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!
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.
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.
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. 
Last Stretch of the Trail!
Made it!
And when we got back, a nice surprise; The Lake is finally thawed!!
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