1st Backpacking trip of the Season! The Yellowstone River Trail

So I finally went on my first backpacking trip here in Yellowstone! We headed out Wednesday morning for the Hellroaring Creek Trail in the Northwest area of the park. We started out around 11am and hiked the Hellroaring Creek Trail to the Yellowstone River Trail to our campsite (~12.5 miles). We had to add about a mile on to our trip to hike up to a suspension bridge to get across the Hellroaring Creek. The water levels are so high right now; all the rivers are raging and bursting at the seams!

Hellroaring Suspension Bridge

The first part of the trail was pretty wide open. We had a bison detour at one point; he decided to sit right on the trail. We also saw a herd of elk in one of the fields.

Bison on the Trail

Elk Herd

 

The trail finally came to a forested area which had a lot of beautiful wildflowers, but also had a lot of flooded creeks. We had to take our shoes off and ford a few of them. The water was absolutely freezing! Frostbite would surely set in quickly if you decided to take a dip! Somehow we missed the sign for our campsite and a thunderstorm was rolling in, so we ended up just camping at a different one, hoping no one else would come. The river water was so high at this site though, that our food pole was above the river! So we had to find a sturdy branch and make our own.

 

The next morning we woke up early to finish the 10 miles or so we had left in the hike. The first half of the hike was still in a forested area. We saw recent tracks from a wolf pack along the very beginning of the trail, which was kind of scary given the amount of skeletons/carcasses we had seen along the trail.








 We hiked past Crevice Lake, which had some ducks with babies, and we had to cross a few more raging creeks. We had a great view of Knowles Falls on the Yellowstone River, which was at its peak due to the high water levels.

Crevice Lake

Overflowing Creek

The Yellowstone River

Knowles Falls

Shortly after the falls, the river flowed into a canyon area with high cliffs on either side. The rapids in the river here were crazy. The trail then opened up again to a more desert like terrain, with cactuses and very dry ground. We saw some kind of snake here on the trail.

 

The last part of the trail was really steep, which was agonizingly painful after you’ve already hiked so far. But in the end we made it up the last stretch of the trail!

 

Last Stretch of the Trail!

 

Made it!

And when we got back, a nice surprise; The Lake is finally thawed!!

Snowshoeing Avalanche Peak

Friday, me and a few other people from the Lake area snowshoed up to Avalanche Peak. The Peak is 10,556 feet. The hike itself though only climbs about 2-3000 feet, since we are already up so high out here! Hiking at this altitude is much more difficult than at sea level; I couldn't seem to catch my breath, and it felt like my muscles could never get enough oxygen! The hike was really beautiful though. We started in the trees, and then the hike opened up into a big bowl in the middle of Avalanche and Hoyt Peaks. From there, we ascended up to Avalanche Peak. The hike was really steep here and you could see where there had been several previous avalanches. Two of the hikers we were with decided to turn back after we heard a “boom” in the distance; A huge avalanche dropped on an adjacent mountain across the road! Me and the two other guys decided to keep going. Once we made it up to the peak, the ridge was actually quite flat and fine for hiking on. The views were phenomenal! You could see the entire Lake Yellowstone and the Tetons in the backdrop. I'd say my first snowshoeing experience was a success!

Made it up out of the woods

Made it to the Ridge

Yellowstone Lake

 Taking in the Views!

The Tetons in the Backdrop

Starting our way across the Ridge

Is it safe down there?

Hoyt Peak

West Thumb, Midway and Norris Geyser Basins

Another fun filled week here in Yellowstone. Monday I went to the West Thumb area which has a bunch of thermal features right along the lake:

Geyser right in Lake Yellowstone

Thermal Pool right by the lake

Wednesday I went with a few people and checked out the Midway geyser, which has the Grand Prismatic Spring. The spring itself was covered in fog, but the colors around it were beautiful.

Close up of the colors of the Grand Prismatic

Grand Prismatic Colors

Next we stopped at the Fountain Paintpots, another thermal area:

Dead Trees in the thermal area, surprisingly beautiful:

Thermal Spring with flowers blooming right beside it:

This "PaintPot" had a really cool orange color to it:

We also stopped at Gibbons Falls, which is a cool waterfall along the Gibbon river. The views of the surrounding forest from up the top were awesome.

Gibbon Falls

Gibbon River

The last two places we stopped were my favorite; Artist Paintpots and the Norris Geyser basin. The colors in the Artist Paintpots were spectacular. The Norris Geyser basin had some awesome colors as well, but the vastness of the area was incredible.

 Norris Geyser Basin

Amazing Green River of Extremophils

 Baby Geyser!

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot...Saw another Grizzly!!

My legs are jelly! Rescue Creek & Lava Creek

Saturday I decided to go on my first long hike. I drove up to the Mammoth area and chose to do a loop around Mt. Everts. I started at the Rescue Creek Trailhead which brought me along the back side of the Mountain, and then took the Lava Creek trail back around to Mammoth.

One of my first sightings was of some Bighorn Sheep. They were pretty cool looking, and they let me get really close!

Beginning of Rescue Creek Trail, starting in Montana:

After seeing the sheep, the trail started to ascend pretty steeply for quite a while. I was pretty short of breath, but the views were awesome!

About halfway up the first hill:

 I saw a few animal bones along the way, which made me start freaking out that I was going to run into a bear or a pack of wolves. Shortly after I made it into a forested area; every stump looked like a bear from far away! I saw a group of people in the wooded area and felt better after that. Again, the trail opened up into a wide open meadow. Here I saw pronghorn (?), but they were too quick for me to take a pic! I also saw some prairie dog looking animals.

After a long 8 miles I finally made it to the rescue creek trailhead. There was supposed to be another trail connecting rescue creek to lava creek, but I couldn't find it. I asked some backcountry rangers who were on the trail with me, and they weren't sure either, so they drove me the mile down the road to the lava creek trailhead. At the beginning of the lava creek trail, you got a pretty good view of Undine Falls.

The Lava Creek trail followed right along the river, which was much more enjoyable than the Rescue Creek trail. There were tons of butterflies (which were too quick for me to take photos of) and the wildflowers were starting to bloom. I didn't see any animals along this trail, but the scenery of the river and mountains was stunning. At one point, I even had a great view of the Mammoth Terraces from afar. 

View of Mammoth Terraces below Mt. Sepulcher:

Lava Creek flowing just below the trail:

Lava Creek running into the Gardiner River:

Wobbly footbridge crossing the Gardiner river:

Gardiner River again:

 At the end of the ~ 15 miles, my legs were jelly. Today I have been sitting around being completely lazy and tending to my sunburned arms!