Mystic Falls And Biscuit Basin Overlook Hike From Old Faithful
See pricing
Pricing is as below, depending on the starting location
- Hike starts at West Yellowstone$195.00/person for 8 to 10 persons, $225.00/person for 5 to 7 persons, $245.00/person for 3 to 4 persons and $295.00/person for 2 persons
$595.00 for single guest - Hike starts at Old Faithful Inn$195.00/person for 8 to 10 persons, $225.00/person for 5 to 7 persons, $245.00/person for 3 to 4 persons and $295.00/person for 2 persons
$595.00 for single guest
There is so much to see and do on this hike, which includes a stroll from Old Faithful to Daisy Geyser, the short Daisy Geyser backcountry trail, the hike to Mystic Falls and the Biscuit Basin overlook, a wander through Biscuit Basin, and then the Artemisia Trail, followed by a walk back from Morning Glory Pool to Old Faithful.
This hike is about 8.5 miles (13.7 kilometres) long and starts at Old Faithful with a walk along the trail past Castle Geyser. And speaking of Castle, we’ll go alongside or close to three of only six geysers in Yellowstone which have their eruption times predicted. These are Castle, Daisy Geyser and Riverside Geyser. We generally try and arrange the starting time of the hike so that we can watch one of them erupt, but this is not always possible.
Once we get to Daisy Geyser we’ll walk the loop that goes around the Daisy Group of Geysers, before leaving the boardwalk system, and getting into the country, and away from the crowds.
There are not that many thermal features on the next part of the hike, but the beautiful scenery compensates for that, as we make our way across open meadows and through parts of a forest.
We’ll continue into the backcountry as we now make our way towards Mystic Falls. You’ll find yourself walking through a beautiful mixed conifer forest, before picking up the Little Firehole River. Mystic Falls is about 70 feet (21 metres) and is formed when the Little Firehole River plunges down from the Madison Plateau, over a cliff.
After exploring Mystic Falls for a while, the strenuous part of the walk starts, with a hike up
some switchbacks to the top of a hill overlooking Mystic Falls. The vertical gain is about 500 feet (152 metres).
Note that we have another hike which does everything this hike does, but omits the Biscuit Basin overlook.
We’ll walk along the top of the hill until we get to a spectacular overlook of the
Biscuit Basin area. You can see as far back as the Upper Geyser Basin, and make out geysers and
other thermal features in the distance! There is an even steeper switchback on the way down the hill, until we meet up with the original path, back to the trailhead.
We’ll take a slightly different route back from Mystic Falls, and make our way through Biscuit Basin this time, checking out many geysers and hot springs along the way, before starting on the Artemisia Trail. This path runs alongside the Firehole River part of the way, and there are a lot more thermal features on this side of the Firehole River than we previously saw on the Daisy Geyser side. There are some beautiful, colorful hot springs on the way, but Artemisia Geyser is the highlight of this part of the trail, especially as you stand on a cliff, looking down on the geyser.
The last part of the hike sees us taking in Morning Glory Pool and Grotto Geyser to name just two, as we make our way back towards Old Faithful.
We offer two shorter hiking options which do not start at Old Faithful, but which begin at the Mystic Falls trailhead instead. These would suit people who don’t have as much time, or perhaps do not want to walk as far.
