There's Another Side Of Yellowstone National Park Most Visitors Never Experience

The Yellowstone National Park surely needs no introduction. This was the first ever national park in the whole wide world, and it reigns as the third most-visited national park in the United States, drawing close to 5 million people each year. One glance at Tripadvisor shows that its great natural wonders are, indeed, super popular. The dramatic Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the wildlife-rich Lamar Valley, and the legendary Old Faithful geyser have over 13,000 past-visitor reviews between them! But what if we said that there were still some corners of this iconic reserve that most travelers don't venture to?

They lie off the beaten track, neatly away from the most famous steam-spurting hot springs, bison spotting locations, and lookouts. They're a chance to skip the booming crowds that assemble at key landmarks, or wherever a bison deigns to make an appearance along one of the two main loop roads that weave through the reserve. Plus, they are pretty darn spectacular in their own right — think lesser-known geysers and hikes that take you through active volcanic regions, driving routes around areas rich in waterfalls, and under-the-radar zones that host wolves and wild elk.

Getting to Yellowstone is the same if you're coming for the untrodden areas or the big-name draws. You can jet into airports in Bozeman, Montana, or Wyoming's year-round adventure town of Jackson Hole. There are five entrances to the park, though the Northeast Entrance on the Beartooth Highway, the "most beautiful roadway in America," is considered the quietest of all, so aim for that if you're keen to steer away from the crowds from the get-go.

Those hunting for a quieter, hidden corner of the Yellowstone National Park could do a whole lot worse than the Belcher area. It's regularly named as one of the reserve's top secrets, not least of all by National Geographic, which waxed lyrical about its abundance of waterfalls and the remote hot spring known as Mr. Bubbles — a rare legal bathing pool on the side of a creek deep within the wilderness.

The 24-mile Bechler River Trail is one of the main routes through the area, and a true under-the-radar Yellowstone trail to boot. It crosses the very southwestern extremity of Yellowstone, and is typically done as a multi-day backpacking trip that involves some river fording along the way. As one past adventurer writes on the hike tracking platform AllTrails: "This is a quintessential Yellowstone hike." You'll get views of the Tetons looming in the distance and cross beautiful open meadows, all in one of the least crowded parts of the park.

The catch with Belcher? There are two. First off, the bugs here are downright terrible in the peak of the summer; perhaps even some of the worst in the U.S. Second, it's tricky to get to. Visitors wanting to explore this off-radar part of the park will need to swap the paved tourist loop roads for a rough gravel forest road out of Ashton, Idaho, and then hit the trails to get to the major sights and attractions hidden within.

If there's one feature of the Yellowstone National Park that really makes it stand out, it's surely the geysers — they say that more than half of the world's active geysers reside within its boundaries! And, while the likes of Old Faithful draw mobs of photo-snapping visitors to boardwalks and viewing decks every season, there are still plenty of geysers here that aren't so busy.

For example, you could escape the crowds by taking the awe-inspiring trail to Lone Star Geyser. It might sit in one of the park's more distant and unseen geothermal sectors, but it's also not that hard to access: The path that takes you there is an easy-rated 5-miler that skirts the Firehole River after leaving behind the trailhead on the Grand Loop Road. You will need to time your visit right, though, since Lone Star only erupts every three hours.

If you're more of a peak bagger than a geyser hunter, but still want to see the less-trodden side of Yellowstone, then it might be wise to steer clear of Yellowstone's most popular summit, soaring Mount Washburn. The same panoramic views of the Rockies await at the top of Avalanche Peak. It's a famously thigh-busting hike, involving over 2,000 feet of elevation gain in just 5 miles, but it gets just a fraction of the hiking traffic of its compadre, so you might find yourself surveying the mountains in true solitude.