Parking
Use Glen Creek Trailhead (1K3), just south of Rustic Falls on the Mammoth–Norris Road. The trail starts on the west side of the road after a short crossing at Glen Creek; the Bunsen Peak parking area is a short walk away.
Overview
About Glen Creek Trail
Why go
- Open valley views toward Electric Peak
- Follows Glen Creek into a ravine
Heads up
- The far junction has no road access; day hikers return the same way
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yellowstone map
Full mapElevation7,290–8,107 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 trailhead
Bunsen Peak Trailhead0:00 / 0:26
“You're nearing the Bunsen Peak trailhead, a good choice if you want a summit hike with views over Swan Lake Flats and the Gallatin Mountains.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Terraces Tumbled Down the Mountain
- Built to Sweep the Snow
- Mammoth Upper Terraces and Orange Spring Mound
- Sheepeater Cliff
- 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 Glen Creek Trail
A full day beside Glen CreekGlen Creek Trail follows the creek from Glen Creek Trailhead to the backcountry junction with…
Glen Creek Trail follows the creek from Glen Creek Trailhead to the backcountry junction with Sportsman Lake and the Electric Peak–Southeast Ridge trails. The mapped corridor is about 5.9 miles one way; there’s no road at the far end, so a day hike means turning around for 11.9 miles round trip. Allow about 6–8 hours. It’s a long outing with roughly 900 feet of climbing on the way out, not a quick stroll to the creek.
Open flats, then the climbThe path starts just west of the Mammoth–Norris road, south of Rustic Falls, and crosses the…
The path starts just west of the Mammoth–Norris road, south of Rustic Falls, and crosses the open sagebrush of Swan Lake Flats with Electric Peak ahead. Several routes branch off: Howard Eaton, Fawn Pass, Snow Pass and Sepulcher Mountain; the Cache Lake spur appears around mile 5.2. Stay on the main creek route to its end. After Snow Pass, Glen Creek enters a ravine and the trail climbs about 700 feet over roughly four miles. The broad flats give the clearest view toward Electric Peak; include some of the creek or trail in a photo to show the scale.
A road before the roadThe lower valley route once carried wagons between Mammoth and Norris over Snow Pass.
The lower valley route once carried wagons between Mammoth and Norris over Snow Pass. That changed when the current road through Golden Gate was built in the 1880s.
Bear country and accessStart at Glen Creek Trailhead (1K3) on the west side of the Mammoth–Norris road, just south of…
Start at Glen Creek Trailhead (1K3) on the west side of the Mammoth–Norris road, just south of Rustic Falls. Grizzly bears frequent this area. Part of the route runs through a bear-management area where off-trail travel is prohibited from May 1 through November 10. Pets aren’t allowed on Yellowstone hiking trails; trained service animals are.
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.
