Wandering out West: "The Old Forest" Yellowstone NP

Nine days in America's 1st National Park, in peak season, with a great hiking partner. Does it get any better than this?

the lowdown: The incredible diversity of wildlife that earned the nickname "America's Serengeti," the iconic geysers and hot springs (over half the world's geothermal features are located here,) the stunning natural beauty of mountains, lush valleys, deep canyons and raging rivers; Yellowstone has attained an almost mythical status for good reason

dates: 7/15-23

mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 75mi, +/-22000', 10,990 (Electric Peak)

conditions: patchy snow at altitude, much less than we were told to expect. Trails exceptionally well maintained, scramble to Electric Peak on talus & scree, some minor river fords.

weather: Let's just say "unpredictable." At times you could observe 3 different weather systems. We had sun every day. We also had either rain or hail every day. Temps varied wildly also; 70's-50's daytime, 30's-50's at night. Words really won't do this justice, so here's video

highlights: wildlife, great company, rainbows, Electric Peak and wildflowers!

challenges: the weather took a bit of getting used to, Brita's feet looked like raw meat by the end of the trip, traffic jams on the way into the park to pick up our permit. and huge mosquitoes. but all in all it was a pretty smooth trip.

the hike: At 2,200,000 square acres Yellowstone is larger than Rhode Island, so clearly it is impossible to see it all, even on an extended trip like ours. We chose the northwest quadrant of the park which offers a good cross section of all Yellowstone has to offer.
After the aforementioned traffic jams in the center of the park (caused by buffalo/bear sightings in the valley) we retreated into the blissfully uncrowded backcountry via the Black Butte Trailhead on the northwestern edge of the park. Our first night was spent at the Black Butte Creek CS, a couple of miles on trail.
The next day was a truly spectacular hike east along the Gallatin Sky Rim, including Bighorn Peak.

The hiking was a little treacherous at points during the day, with little room to spare and a long way down.

But if you want to see bighorn sheep and mountain goats, you've got to get into rarefied air, and we were well rewarded for the risks.

We were treated to the spectacular sight of this herd of bighorn sheep charging off the side of the ridge and down an impossibly steep slope without missing a step.

We descended into a basin crossed with streams and dotted with lakes, spending the night at Shelf Lake:

Where we were greeted with hail, and some of the largest swarms of mosquitoes i have ever seen.

For the next 2 days we traveled leisurely through this area, covering an easy 8 miles each day through wildflower filled valleys. We spent our third night out at High Lake (more hail) then after a late start due to my failed attempts to catch a trout breakfast and a mid day hail storm (a first) we descended to Sportsman's Lake. At both of these lakeside campsites we were swarmed by mosquitoes. Sitting securely in the tent, you could hear them buzzing just outside. They wouldn't bite if you were covered in 30% strength DEET, but they would hover, just about 6 inches off your body. Maybe the 'skeeters extraordinary strength was due to a diet of buffalo & grizzly blood...?

At Sportsman's Lake, we passed the night in the company of a very cool Swiss couple, Chris and Sabine and were treated to a gorgeous double rainbow after another hailstorm.

Well rested after 2 easy days, we set out to summit Electric Peak. From Sportsmans Lake (7500') we climbed to Sportsmans Pass at about 10000' which was about treeline, where the nature of the hiking changed dramatically. Departing from well established trails, we were now scrambling over talus on the exposed face of the mountain. The video below shows our route from the pass up to the peak.

Once at the peak we were rewarded with sweeping, panoramic view of Yellowstone and the neighboring Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Dave and Brita at the summit of Electric Peak

We descended Electric down her southeast arm, making our way into the upper Gardner River Valley, to the campsite of the same name. In camp we were greeted by 2 equally exhausted hikers who had also summited Electric that day. Eric and Nadia worked in the concession stands at Mammoth Hot Springs, a front country tourist destination a few miles east of our location. They were on their 2nd day of a 2 day trip and had planned on making it the remaining 4 miles to their car that night. But they had gotten a little lost on their way down from Electric and were hoping to share the campsite with us before heading back the next morning. They "sweetened" the offer by mentioning that they had some extra Oreos, and clinched the deal when Nadia suggested that we could accompany them to their car and from there to the concessions at the Hot Springs where we could stock up on bug repellent and gorge ourselves on burgers and ice cream.

The next morning the four of us hiked out through a profusion of wildflowers in the Glen Creek valley, with spectacular views of Electric Peak receding in the distance.

We reached Nadia's car around midday and accompanied them into the front country of the park at Mammoth Hot Springs. We did gorge ourselves on concession food and with satiated bellies headed over to the General Store for bug repellent. Where we were told that there was none in stock, anywhere in the park. Apparently, a shipment was late; i'm convinced that a swarm of mosquitoes dive-bombed the supply truck and ran it off the road. I have no evidence to support this claim; it just feels right.

That afternoon, sans bug spray resupply, we headed back towards the trailhead, 7-8 road miles distant. Fortunately, we were able to thumb a ride for most of the way, saving us blacktop hiking. A few easy trail miles later we were at the beautiful Gardner's Hole campsite.

The next morning we set off heading west up the Fawn Creek Valley towards Fawn Pass. Or so we thought... In fact, we were heading north up the Gardner Creek Valley, along a blazed trail that was not on our map. We realized our mistake within a couple of miles, and rather than backtrack, we bushwhacked southwest to pick up Fawn Creek and later that day crossed Fawn Pass and descended through a flower filled burn area to our campsite at Gallatin River.

Towards the end of the day i noticed that Brita was dropping behind and limping a little. She assured me that it was just general soreness and nothing too serious.

The next morning i was up and making breakfast when Brita came out of the tent. Never one to miss a subtle hint, i knew something was wrong when i noticed she was using her hiking poles as makeshift crutches to get around camp. Brita had blisters on her blisters. The worst I've ever seen.

Our plan was to hike north to Fan Creek, spend the night there and continue on to the Eat Fork of the Specimen River before heading west to the car. Reevaluating our itinerary in light of this, we realized that we could take the Bighorn Pass trail west out to the highway and hitch back to the car from there. This would also provide us an extra day to explore the front country of the park, something we wanted to do after briefly experiencing the Hot Springs a few days earlier.

So we hiked out at a gentle pace, leaving plenty of time for the "wildflower papparzo" to harass the wildflowers of Yellowstone.