Picnic area · Yellowstone National Park
A simple picnic stop with broad views across a giant 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
Sedge Bay Picnic Area“Sedge Bay Picnic Area is coming up, with three tables beside Yellowstone Lake's open shoreline. Choose this for a short picnic or a lakeside pause rather than a long visit.”
Plays as you drive up to Sedge Bay 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
Sedge Bay Picnic Area is a simple picnic stop on Yellowstone Lake near Fishing Bridge. It puts you beside a long, open stretch of shoreline, making it a useful pause for lunch or a breather on a park drive; it does not need a long visit. When the wind picks up, waves can run onto the shore and make the lake feel much bigger than a quick roadside stop.
There are three picnic tables, one vault toilet and parking immediately beside the site. No drinking-water source or food service was verified here, so bring what you need. Keep food, trash, coolers and cooking gear in a bear-proof container whenever they are not in immediate use. Overnight camping is not allowed at park picnic areas.
Yellowstone Lake is North America's largest lake above 7,000 feet, and its surface rarely exceeds 66°F even in late summer. The park estimates that a person in the water may survive only 20 to 30 minutes. Treat Sedge Bay as a place to sit beside the water, not a casual swimming spot.
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
ChallengingThorofare Trail33.1 mi · 16 hr · 1 mi awayA 33-mile one-way trek from lake shore into remote river country.
ModerateTurbid Lake Trail10.2 mi · 5 hr · 1 mi awayA long old road walk through forest to Turbid Lake.
ModeratePelican Valley Trail6.2 mi · 4 hr · 3.4 mi awayCross open meadows to a creekside overlook in prime grizzly country.
ChallengingPelican Cone Trail22.3 mi · 10 hr · 3.4 mi awayA long backcountry walk to a rare summit fire lookout.
EasyStorm Point Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.7 mi awayA short loop from Indian Pond to a wind-swept Yellowstone Lake point.
ChallengingMist Creek Trail14.3 mi · 12 hr · 3.9 mi awayBear country, a high pass, then a long descent to the Lamar.
EasyPelican Creek Nature Trail0.8 mi · 45 min · 4.9 mi awayA short forest loop opens onto Pelican Creek and 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.
