Picnic area · Yellowstone National Park
A simple lakeside pause with four tables and a vault toilet.
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
The Lake’s Twice-Yearly Mixing“Yellowstone Lake usually gets a thorough mixing twice a year. In summer, warmer surface water floats above colder, denser water below. That difference in density makes it harder for wind to mix the layers together.”
Plays on the road 0.3 mi from Steamboat Point 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
Steamboat Point Picnic Area is a small developed picnic site on Yellowstone Lake along Grand Loop Road. Four picnic tables sit among trees above the water, with forested hills across the lake. It makes a practical meal break while driving around the lake; it is not an overnight campsite. The site has one vault toilet. It is listed as wheelchair accessible, though the specific surfaces or facilities covered by that designation are not described.
There is no documented food service or potable water at the site, so bring a meal and drinking water. Yellowstone picnic-area rules prohibit overnight camping and require food, trash, coolers and cooking tools to be kept in bear-proof storage whenever they are not in immediate use. Park roads and services vary by season, so check current road conditions before setting out.
The main basin of Yellowstone Lake lies within the Yellowstone Caldera, formed about 640,000 years ago. Later uplift along faults and glacial carving shaped the lake's arms. Yellowstone Lake covers 131.7 square miles and has 141 miles of shoreline; above 7,000 feet, it is North America's largest lake.
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 · 2.1 mi awayA 33-mile one-way trek from lake shore into remote river country.
ModerateTurbid Lake Trail10.2 mi · 5 hr · 2.1 mi awayA long old road walk through forest to Turbid Lake.
ModeratePelican Valley Trail6.2 mi · 4 hr · 2.2 mi awayCross open meadows to a creekside overlook in prime grizzly country.
ChallengingPelican Cone Trail22.3 mi · 10 hr · 2.2 mi awayA long backcountry walk to a rare summit fire lookout.
EasyStorm Point Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA short loop from Indian Pond to a wind-swept Yellowstone Lake point.
ChallengingMist Creek Trail14.3 mi · 12 hr · 3.4 mi awayBear country, a high pass, then a long descent to the Lamar.
EasyPelican Creek Nature Trail0.8 mi · 45 min · 3.7 mi awayA short forest loop opens onto Pelican Creek and Yellowstone Lake.
ModerateHoward Eaton Trail: Fishing Bridge to Canyon13.5 mi · 7 hr · 4.5 mi awayA long river-side traverse opens into Hayden Valley meadows.
Picnic area · 1.3 mi awaySedge Bay Picnic AreaA simple picnic stop with broad views across a giant lake.
Sight · 1.9 mi awayLake Butte OverlookA short, steep spur opens a huge Yellowstone Lake panorama.
Campground · 4.2 mi awayFishing Bridge RV ParkYellowstone’s only full-hookup campground; tents aren’t allowed.
Store · 4.5 mi awayFishing Bridge General StoreGroceries, ice cream and a grill make this a useful park stop.
Gas station · 4.5 mi awayFishing Bridge Gas and Service StationA handy stop for fuel, repairs, towing and propane.
Visitor center · 4.5 mi awayFishing Bridge Visitor Center and Trailside MuseumStep into a bird museum with Yellowstone Lake just beyond the windows.
Sight · 4.8 mi awayFishing BridgeA quick fish-watching stop at a bridge closed to fishing.Parkwolf’s Yellowstone ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
