Osprey Falls is a 177-foot waterfall on the Gardner River in Yellowstone National Park, Park County, Wyoming, where the river leaps in a single drop into Sheepeater Canyon. The Park Service calls the canyon one of the deepest in the park, and reaching the falls is one of Yellowstone's more demanding day hikes.
The falls
The Gardner River pours off the edge of an old lava flow in one unbroken drop, then keeps tumbling through the dark gorge below. The falls are listed at 177 feet as a single horsetail drop; the park and earlier inventories give 150 feet. Columns of basalt from ancient lava flows line the canyon wall across the river. Average flow runs about 350 cubic feet per second in the three high-water months and about 65 the rest of the year.
Getting there
The Bunsen Peak trailhead is on the Grand Loop Road 5 miles south of Mammoth, in a gravel lot just south of Golden Gate, across from the Glen Creek trailhead. The lot is small and often full in summer. The route follows the Old Bunsen Peak Road for 3 miles through grassland and burned forest, then the Osprey Falls Trail drops about 700 feet into the canyon. The round trip is rated strenuous and takes 4 to 6 hours; other guides measure up to 9.1 miles. Bikes are allowed on the old road but not on the Osprey Falls Trail.
Yellowstone admission is $35 per vehicle for seven days, plus $100 per person for non-US residents aged 16 and older unless they hold an Annual or America the Beautiful Pass. The Mammoth to Norris road is open to cars from April 17 to October 31 in 2026.
When to go
Summer and fall are the season for this hike. Flow is strongest in June with snowmelt.
On site
The trail ends at the base of the falls. The last stretch is among the steepest in the park: a drop of 350 feet in just 0.2 mile, and the tread is loose, narrow and often muddy and slippery near the falls, so trekking poles help, and every foot of it must be climbed again on the way out. Grizzly bears frequent the area; the park advises hiking in groups of three or more, carrying bear spray and staying 100 yards from bears. Pets are not allowed.
History and name
Members of the Hague Survey named the falls in 1885 for the osprey. In 1886 George Wood Wingate wrote that the canyon walls fell almost straight down, as steep as the Palisades on the Hudson River and four times as deep.
Nearby
Rustic Falls is about 2.2 miles away, Undine Falls about 2.3 miles and Tukuarika Falls, also on the Gardner River, about 2.9 miles. From the same trailhead, the Bunsen Peak Trail climbs to the summit.
Distances are straight-line.