Shoshone Geyser Basin
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Location
If you have the time and the legs for it, this hike is really a must-do for anyone who enjoys geysers. We did this ~18 mile hike in one long day. But if you have the time and inclination, stay in one of the backcountry campsites around the lake. There's a bit of a elevation going over Grant's Pass, but it's a negligible 300' of gradual slope. We left the parking lot at 08:00 and returned about 16:00 - and this included a good hour at the geyser basin, but we chose not to wait for Lone Star Geyser.
The Payoffs: This trail leads through two backcountry geyser basins: Lone Star and Shoshone. Remember all those folks at Old Faithful, staying on the boardwalks and sitting on the benches? Not only will they not be on this trail, neither will the boardwalks or benches. (But there are no signs either, so if you want to know what you're seeing, bring a guidebook. We took The Geysers of Yellowstone by T. Scott Bryan.) We had all of Shoshone to ourselves for over an hour. You can't miss Minuteman Geyser, it's the one going off every five minutes or so with play at ~20' high. And there's plenty of other features to make it worthwhile.
The Drudgery: Every trail has it -- the work you've gotta get through to see the good stuff. But this one does not have much of it. The worst of it, truth be told, is on the old paved road from the parking lot to Lone Star - but even that has the Firehole river running along it. The landscape you walk through is so varied, it never really gets boring: low, flat grasslands; gentle, volcanic slopes; stunningly beautiful stream valleys; and unworldly, hellish geyser basins.
I really can't say enough good things about this hike -- easily one of the best in my life.
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