Parking
Use the third pullout about 1½ miles west of Madison Junction on West Entrance Road. Cross the road to the trail entrance; this is a roadside pullout rather than a separate developed lot.
Overview
About Harlequin Lake Trail
Why go
- A short, gentle walk to a quiet lake beneath Purple Mountain.
- Young lodgepole pines growing on 1988 fire ground make the approach distinctive.
Heads up
- The small lake is the main payoff; there is no summit or long route.
- Mosquitoes can be a nuisance around the wet shore in summer.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yellowstone map
Full mapElevation6,804–6,923 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
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
Harlequin Lake Trailhead0:00 / 0:23
“Up ahead is the Harlequin Lake trailhead, a good choice for a short, gentle forest walk. Allow thirty to sixty minutes for about a mile there and back through young lodgepole pines.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yellowstone Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- One More Molt After Flight
- Madison Information Station and Trailside Museum
- Firehole Falls and Canyon Swimming Area
- Purple Mountain Trailhead
- 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 Harlequin Lake Trail
A gentle lake walkHarlequin Lake Trail is a roughly 1-mile round trip from a West Entrance Road pullout to a…
Harlequin Lake Trail is a roughly 1-mile round trip from a West Entrance Road pullout to a small lake and back. The named dirt path is about half a mile each way, and the walk takes about 30–60 minutes. Park descriptions differ: one calls it a lollipop loop, while another says to return the same way. The mapped path ends at the lake, so this route follows the return-same-way directions and does not include the faint shoreline path.
Through young lodgepole pinesThe trail heads north across ground burned in 1988, where thin young lodgepole pines have grown…
The trail heads north across ground burned in 1988, where thin young lodgepole pines have grown back. It climbs a little, levels, turns west, then drops slightly toward the water. The surface is natural dirt and the grade stays gentle, so this is a short stroll rather than a strenuous climb.
Reeds, lily pads and Purple MountainHarlequin Lake is shallow, with reeds and lily pads along much of its edge and open water in…
Harlequin Lake is shallow, with reeds and lily pads along much of its edge and open water in the middle. Purple Mountain rises to the north. Yellow pond-lily flowers appear in summer; for a photo, put a few pads or reeds in the foreground with the hillside behind them.
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.
