Yellowstone and the Tetons are two of our favorite places. After a visit to the Dakotas last year, we decided to head again to the mountains, and Yellowstone was an easy choice. We planned early, getting reservations at the Old Faithful Inn nearly a year in advance, applied for a backpacking permit at Heart Lake as soon as the permit window opened, and got our airline reservations six months early. Our plan was to split our time evenly between the two parks and take at least one backpacking trip in each.
Then things changed. For quite a while, due to travel restrictions designed to slow the spread of coronavirus, we were not sure the trip would happen at all. We grew more confident in late spring when domestic travel began to open up some. Our reservation at Old Faithful Inn was then cancelled as Xanterra did not expect to be able to open the Inn for the summer, but we were able to get replacement rooms at Lake Cottages where we already had reservations for later in the trip. Our airline schedule also changed, turning two easy half-day flights into 17-hour cross country marathons. Near the end things brightened some, we got our preferred backpacking trip to Heart Lake, and when some rooms at the Inn were opened, and we were able to switch our reservation back from Lake to Old Faithful.
7-30-20, Taggart Lake, Tetons, 4.0 mi., and visit to VictorAfter flying United from Knoxville to Houston to LA to Jackson the previous night we were hell bent to get in some hiking the next day. Taggart Lake is one of the few short easy hikes in the Tetons, and the views of the southern end of the range are spectacular. The short side of the CCW loop was crowded, but the far side allowed a little privacy. After the hike, we drove back to Jackson to get our supplies for the trip and then headed over to Victor, ID to see our Barkley friend Dusty and Jake where we went berry picking and then were treated to a wonderful dinner. Then it was back to the Golden Eagle in Jackson.
Approaching Taggert Lake
7-31-20,
Jenny Lake, Tetons, 9.2 mi.
Jenny
Lake is perhaps the most popular hike in the Tetons with hikers and casual
walkers both attracted by the convenient boat shuttle across the Lake and easy
access to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls. Jean and I were expecting some
congestion on the route, but were not prepared for the huge crowds we saw. We had
gotten up early to stand in line for our walk-up backpacking permit for the
next day, and started from the Jenny Lake TH barely early enough to get a spot
in the parking lot. We thought we’d lost much of the crowd after passing the
boat dock, but found it was hard to find any solitude along the southwest
shore. Approaching the shuttle drop off we talked to another couple who told us
that adding Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls to our loop was worth the
effort, so we extended our loop and added some climbing. Yes, the scenery there
was great, but the crowds were thick, pandemic or not.
The North Face of the Grand Teton, from Jenny lake Trail
We managed to find an otherwise unsigned horse trail to avoid the West Shore Boat dock and had a quieter walk for the rest of the loop with still awesome views of the central Tetons. A ranger along the horse trail educated us on the inedible twin berries that were so prominent along the trail. The walk around the east shore of the lake was longer that we’d expected (I’d estimated the loop at 6 miles vs the actual 7.7 miles), but the views of the high country remained fantastic.
8-1&2-2020,
Bear Paw Lake Backpack Trip, Tetons, 7.1 mi. in and 4.5 mi. out
Jean and I had stayed at the Bearpaw B campsite in 2017 and we were hoping to get the same site again this year. “B” is only available for walk up permits, so we had waited in line the previous day hoping to be early enough to get it. We ended up with Bearpaw “C” on the opposite side of the lake. With the short walk in, Jean suggested that we walk in via the north shore of String Lake to give ourselves a little variety. Despite the drop dead beauty of the trails along String and Leigh lakes the story of the day belongs to the three bears.
View from Leigh Lake campsite
Other hikers had warned us about Bear #1 on the String Lake Trail. Sure enough a furry black head poked out into the trail and a large black bear wandered a bit down the trail before turning off. No problem here, a bear doing bear things. We had no warning on Bear #2 when a furry brown head poked out onto the trail near the Leigh Lake campsites. This one gave us the shivers, out came the bear spray, and slowly backward we walked. It was soon obvious the bear was so focused on ripe berries that it wasn’t interested in us. Our bear “pause” became extended when the bear wouldn’t leave the trail. Finally, it disappeared into the bushes, and another couple came walking through its space from the other direction to clear the way.
Black bear near String Lake
Bear #3 appeared not long after we arrived at our campsite on the west side of Bearpaw Lake. We were camped in the trees above a small stream when we heard some thrashing in the thick brush around the stream. Shortly we could some movement and then Bear #3 popped out and asked, “Is there a trail up there, I am so lost.” Luckily for both groups this was a skier who had left at 4AM, climbed high on Mt Moran, skied down the Skillet Glacier, gotten off track on the descent, and had to bushwhack between Jackson and Bearpaw lakes. The bushwhack had been thick and was complicated by the skis, boots, and ice ax attached to his pack. Jean fed him some cookies and we got him headed home.
