Parking
Use the Divide Trailhead pullout on Grand Loop Road; it serves both Divide and Spring Creek and has an information kiosk.
Overview
About Divide Trail
Why go
- A short spur opens a rare view toward Shoshone Lake
- A former fire lookout gives the wooded walk a clear destination
Heads up
- Most of the route stays in dense forest
- The lake-view spur is unmarked and easy to miss
The Divide Trail is a 3.4-mile out-and-back from Divide Trailhead to the wooded site of a former fire lookout. It climbs through older lodgepole pine and fir, crossing the Continental Divide. The payoff is one brief view of Shoshone Lake and a bit of fire-tower history, not a string of overlooks. The steady climb gains about 700 feet; allow roughly two to two and a half hours. Choose another walk if you want big views throughout.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yellowstone map
Full mapElevation8,071–8,786 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
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 area
Trout Across the Continental Divide0:00 / 0:31
“Yellowstone Lake's native cutthroat trout likely arrived by swimming across the Continental Divide. South of the park, at Two Ocean Pass, a broad meadow separates streams flowing toward different oceans.”
Plays on the road 0.3 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Isa Lake and Craig Pass
- The Roots Behind the Red
- DeLacy Creek and Shoshone Lake
- When Trees Grew on Old Faithful
- 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.”
Trail guide
Hiking Divide Trail
Stay on DivideAt about 0.3 mile, keep straight where Spring Creek branches off.
At about 0.3 mile, keep straight where Spring Creek branches off. The rough tread climbs over ground obsidian through dense forest. A subtle, unmarked left spur just beyond 1.3 miles reaches the route’s only reported open view, down to Shoshone Lake. Return to the main trail and continue about a quarter mile to the former lookout site, then retrace your steps. The narrow lake opening is the best place to pause for a photo; there’s no panorama at the endpoint.
What stood hereYellowstone’s 68-foot Divide lookout was built in 1958 and dismantled in 1991 as the park…
Yellowstone’s 68-foot Divide lookout was built in 1958 and dismantled in 1991 as the park shifted toward aerial fire detection. The tower is gone, and trees now enclose its former site. That history gives the final stretch a purpose, though the wooded turnaround itself is quiet and plain.
Access and precautionsStart at the joint Divide–Spring Creek Trailhead pullout on Grand Loop Road.
Start at the joint Divide–Spring Creek Trailhead pullout on Grand Loop Road. The climbing is steady rather than technical, but the unmarked lake-view spur can be easy to miss in dense trees. Pets aren’t allowed. Yellowstone’s trailhead guidance asks hikers to travel in groups of three or more, carry a map, stay together, and finish before dark.
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.
