Sight · Yellowstone National Park
An 11-arch viaduct bends around a golden canyon wall.
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
Bunsen Peak Trailhead“You're nearing the Bunsen Peak trailhead, a good choice if you want a summit hike with views over Swan Lake Flats and the Gallatin Mountains.”
Plays as you drive up to Golden Gate 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
Golden Gate is a steep, narrow canyon and pass on Yellowstone’s northern Grand Loop Road, between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris. The road follows the cliff above a wooded ravine, so this is a drive-through feature rather than a hike. Take the curves slowly and stop only in a safe roadside pullout. Never stop on or block the road.
A 200-foot concrete viaduct carries the road along the cliff on 11 arches. The gold-toned rock wall and wooded drop make the engineering easy to read. From a safe pullout, try to frame the bridge with the cliff so your photo shows both the structure and the terrain it crosses.
The first road through Golden Gate was built in 1884–85, replacing a steep route over Snow Pass. Army Lt. Dan Christie Kingman directed the work; crews used a wooden trestle where the cliff could not be cut back. Engineer Hiram Chittenden later replaced that trestle with the concrete viaduct. The structure has needed reconstruction over the years, but its job is still plain: carry the road around a cliff too steep to grade.
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
EasyHoward Eaton Trail: Glen Creek to Mammoth Hot Springs4 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayDownhill through the Hoodoos into Mammoth’s old spring terraces.
ModerateGlen Creek Trail11.9 mi · 6.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayA long walk through sagebrush flats beneath Electric Peak.
ModerateBunsen Peak Road Trail6 mi · 3 hr · 0.2 mi awayA level old road turns into a steep canyon descent.
ModerateBunsen Peak Trail4.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.3 mi awaySwitchbacks climb to a broad view over Swan Lake Flats.
ChallengingSportsman Lake Trail24 mi · 14.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA long Gallatin crossing past a remote lake and over a pass.
ModerateSnow Pass Trail3 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.8 mi awayA steep, forested climb to a 7,450-foot pass.
EasyMammoth Hot Springs Upper Terrace Boardwalk Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 2.5 mi awaySee changing hot spring colors from the upper boardwalk.
ModerateMammoth Hot Springs Lower Terraces Trail1.8 mi · 1.3 hr · 2.8 mi awayWalk boardwalks past colorful travertine shelves that keep rebuilding.
Sight · 2.2 mi awayOsprey FallsA hard hike to a 150-foot waterfall in Sheepeater Canyon.
Sight · 2.2 mi awayOrange Spring MoundOrange travertine still growing beside Upper Terrace Drive.
Sight · 2.6 mi awayMammoth Hot Springs Lower TerracesHeat-loving microbes tint travertine orange, green and brown.
Sight · 2.7 mi awayMount Everts ViewpointA 37-day survival story above layers separated by 60 million years
Restroom · 2.9 mi awayMammoth Hot Springs RestroomsClean, accessible toilets with a family restroom.
Gas station · 3 mi awayMammoth Hot Springs Gas StationA practical fuel stop in Yellowstone’s Mammoth area.
Store · 3 mi awayMammoth Hot Springs General StoreAn 1895 Mammoth shop for ice cream and park supplies.
Sight · 3 mi awaySheepeater CliffWalk right up to a wall of six-sided basalt columns.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
