Best Things To Do In Gardiner, MT, During Summer

yellowstone

Jun 29

Written By Kelly W

If you’re visiting Yellowstone during summer, Gardiner is one of the best places to stay. Not just because it sits at Yellowstone’s North Entrance, but because the Yellowstone experience starts immediately here. Gardiner itself is surrounded by mountains, public land, wildlife habitat, and the Yellowstone River. Elk regularly walk through town. Mule deer sleep in yards. You can be drinking coffee while watching cars pass through the Roosevelt Arch.

Then, once you enter the park, you are immediately in open terrain with wildlife pullouts, river valleys, mountain views, and access to Mammoth Hot Springs and the Northern Range. Most people come to Gardiner to spend time in Yellowstone, but the town itself becomes part of the trip very quickly.

Here are the best things to do during summer in Gardiner!

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👋 Meet Your Guides: We're Jonathan and Kelly, and we love Yellowstone National Park. So much so that we've been a dozen+ times, bought fixer-upper cabins outside Yellowstone’s North Entrance, and are turning an old park ranger hut into year-round Christmas magic. Now, we’re on a mission to make Yellowstone simpler and more magical for everyone who visits!

📚 Want our best Yellowstone tips in one place? Check out our Yellowstone Travel Guide, packed with maps, itineraries, and everything you need to explore year-round.

🏡 Visiting Yellowstone’s North Entrance? Explore the Cozy Yellowstone Compound in Gardiner, our small collection of cabins near Yellowstone’s only year-round entrance.

1. Wildlife Watching

One of the things that makes Gardiner so unique is that wildlife does not stop at the park boundary. It is extremely common to see elk walking through town, crossing the road, standing in parking lots, or sleeping in the grass next to sidewalks. Sometimes traffic in Gardiner literally stops because elk decide they are using the street.

Then, once you drive through the North Entrance, wildlife viewing continues in bigger and bigger ways. The drive between Gardiner and Lamar Valley is one of the most active wildlife corridors in the park.

In fact, it’s common to see:

elk
bison
pronghorn
deer

before you even reach Mammoth.

As you continue east toward Tower-Roosevelt and Lamar Valley, the better your chances become for spotting more wildlife, including black bears, grizzlies, foxes, wolves, and bighorn sheep.

Summer mornings and evenings are especially good for wildlife watching, which is one reason staying in Gardiner works so well. You can get into the park early without spending an extra hour driving just to reach the wildlife areas.

Read Next: 12 Best Places for Wildlife Viewing in Yellowstone

2. Walk through Roosevelt Arch

One of our favorite simple things to do in Gardiner is spend time near the Roosevelt Arch itself.

The area around the North Entrance gate and Yellowstone Forever has some of the best immediate views in town. There are rocking chairs overlooking the Roosevelt Arch, mountains, and entrance road, and it’s a great place to sit for a while and watch Yellowstone wake up in the morning or slow down in the evening.

Grab coffee or breakfast from Bear’s Brew or Yellowstone Perk, and enjoy the view! There’s a good chance you will see wildlife nearby while you are sitting there, especially elk moving through the area.

Read Next: Yellowstone’s North Entrance: What To Know Before You Go

3. Whitewater Rafting

Whitewater rafting is one of the best summer activities in Gardiner. The Yellowstone River runs directly through town, and rafting is a huge part of summer life here. On warm afternoons, you will see rafts floating along the river regularly.

We went rafting one summer with Jon’s parents and had an absolute blast. It is one of the best ways to cool off after long days hiking or wildlife watching in Yellowstone.

There are several rafting outfitters in Gardiner, including Flying Pig Adventure Company, which we had a great experience with. Some outfitters also offer overnight rafting trips.

If you visit during a hot stretch in July or August, rafting should absolutely be on your list.

Read Next: Swimming in Yellowstone: 7 Places for Soaking, Boating, and Water Sports

4. Soak at Yellowstone Hot Springs

One of the best things to do after a long Yellowstone day is spend an evening at the hot springs. Yellowstone Hot Springs is located just outside Gardiner and is one of our favorite places anywhere near Yellowstone to relax after hiking, driving, or long wildlife days.

