Sight · Yellowstone National Park
Rent a boat or take a guided trip onto Yellowstone Lake.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yellowstone Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yellowstone National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Yellowstone audio tourRecorded for this place
Bridge Bay Marina“You're coming up on Bridge Bay Marina, the stop for getting out onto Yellowstone Lake. During the boating season, you can rent a motorboat for up to six people, take a scenic cruise, or join a guided fishing trip.”
Plays as you drive up to Bridge Bay Marina in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“First time driving through a national park. We used the Yellowstone tour on grand loop Road and it’s just like having a tour guide in your car with you.”
Guide
Bridge Bay Marina is a working harbor and the base for boat rentals, scenic cruises and guided fishing trips. If you want more than a quick lakeshore look, this is the practical stop for getting out on the water: rent a boat to set your own pace, or join a guided outing and leave the boat handling to someone else.
Rental boats are 18 feet long, have 40-horsepower engines and hold up to six people; life jackets are provided. Rentals run from one to eight hours. Scenic cruises suit a shorter look at the lake, while a guided fishing trip is for people who want to spend more time on the water. The rental boats cannot beach and must stay at least 200 yards from shore.
The marina store sells snacks and drinks, ice, general supplies and bear spray for purchase or rental. It is wheelchair accessible from the boat-ramp area. Think of it as a handy supply stop, not a restaurant.
Every watercraft needs an aquatic invasive species inspection and a Yellowstone boating permit before launch. The inspection and permit are part of the launch plan, so leave time for them rather than treating the marina as a quick drop-in.
Yellowstone Lake stays cold well into summer: water is often in the 40s °F in June and may only reach the 60s late in the season. Sudden wind can build waves three to five feet high. Boating is seasonal, usually from Memorial Day weekend through October, and a calm weather window matters more here than a fixed itinerary.
Wildlife
713 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
743 sightingsWolfMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
5,273 sightingsBisonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
3,258 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
397 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,494 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yellowstone. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyNatural Bridge Trail2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA gentle forest walk to a rhyolite arch above Bridge Creek.
ModerateElephant Back Mountain Trail3.9 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.5 mi awayA steady forest climb to a broad Yellowstone Lake view.
ModerateHoward Eaton Trail: Fishing Bridge to Canyon13.5 mi · 7 hr · 4 mi awayA long river-side traverse opens into Hayden Valley meadows.
EasyPelican Creek Nature Trail0.8 mi · 45 min · 4.3 mi awayA short forest loop opens onto Pelican Creek and Yellowstone Lake.
Picnic area · 0.2 mi awayBridge Bay Picnic AreaA lakeside picnic with boats moving through Bridge Bay
Campground · 0.6 mi awayBridge Bay CampgroundA lake-country base where bison sometimes wander through camp.Sight · 0.9 mi awayNatural BridgeA 51-foot arch carved by Bridge Creek, reached on a forest walk.
Picnic area · 1.2 mi awayGull Point Picnic AreaA shaded lunch stop with a short walk to the lake.
Picnic area · 2.1 mi awayLake Village Picnic AreaFour picnic tables for a lakeshore meal break.
Lodging · 2.3 mi awayLake Yellowstone Hotel and CabinsA historic hotel with Yellowstone Lake views and a grand old lobby.
Store · 2.4 mi awayLake General StoreIce cream and general supplies in a 1919 octagonal lakeside shop.
Lodging · 2.6 mi awayLake Lodge CabinsA summer cabin base with a rocking-chair view of Yellowstone Lake.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
