Bechler Meadows Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features River/Creek · Views · Waterfall · Wildflowers

This 3.7 mile relatively flat trail begins at a trail junction with the Boundary Creek Trail about 1.6 miles from the Bechler Ranger Station and ends at a junction with the Bechler Meadows Cutoff Trail a 1/2 mile from the Bechler Ford.

The first 1.8 miles of the trail travels through forests to a trail junction with the Rocky Ford Cutoff Trail (on the right). The trails continues straight another .4 miles to a crossing of knee-deep Boundary Creek then enters big beautiful Bechler Meadows. As you continue into the meadow, views to the south of the Tetons become impressive. Also impressive are the wildflowers, including one-to-two-foot tall purple lupine, two-foot stocks of pinkish elephanthead, and three-foot tall, purple stalks of larkspur.

Near the end of the trail as you head into big open meadows, look for impressive Ouzel Falls across the meadow to the north. This 230-foot behemoth tumbles off the southern end of the Madison Plateau and drops to join the Bechler River. This big falls was named after a little bird, the Water Ouzel or American Dipper, that frequents fast-moving water in search of aquatic insects, crustaceans, and tiny fish fry.

The trail concludes at its junction with the Bechler Meadows Cutoff Trail. To the right lies Bechler Ford and the entrance to Bechler Canyon. To the left, the cutoff trail leads to the Boundary Creek Trail and beautiful Dunanda Falls.

Thanks to guidebook author, Tom Carter, for sharing this trail description. To learn more about visiting Yellowstone, check out his book, Day Hiking Yellowstone.

Bechler Meadows has an impressive display of wildflowers, including one-to-two-foot purple lupine (distant relative of the Texas bluebonnet), elephanthead (growing in two-foot stocks covered with delicate pinkish-purple flowers, each of which remarkably resembles the head, ears and trunk of an elephant), and three-foot tall (and higher) purple stalks of larkspur.