The setting is beautiful! Outdoor pools, mountains all around you, string lights overhead, and very comfortable soaking temperatures. Our favorite way to do it is to move between the warm pool, the hot pool, and the cold plunge. Once you spend a minute or two in the cold water and go back into the hot pool, it feels incredible. It’s especially relaxing after long hiking days or nonstop Yellowstone itineraries.

If you want a larger resort-style hot springs day trip, Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa in Paradise Valley is also worth considering.

5. Horseback Riding

Horseback riding is heavily tied into the North Entrance experience. There are several horseback riding outfitters around Gardiner, plus horseback rides inside Yellowstone near Roosevelt Lodge.

One of the most unique experiences is the Old West Dinner Cookout, which combines either a horseback ride or wagon ride with dinner in the Yellowstone backcountry. From Gardiner, Roosevelt Lodge is about a 45-minute to one-hour drive depending on traffic and wildlife stops.

6. Drive the Northern Range

This is one of the most scenic stretches in Yellowstone and one of the best drives in the entire park!

The Northern Range is the stretch of road between Gardiner, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt, Lamar Valley, and Cooke City, and it stays open year-round. You’re constantly surrounded by mountain views, valleys, wildlife habitat, pullouts, and big scenery.

This is one of the reasons the North Entrance feels so different from other areas of Yellowstone. You spend less time boxed in by forest and more time looking across open landscapes.

Read Next: What is Yellowstone’s Northern Range? How to Plan a Self-Guided Tour

7. Explore Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is only about 15 minutes from Gardiner, which completely changes how easy it is to visit. Instead of trying to squeeze Mammoth into a larger driving loop, visitors staying in Gardiner can stop there casually in the morning, for a lunch break, after dinner (sunset is my absolute favorite time of day to walk the boardwalks), on the way back from Lamar Valley, or even before heading further into the park for the day.

Mammoth is also one of the best places in the park to combine geothermal features, wildlife, food, restrooms, and visitor services in one stop.

Read Next: The 10 Best Things To Do in Yellowstone Year-Round

8. Fishing

Fishing is another major part of summer life around Gardiner. The Yellowstone River, Paradise Valley, and surrounding public lands all create excellent fishing access around the North Entrance. There are fishing outfitters and guided trips available in town.

9. Hiking

One of the biggest advantages of staying near Yellowstone’s North Entrance is the hiking access. Inside the park, we love Bunsen Peak just past Mammoth Hot Springs, and outside the park, there are tons of trails in the Gallatin National Forest and Paradise Valley.

For a full breakdown of our favorite hikes near Gardiner, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Northern Range, check out our guide to the best hikes near Yellowstone’s North Entrance.

10. Dining

Summer is peak season in Gardiner, and this is when the town is most active. After spending the day in Yellowstone, it’s nice to be able to walk around, grab dinner, get a scoop of huckleberry ice cream, or enjoy the mountain views without immediately having to get back in the car.

Some of our favorite spots in town include:

Wonderland Cafe (a great sit-down option)
The Corral (the best burgers and fries!)
Tumbleweed Cafe (our favorite lunch sandwiches)
Bear’s Brew (our coffee & breakfast go-to)

For huckleberry ice cream, check out:

Yellowstone Gifts & Sweets
Yellowstone Perk

Huckleberry is a regional flavor throughout Montana and Yellowstone, and is definitely worth trying while you are here. Here’s a list of our favorite places to eat in Gardiner, MT.

11. Yellowstone National Park

Of course, Yellowstone is the best thing to do in Gardiner during summer and one of the biggest advantages of staying in town.

While you can reach anywhere in Yellowstone from the North Entrance (so long as you’re up for a few long drives), Gardiner works especially well as a base for:

wildlife watching
Northern Range driving
summer road trips through Paradise Valley and onward to Glacier National Park
mountain scenery
recreation

Most visitors spend their days inside Yellowstone, then return to Gardiner for dining, soaking, rafting, or quieter wildlife watching.

Read Next: Driving Times From Yellowstone’s North Entrance