Mystic Falls Hike From Old Faithful
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Pricing is as below, depending on the starting location
- Hike starts at West Yellowstone$185.00/person for 8 to 10 persons, $210.00/person for 5 to 7 persons, $230.00/person for 3 to 4 persons and $280.00/person for 2 persons
$560.00 for single guest - Hike starts at Old Faithful Inn$185.00/person for 8 to 10 persons, $210.00/person for 5 to 7 persons, $230.00/person for 3 to 4 persons and $280.00/person for 2 persons
$560.00 for single guest
This hike is about seven miles (11.2 kilometres) long and includes so many different elements. If you break it down, we’ve taken the stroll from Old Faithful to Daisy Geyser, added the Daisy Geyser Trail, and then included the Mystic Falls hike. On the way back, after walking through Biscuit Basin, we’ll do the Artemisia Trail, followed by the return walk from Morning Glory Pool to Old Faithful.
This hike starts at Old Faithful with a walk on 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) high, and is formed when the Little Firehole River plunges down from the Madison Plateau, over a cliff. After wandering around the Mystic Falls area and exploring, we’ll retrace our steps the way we came.
Note that we have another hike which does everything this hike does, but instead of retracing our steps after reaching Mystic Falls, that hike continues from Mystic Falls on to the Biscuit Basin overlook, before doing the Artemisia trail portion of the hike.
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 as we go, before starting on the Artemisia Trail. This path runs alongside the Firehole River for part of the route, 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.
In addition to the version of this hike which we described above, which continues from Mystic Falls on to the Biscuit Basin overlook, there are two shorter hike 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.
