An exit from the Grand Loop Road takes you a short way to a loop parking lot and access to the trailhead, as well as a restroom. The 4.8 mile (7.7 km) out-and-back mostly flat trail for hiking or biking begins as an old abandoned service road. The trail then follows the Firehole River providing some beautiful scenery nearly the entire way until reaching the short deviation away from the river to the geyser. Lone Star Geyser erupts approximately every 3 hours spewing water up 45 feet from its 12-foot cone. Information about when the eruptions occur can be obtained from the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, and sometimes the eruption times are posted on a sign at the trailhead.