Picnic area · Yellowstone National Park
A quieter riverside lunch stop near Norris Basin
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 area
Museum of the National Park Ranger“The Museum of the National Park Ranger is coming up by the Norris Campground entrance. If you're curious about the people who look after the park, give this small log museum about half an hour.”
Plays on the road 0.6 mi from Norris Meadows Picnic Area 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
Norris Meadows is a small picnic area beside the Gibbon River, tucked among lodgepole pines on the road between Norris and Canyon. It’s a handy place to stop for lunch before or after Norris Geyser Basin; I’d use it for a slower break, not as a destination on its own.
The picnic area sits back from the main road on a short side road, so watch for the entrance along the Norris-to-Canyon drive. Keep food, trash, coolers, and cooking gear in bear-proof storage when you’re not using them. Picnic areas aren’t for overnight camping.
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
ModerateSolfatara Creek Trail6.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 0.5 mi awayA long thermal creek walk through forest, meadows, and hot springs
EasyPorcelain Basin Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.8 mi awayLoop past steaming geysers and vivid runoff in a pale basin.
EasyBack Basin Trail1.5 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.8 mi awayA wooded thermal loop with geysers scattered through the pines.
EasyIce Lake Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.9 mi awayA short forest walk to the western edge of Ice Lake.
EasyWolf Lake Trail2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.3 mi awayA short waterfall walk through Yellowstone's forest and wet meadows.
EasyArtists Paintpots Trail1 mi · 45 min · 3.5 mi awayA short loop past bubbling mud and a steep climb.
ModerateMonument Geyser Basin Trail2.4 mi · 2 hr · 4.3 mi awayA steep climb from the Gibbon River to a pale thermal basin.
Campground · 0.5 mi awayNorris CampgroundA central campground beside Yellowstone’s Gibbon River meadow.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayMuseum of the National Park RangerA small log museum traces Yellowstone's ranger profession.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayPorcelain Basin OverlookA short boardwalk reveals changing colors across a thermal basin.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayNorris Geyser Basin Museum and Information StationA 1930 stone and log museum opens onto Norris’s geothermal story.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayEmerald SpringSulfur yellow and reflected blue light make this hot spring emerald.
Sight · 0.9 mi awaySteamboat GeyserThe world’s tallest active geyser—and you can’t plan its eruptions.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayEchinus GeyserA 66-foot acidic geyser with sea-urchin spines around a red rim.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayMinute GeyserA low spout and a cautionary story about visitor damage.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
