Best time to go
The South Entrance Road is generally closed to regular vehicles in winter, so this is a seasonal roadside stop. Check the park road status before planning the southern drive.
Overview
About Lewis Falls
Why stop
- A short uphill path brings you closer to the falls.
Heads up
- Modest beside Yellowstone’s headline waterfalls.
Map
Where it is
Loading the Yellowstone map
Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
Best time to go
5 active Yellowstone alerts
- ClosureBiscuit Basin closed after hydrothermal explosionBiscuit Basin’s parking lot, boardwalk, and Firehole River are closed to all travel.Official details
- ClosureMost Yellowstone roads close to regular vehicles November 1Most Yellowstone roads and the West, South, and East entrances are scheduled to close to regular vehicles November 1, 2026, as the park prepares for winter operations.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yellowstone Tour Guide
Hear Yellowstone as you drive it.
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
Lewis Falls0:00 / 0:17
“You're approaching Lewis Falls, a broad, thirty-foot cascade beside the South Entrance Road. It's a good quick pause if you're already passing, rather than a waterfall to plan your day around.”
Plays as you drive up to Lewis Falls in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Beak for Opening Cones
- Lewis Lake Picnic Area
- A Coat Set by Daylight
- The Trout People Put Here
- 243 audio storiesacross Yellowstone’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Bison, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 167 trails, 192 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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
More about Lewis Falls
A quick stop on the southern roadLewis Falls is a broad waterfall on the Lewis River, just south of Lewis Lake along the South…
Lewis Falls is a broad waterfall on the Lewis River, just south of Lewis Lake along the South Entrance Road. Its roughly 30-foot drop makes a compact stop, not a Yellowstone-scale plunge. It is worth a pause while you are already driving the southern corridor; if you are choosing between this and one of the park’s larger waterfalls, save the extra time for the bigger falls.
Bridge view and closer pathYou can see the falls from the road near the Lewis River bridge.
You can see the falls from the road near the Lewis River bridge. A short uphill path brings you closer to the wide cascade, where white water spills over a low rocky ledge into a river pool beneath conifers.
For brighter photosMorning light reaches the falls more directly; later in the day, part or all of the cascade can…
Morning light reaches the falls more directly; later in the day, part or all of the cascade can be in shade. The bridge gives you more of the river in the frame, while the short uphill path brings the falling water forward.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Yellowstone
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.
