cascades over a wide slab of rock. Wraith Falls is located in the northern section of the park, between the Mammoth Hot Springs area and the Tower/Roosevelt section.
Wraith Falls Hike Overview
- Distance: 0.8 miles round trip
- Type: Out and back
- Difficulty: Easy
- Elevation Gain: 100 feet
- As with all hikes in Yellowstone National Park, don’t forget your bear spray! This is a very short hike, but you always need bear spray on any hike in grizzly country.
Wraith Falls Trailhead location:
Wraith Falls is located near the Mammoth Hot Springs area, along the Grand Loop Road. This section of road is open year-round, so you could hike to Wraith Falls anytime of year. There is a small parking lot and it was almost full when I arrived around 10am. However, since this is a short hike, people are always coming and going so you should be able to find a spot.
Hiking to Wraith Falls in Yellowstone National Park
The trail starts out in a grassy meadow. Keep an eye out for wildlife – I saw a small herd of bison relaxing near the trail. You’ll cross a short footbridge that spans a creek. On my hike, there were quite a few people fly fishing in the creek.
Next, you’ll have about a 50ft climb up to the Wraith Falls viewpoint. Once I reached the viewpoint, I was confused – I couldn’t see the waterfall. I did eventually find it but it was much further away than I expected based on photos I’ve seen. And to add to my disappointment, the waterfall was down to a trickle. There were a few other hikers at the viewpoint and they were bummed as well.
I hiked to Wraith Falls at the end of August. The waterfall was nearly dried up and not as impressive as it was in the photos I saw online.
Clearly, we all picked the wrong time of year to hike to Wraith Falls!
Luckily, Wraith Falls is a very short hike – it’s not like I wasted 1/2 a day of my vacation hiking to this boring waterfall. It was about 10 minutes of hiking time get there – if that. I shrugged my shoulders, turned around and walked back to my car, making a mental note not to come back here in late summer or fall. (Or at all, if I’m being honest. There’s much better hikes in the park than this!).
If you are feenin’ for a waterfall, Undine Falls viewpoint is about a minute’s drive away from the Wraith Falls trailhead. Make sure you check it out – it’s much better than Wraith!
If you do go to Wraith Falls, you’ll have much better luck hiking here in the spring and early summer, as the snow run-off will produce a much better flow. I suggest bringing a zoom lens to get a good photo of the waterfall – it really does look cool when the water is flowing. And I can imagine that this would be a fun hike to do in winter.
Have you been to Wraith Falls? What did you think?
