Red Rock Point

Red Rock Point is a canyon overlook at the end of Red Rock Points Trail, looking toward the Yellowstone River and the 308-foot Lower Falls. It gives you a close view of the waterfall and its colored canyon walls, but getting there means dropping below the rim and climbing the same steep route back. Go for that closer angle if you are comfortable with a strenuous short hike; for an easier rim-level stop, stay at Lookout Point.

Start from the North Rim Drive parking area east of the Brink of Lower Falls trailhead. The return is about 0.7 mile, and drops roughly 250 feet; you regain that elevation on the return. Switchbacks lead to wooden stairs and boardwalk near the bottom; the uphill return is the hard half. Wear shoes with grip and carry water. Red Rock Point is reached by steep trail stairs; the paved sidewalk between Lookout Point and Grand View parking areas is the rim-level route that meets wheelchair accessibility standards.

From the platform, keep some canyon wall and river in the frame to show the falls' scale. The lower angle feels close, though some visitors find the view partly screened and prefer Artist Point for a broader falls-and-canyon composition. A rainbow can cross the spray when the light catches it, but the view changes with conditions.

The canyon's oldest known form dates to about 160,000 to 140,000 years ago. Hydrothermal activity altered and weakened rhyolite; the Yellowstone River then cut into that rock and continues to deepen and widen the canyon. The yellow, red and pink bands come from altered rhyolite and sediment. Lower Falls drops over more erosion-resistant volcanic rock, which may help explain why it remains here.

The canyon pinnacles around Canyon Village hold six to ten occupied osprey nests in a typical year. Adults arrive from mid-April to early May, and families usually leave by September. They fish the river, but a sighting at Red Rock Point is never guaranteed.