Bunsen Peak Loop is a 10 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming that features a lake and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from April until October.
Yellowstone closes trails annually to reduce encounters between bears and humans during certain times of the year. See here for bear closure info: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/bearclosures.htm Additionally, roads in Yellowstone are closed annually during winter. Before you head out, see Park road closures here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm Yellowstone National Park charges a fee to enter. Fees are $35 per vehicle or $30 per motorcycle. If you are entering on foot, horse, or bike the fee is $20 per person. You can also purchase a park specific annual pass for $70. This is a loop route going up and over Benson Peak and coming down the other side. The map shown here also includes a small hike down to Osprey Falls. If you are not interested in visiting Osprey Falls, take 2 miles off this route. This route does include a walk back on a park service road. If you are looking for just an out-and-back hike up Bunsen Peak, please search for "Bunsen Peak" on AllTrails.
The first half of the hike is great, but the last part on the service road isn't overly exciting though it's a nice, flatter break after coming up from Osprey Falls. Great views from the top of the peak and looking back at Mammoth Hot Springs. Very pretty waterfall, though the trail was steep and narrow at points. Saw a family of mountain goats across the canyon. Overall enjoyable hike.
Great hike. 2.1 miles up Bunsen Peak took 55 min and 50 min down. Then to Osprey Falls.... 29 min down and 37 min up. Beautiful views. Way back kind of sucks, it’s flat. But better then rehiking the mountain
Really easy to follow. Definitely suggest going up Bunsen first and then the flat on the way back after going down to the falls. Beware that the trailhead/trail that AllHikes brings you to is currently closed. Start at Bunsen peak
Amazing hike but at times in very steep and narrow, I would recommend hiking sticks
Falls were beautiful but most of trail is boring. Peak up and down was nice
Solid hike! Challenging but not too bad. Best views are halfway up in the golden meadows.
Access to trail head is very easy from the Mammoth area. First 2 mile is the ascent to Bunsen peak, this section is very scenic with constant but gradual switchbacks. This section is also the most crowded with many people doing the shorter out and back up to the peak. From the top there is spectacular panoramic views of the valley in almost all directions. From there we did the 2.3 miles off the back side of the peak down to the access to Osprey falls. We didn’t see another person on this section. Trail does have some sections with thick brush on either side but easily passable. Be forewarned this area is prime Grizzly habitat. Didn’t see any bears, but sure they were close by. You get down the back of Bunsen and come to a clearly marked 1.4 mile down and back trail to Osprey falls. This section is a very steep Canyon trail completely switchbacks. Osprey falls at the bottom is impressive and we only saw one other group. The last 3 miles of this hike is very plain through meadows around the mountain to the trail head.
Beautiful. Sign said waterfall branch was closed so only did 8 hours.
Awesome hike with great views from the peak. Osprey Falls is beautiful. The hike down and back is steep but worth the trip. The trail back to the parking lot from Osprey has little shade. We had a nice breeze but we could imagine that it could be hot with out it. Highly recommend it! (Not heavily trafficked)
Our family of five almost summited Bunsen peak when our three kids who were a bit ahead of us on the trail came upon a bear quite close to them. We turned right back around and retreated. Then we took the dirt road to the trailhead of Osprey Falls. We were delighted with the flowering meadows along the road portion of this trail with panoramic views. The last portion was more technical with narrow but passable trails to the absolutely spectacular waterfall. We ate wild raspberries along the switchback portion of the trail. We had the unusual pleasure of experiencing clear blue skies for three quarters of the hike and low 80 temps only to have a thunderstorm let loose with pelting hail. So be prepared for anything in terms of weather. This is perhaps one of the most rewarding waterfall treks in the park.
Took our 9 and 11 year old sons up Bunsen, down the backside, and on to Osprey. Nice view from Bunsen but the backside descent was sparsely hiked and less interesting. Heard a bear on that part but never saw it through all the down trees. Osprey falls was amazing- great lunch spot and we saw some mountain goats on the opposite cliffs. Would advise filling up water before the ascent as it can get quite hot in the canyon. Big downside was the dirt road for the last few miles. It made for a less interesting hike back.
Left at 6 am and arrived at summit of Bunsen Peak at 7 am. Had breakfast on summit. Descended other side of Peak and then down to Osprey Falls. Impressive! Enjoyed wild raspberries on the way down and up. Quite a climb out of the canyon, but worth it. Saw a few elk and some mountain goats on the way.
Superb hike, well worth the trip down to the falls. Definitely needed poles as there were parts of the trail going up that were snow and ice covered. Saw no one from the top to the falls and back.
I don’t know if I’d recommend the entire loop necessarily. The hike back from the falls is steep and then super boring. If you plan on doing it , id go up Bunsen first. It’s a nice moderate climb and the views along the way are pretty. The falls are really nice but I’m guessing there are better hikes in the park. It was still enjoyable in the end. We logged closer to 11 miles per our Garmin.
An excellent day hike! The views from the top of the peak and the spectacular waterfall made for a beautiful hike. We did Bunson peak first then went down to the falls. This meant that the last part of the hike was on an old gravel road; it was nice to have the easiest part last. Parts of the trail are pretty steep and sunny. Osprey falls is on a spur trail making this a good hike if you’re concerned about the full length, it’s easy to skip the falls.
My friend and I absolutely LOVED this hike even though it was 10 miles round trip and our legs were so sore by the end! We started off by hiking to Bunsen Peak. This hike had us climbing through forests and meadows with panoramic views all around! The wind was SO fresh and I never felt too hot during this hike even with the sun beating on us. I would rate this part of the hike as moderate as the switchbacks made the incline gradual for someone in decently good shape like myself. There were some scree sections so wear proper hiking boots. This part of the hike was moderately trafficked. Bunsen Peak itself was super stunning with pano views and a great spot to eat a snack! We then continued down the peak on the way to Osprey Falls since we wanted more of a challenge. This part of the hike was all steep downhill and lightly trafficked-we were the only people on the 4th of July. There were some scary blind spots hidden by vegetation when turning corners so make sure to make noise to not surprise wildlife. We then reached the Osprey Falls sign with ~1.2 miles to go. This part of the hike was very scenic and we descended down Sheepeater Canyon while hearing the rush of the water down below. Osprey Falls was absolutely GORGEOUS and very photogenic. Probably the biggest waterfall I've ever seen! We then had to retrace our steps out of Sheepeater canyon. I would rate this climb out of the canyon as strenuous. Overall worth the 10 miles and I'm so glad we did the whole loop!!!