The Tower-Roosevelt stop in Yellowstone isn’t a major stop, but there are definitely a few attractions here that we love that you should know about.
The naming of this stop comes from the towering waterfall located here, as well as the fact that Teddy Roosevelt once camped near here.
Tower-Roosevelt is in the Northeast portion of Yellowstone. It’s about 25-35 minutes away from Mammoth, Canyon Village and the Northeast Entrance to the park.
The highlight of this stop is the beautiful tall and narrow waterfall. It’s only a short walk from the nearby general store.
This is a must, primarily because of Tower Fall, but also because of the ice cream! Yellowstone is known for bad food, but it has great ice cream that comes from Montana.
The store also has other treats, shirts, and memorabilia.
We always stop here when driving through because this is really the only place with food or services in the northwestern part of the park.
One of the many gas stations in Yellowstone is located here at Tower. You’re never really far from services in Yellowstone.
The Roosevelt Lodge is smaller than the other lodges in the park and has a log cabin feel to it. It serves lunch and dinner.
It doesn’t take reservations, so grab a rocking chair and wait for your name to be called.
Though Yellowstone has a bad reputation for food, we really enjoyed our lunch at the lodge.
Smaller and more affordable cabins are located nearby for lodging.
The Roosevelt Lodge cabins were built as a cheaper alternative to the early fancy hotels.
The Tower Fall Campground is located nearby with about 30 campsites. This is normally reservable through recreation.gov.
The Old West Cookout was one of our all-time favorite activities in Yellowstone! It is put on by Xanterra, the concessionaire for Yellowstone.
They take you back into a valley and feed you a steak dinner with cowboy songs. What’s not to like about that?
There are two ways of getting there: stagecoach ride or horseback ride. We did the stagecoach ride and loved it.
Besides horseback rides to the cookout, they also offer horseback rides WITHOUT the cookout.
Xanterra offers horseback rides out of Roosevelt and Canyon Village. I did a horseback ride, but I did it at Canyon Village. There were multiple employees along for the ride to make sure everyone was safe. Riding through Yellowstone is absolutely beautiful.
This is one of the few places I haven’t visited as an adult. This site was popular among early tourists but not so much today.
This is a dirt road that allows you to get off the Grand Loop Road for a bit. I’m honestly not sure why this road is even here, but I think most people take it hoping to see wildlife.
I’ve driven it a few times and have never seen any wildlife. I looked up reviews of it online and most people said they didn’t see wildlife. So take that for what it’s worth.
Tower-Roosevelt is the jumping-off point for Lamar Valley, where people go in hopes of seeing wildlife, including wolves, bison, bears, and elk.
To the south of Tower-Roosevelt is Mount Washburn, named after an early explorer. It’s a very nice drive over the mountain, and it’s also possible to stop and do a six-mile hike to the top.
There are so many things to do at Yellowstone — and it is so big and spread out — planning a trip can be challenging. If you don’t have a game plan, you will drive around and wonder — should we turn in here, or keep going?
We’ve created an itinerary to help you plan your trip. It gives you a game plan to get the most out of Yellowstone. It’s simple and it’s based on the years of experience we have visiting the park.
We’ll help you. Check out our Yellowstone Itinerary and then relax, because you’ve got this!
We’re Matt and Cheryl, and we’re in the Rockies. :) We are both teachers. Cheryl teaches special ed, and Matt teaches American history. We love the American West and the national parks. We want to help you have a great vacation on your next trip to the Rockies.
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