Try Bushwhacking with that pack
Bearpaw C was in a decent spot, but the tent site was small, and it lacked the vistas of Bearpaw “B” or the Trapper site. There was another couple at the adjacent A site, but they were so quiet we never heard them. A uniformed volunteer came by our site in the evening. She said in 20 years she’d never seen a grizz in the area and, to our relief, that our Bear #2 was likely a brown colored black bear; AKA a cinnamon bear.
The
hike out the next day was less eventful, but featured another encounter with
Bear #2, this one ending when the bruin decided to hit the lake for a short
swim. At the String Lake junction, I walked a short distance up an unmaintained
trail toward campsites 13 and 15, just long enough to determine that those
might be viable campsites for us on another visit. We then drove up to
Yellowstone and hiked the first mile of the Howard Eaton Trail leading
north from Lake while waiting to check into our Lake Cottage.
8-3-2020,
Mary Mountain Trail in Hayden Valley, Yellowstone, 7.6 mi.
The
Hayden Valley is one of Yellowstone’s premier wildlife viewing areas. The area
came so highly recommended by our friend Clyde that we made it our first
priority for day hiking on this trip. Even the drive over was spectacular as we
stopped to take pictures of one elk herd
and two large bison herds. We still got an early start, but not nearly as early
as the party we soon met on their way out. They had started near dawn and were
rewarded for the efforts by the sighting of an early morning grizz.
Bison and elk grazing in Hayden Valley
We saw mostly lone male bison, a few geese, and the geothermal areas at Sulfur Mountain and Alum Creek. The views up the valley of Alum Creek were spectacular, this is part of the wild heart of Yellowstone.
Bison grazing along Alum Creek
On the way back to Lake Cottage we stopped at Mud Volcano to hike the short interpretive loop. After getting back to Lake I also hiked the 3.6 mile Elephant Back Mountain Trail in back of Lake while Jean was packing up.
8-4/6-2020, Heart Lake Backpack Trip, Yellowstone, 8.0 mi. in and out, and 7.5 mi. RT for Mt. Sheridan, 10,313’
Heart
Lake was a repeat of our 2017 three day trip. We’d reserved two nights at
campsite 8H6 and planned to climb Mt. Sheridan on our middle day. It is 8 miles
into Heart Lake, a long way for us now, even on a smooth, gentle, and
relatively flat trail. We sped through the monotonous first five miles without
the persistent mosquito harassment we’d endured in 2017. Overall, we were just
a bit later in the season than on previous trips, but conditions were much
drier and bugs never a major issue.
We took a long break at the overlook that marks the edge of the forest and then cruised through the geyser basins down to the lake. It was warm enough to take a brief swim in the shallow lake water, then we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach and nearby wildlife. Rustic Geyser was erupting modestly in back of us at 20 minute intervals.
Alpenglow on Mount Sheridan
We launched our climb of Sheridan the next morning to superb alpenglow on Sheridan and a carpet of fog on the lake. The 3,000’ climb is long and steep, but the trail is well graded and maintained has prolific wildflowers on the lower slopes and a few snow fields near the top. The views from the summit extend from the heart of the Tetons, north across Yellowstone to the Beartooths and Absorakas, and include all the other large lakes in the park. Strangely, this is the best place to observe the Rustic Geyser field, the straight down viewpoint is the best place to appreciate colorful Columbia Pool.
Heart Lake from the top of Mount Sheridan
Rustic Geyser and Columbia Pool from Mount Sheridan
After the climb I took the short walk through the woods back to Rustic Geyser for some close up viewing and a chance to video one of the short eruptions. The hike out the next day was more manageable with our more lightly loaded packs. We stopped at Kepler Cascades on the way to Old Faithful where we were able to check into our room early and get cleaned up. We’d found the grab and go burgers at the Lake Lodge Cafeteria pretty spartan, but the noodle bowls we got from Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria were good and hearty. We rebounded enough to wander out for a 9:15 eruption of Grand Geyser, which didn’t disappoint.
An eruption of Rustic Geyser
Grand Geyser
8-7-2020,
Fairy Falls and Imperial Geyser, Yellowstone, 8.2 mi.
We’d hiked to Fairy Falls in 2008, but it was a tip from a hiker at Heart Lake about Imperial Geyser that led us to return. We parked at the Fairy Falls Trailhead and hiked a CW loop to the falls and geyser with a return on the Fountain Freight Road. Not on our map was a new side loop to an overlook above Grand Prismatic Spring. The subject of spectacular air photos, the spring’s concentric colors are notoriously hard to view from ground level. The overlook helps some, but we still found the spring obscured by steam from the spring’s pool.
Fairy Falls
Fairy Falls is 197’ tall, enough to make it a major waterfall, even in Yellowstone. It pours off the front of a monstrous lava flow into a small pool. Luckily for us most hikers turned around there rather than proceeding on to Imperial. We passed burbling Spray Geyser on the way before reaching an unoccupied viewing area. Imperial now erupts almost continually throwing a small tower of water in the air. We stayed for a while, eyeing the unmapped trail in back of the geyser. While the trail soon ends at two small ponds, it does provide a great view of Imperial and its nearby pool.
