Forget Yellowstone National Park, Visit This Nearby Natural Wonder With Unmatched Lake Views

It might seem counterintuitive to bypass Yellowstone National Park, especially when you might spot river otters, pine martens, and other adorable animals within the epic natural wilderness. However, while Yellowstone has a lot of sights, it also gets a lot of visitors, amassing almost five million each year. While everyone else is heading to the same place, you could be soaking up equally beautiful nature at the nearby Earthquake Lake, a truly outstanding creation that's all Mother Nature without the crowds.

Did you know Yellowstone sits on top of an active supervolcano? Yep, it's just one of many bizarre facts you probably didn't know about Yellowstone National Park. But while a volcanic eruption is always a possibility, it's actually earthquakes that cause the most disruption here. The biggest of these to date took place in August 1959, when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake through the Madison Canyon River created a natural rock dam that formed what's now Earthquake Lake. The quake was a natural disaster, killing almost 30 people and destroying a lot of infrastructure. But it also left the region with one of its most beautiful natural wonders, which you can drive to in around 30 minutes from West Yellowstone.

Earthquake Lake is a beautiful sight with its surrounding mountains and placid water. The grassy shoreline is dotted with trees, and you can still see trees that existed before the earthquake sticking out of the water. It stretches about 5 miles long and has a maximum depth of 120 feet. It also creates a prosperous underwater world for fish with its submerged trees. Many keen anglers visit in hopes of reeling in rainbow and brown trout, which can grow as long as 20 inches. People often fly fish from the shore or drift through the trees in small boats.

If you're visiting during peak season (between May and September), you can learn more about the lake's origin and geological formation at the Earthquake Lake Visitor Center. Not only is it built on top of rocks that fell during the 1959 earthquake, but it also houses numerous exhibits that teach you about earthquakes and their geological impacts. You can see how a seismograph records an earthquake's seismic waves, learn how plate tectonics cause earthquakes, and watch a movie about the earthquake that formed the lake. "[It's] so beautiful, but what a sad story. [And] there's lots of information here," one person wrote in a Google review.

Earthquake Lake is never short on natural beauty. Even the drive here is a feast for the eyes with views of Hebgen Lake and Madison River. Once you're at the visitor center, you can admire sweeping vistas of Earthquake Lake that extend up to Sheep Mountain, where almost 80 million tons of rock fell during the earthquake. From the center, you can walk along short paths to different viewpoints where you can capture those iconic shots of the lake and its skeletal half-submerged trees. One of the walks takes you to a boulder that's also a memorial for the 28 campers who were crushed by the landslide that night.

You can drive to Earthquake Lake in 30 minutes from Yellowstone Airport, which has flights from Salt Lake City and rental cars. Beaver Creek Campground offers numerous family-friendly campsites next to the lake. It's open between May and September and costs $26 a night at the time of writing. These are non-powered sites, so bring your own power source. If camping is too rough, you could also stay about 100 miles north in Bozeman, Montana's best college town.