2024 Guide to Uncle Tom’s Trail: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

IMPORTANT! NOTE: The stairs for Uncle Tom’s Trail have been closed for construction since 2019. As of 2024 there is no plan to reopen the stairs for summer 2024! They are closed indefinitely. Read on to learn about my experience hiking this trail when it was open. Hopefully this trail will open in the future! It’s a fun hike!

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Uncle Tom’s Trail is located at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area and allows you to get close up views of the lower falls waterfall. At certain times of the day, you can see a rainbow.

Uncle Tom’s Trail in Yellowstone – Details:

Length: .06 miles – out and back

Time Commitment: About 30 minutes

Location:
Once you’re in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area, follow South Rim Drive and you will see a large parking lot with a sign that reads, “Uncle Tom’s Point.” Once parked, just follow the signs (or the crowds). You can’t miss it.

Hiking Uncle Tom’s Trail

I don’t know if I’d actually call this a trail-trail. Before you get to the stairs, you’ll walk on some dirt switchbacks but the majority of this “trail” is actually a very long, steep staircase. The walk down the stairs is easy, but it’s not for the faint of heart. The stairs are metal and you can see through them, so you can look at the rocky, steep terrain you’re going over right below your feet. The stairs has many resting points along the way for you to catch your breath on the way up. We were here at about 9am during the very busy summer travel season and crowds were not bad.

Related: View all of my Yellowstone National Park posts here!

On the way down, there really isn’t much to see except some trees. You’re really concentrating on your footing, more than you are enjoying the scenery.

RELATED: Hiking to Mystic Falls in Yellowstone National Park

Once you reach the bottom of the staircase, there’s a platform with a great view of the lower falls. The platform itself is not that big, and I can imagine it can get pretty crowded here. The view of the waterfall was nice, but I’d have to say it wasn’t the most spectacular scenery I’ve ever seen. We were lucky in that we timed it right to see a rainbow

Once we were done snapping photos and enjoying the view it was time to head back up. I didn’t think it’d be that bad, but after a few flights of stairs, I was struggling! The altitude got to me and I had to stop several times to rest. I really didn’t think I’d have a problem with this, being that I’m a gym rat who runs 60 miles a week, but I think a lot of it has to do with the elevation. At this point in the trip, I was still suffering from a little altitude sickness (getting headaches and feeling a little queasy), so my body hadn’t fully acclimated to the high elevation.

Related: 8 Mistakes Visitors to Yellowstone National Park Make

Uncle Tom’s Trail – Pros and Cons

Pros:
It’s a decent but short workout
It’s nice to see another viewpoint of the waterfall

Cons:
Very busy, popular trail
Personally, I think the view from Artist’s Point is much better