Imperial Geyser from above
For the rest of the walk we circled the Lower Geyser Basin returning by Goose Pond, and gradually rejoining the teeming hordes. We were back to the Inn by early afternoon and decided to reprise our strategy of yesterday by taking a long rest break over dinner, and then heading back out to observe an eruption of nearby Castle Geyser. On previous trips we’d dedicated a day to geyser basins, tromping from one steaming geyser to another. With a home base at the Inn we now could use the NPS geyser predictions to set our schedule and just wander out on cue to the eruptions of the predictable geysers. This allowed us to better appreciate the differences between the various geyser, to see their entire eruption cycles, and to photograph them in the evening light.
Castle Geyser
8-8-20,
Lone Star Geyser, Yellowstone, 8.5 mi.
We
decided to do our hiking for this day without using the car. We walked the
Howard Eaton Trail over to Lone Star Geyser, a slightly longer route than the
usual trail, but one that started just north of the Inn. Lone Star has a
lengthy eruption that starts reliably every three hours, the catch being that
since it is in the backcountry the only record of eruption times is in a logbook
kept at the geyser site. The hike there is easy, but not very scenic since the
forest was heavily burned in the 1988 fires.
We
arrived at the geyser after 9AM, just ahead of a family that came in via the
Lone Star Trail. Shortly after, a group of backpackers and another family
arrived, none of us sure where the geyser might be in its cycle. The logbook
noted a major eruption the prior night around 6PM. Much to our relief with10
minutes of our arrival the eruption started. The eruption lasted nearly 30
minutes, with water jets close to 40’ tall, a long noisy steam phase, and at
one point a double rainbow. What luck to arrive just in time!
Lone Star Geyser with a double rainbow
On
the return we detoured to scout campsites OA1 and OA2, both of which were very
appealing. Back at Old Faithful Inn we made afternoon and evening trips to both
Riverside and Grand Geysers, arriving just a bit too early for an
eruption of Castle.
Morning Glory Pool and Riverside Geyser
8-9-2020,
DeLacey Creek, Yellowstone, 7.5 mi.
Delacey Creek leads down to the north shore of Shoshone Lake, the largest backcountry lake in the US. We’d backpacked to the east and west shores of the lake on prior trips and wanted to check out the short way in that was so nicely described in all our guidebooks. This quiet, easy trail lived up to its reputation with a lovely mix of open forest and flowery meadows. We lounged a bit at the beach then decided to explore over to campsite 8S2, just a half mile away. We discovered that the bridge over Delacey Creek on the mapped trail was missing, and that the current route hugged the shore of the lake. Two Wyoming ladies at 8S2 interrupted their lounging to give us a rundown of the nearby campsites in preparation for our next visit.
Delacey Creek Trail
Back at the Inn, I walked the not very worthwhile Fern Falls Loop , and then we made a final tour of the Upper Geyser Basin featuring a short eruption of Daisy Geyser, the last of the basin’s predictable geysers. For the second time we used our camp stove to cook dinner in the nearby picnic area, and then headed out for a finale of predicted 8PM eruptions of Castle, Daisy, and Grand, with an opener of Old Faithful at 7:30. Heading out we saw Old Faithful erupt, then Castle not long after. We joined a larger crowd for the Grand eruption, distracted momentarily by a colorful sunset. By dawdling on the way back we saw our final Old Faithful eruption.
Daisy Geyser
8-10-2020,
Two Oceans Loop, Tetons, 6.4 miles
For
our return to the Tetons we decided to try for a lesser used trail and the Two
Oceans Loop seemed to fit the bill. There were only two other cars at the small
TH when we arrived, and we had the first half of the CCW loop to ourselves.
That north side was fantastic alternating between open forest with some huge
aspen and monster spruce and lush meadows, and featuring perhaps the best views
yet we’d had of Mount Moran and Skillet Glacier. The heavily forest south side
though was a disappointment, only two small meadows and little views of the
nearby lake. To our surprise the TH was packed when we returned including two
horse trailers and an RV.
Tetons from Two Ocean Lake
8-11-20,
Phelps Lake Loop, Tetons, 6.3 miles
For our last hike of the trip we chose the loop around Phelps Lake. Another early start netted us a prized parking spot and once again we had the start of the CCW loop to ourselves. Our mornings had been growing chillier throughout the trip, but this was the first time I wore any fleece while hiking. Jean scouted the campsites and confirmed that #3 was still the most desirable. The beach at the northwest end of the lake may be the finest in the Tetons, lots of fine white sand and a warm shallow bottom. Things were quiet enough that we had Huckleberry Point to ourselves for some afternoon ray bagging. We made it back to the car early enough so that there was some time for bonus hiking, so I added and extra three mile repeat on the Woodland-Lake Creek Loop before it was time to head back to the Golden Eagle to get packed up.
Morning Light in the Tetons
The
next day we flew home on United through Denver and Dulles with no issues other
than a one hour rain delay on the runway at Dulles.
