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| At the Heart Lake Trailhead. |
Our
backpacking trip to Heart Lake would be the highlight of our 2024 Yellowstone
trip. We had made the trip twice before, and it has proved to one of our all
time favorite areas. I’d booked a block of rooms at the Old House at Old
Faithful for August 2024 on the first day they’d opened, almost a year in
advance. YNP was in the first year of their early access lottery for
backcountry permits, and I signed up for the lottery in March. I drew April 9
(from a range of April 1-24) for my access date, and was able to reserve two nights
at the Rustic CS (8H6) at Heart Lake just prior to our Old Faithful stay. The
timing was crucial for this. Jean and I had already decided that given the
hassles of flying with camping gear, if we couldn’t get a Heart Lake campsite,
we would not backpack at Yellowstone.
Paycheck Pass and our first view of Heart Lake.
Two
days in the Beartooth, and three day hikes near Canyon, had given us a good
break in period. What little weather information we had made it look like
things were becoming clearer and drier. We’d had one small problem. As I was
testing our MSR Whisperlite stove by our cottage at Lake Village, I discovered
a leak in the valve that I was not able to fix. The stove is almost 20 years
old and has O-rings and other parts likely long dried out. We use the stove for
both cooking and boiling drinking water, so there was no way to do without it.
Luckily, we were able to drive to the campground store at Fishing Bridge, and the
salesman found a MSR Pocket Rocket and two cannisters for us. The pocket rocket
worked well. One cannister lasted through a test boil, plus the three day trip.
The
trip stated well, we saw an elk her calf on the road driving in. We were better
prepared for the weather, wearing long pants and a hoodie from the start. The
first half of the hike to Heart Lake is a monotonous trek through pine forest
burned in the 1988 fire. When buggy this is a torturous route, but this year we
were late enough that bugs were never an issue. It took us about 1:50 to reach
“Paycheck Pass”, where the trail breaks out into the uppermost of the five
geothermal areas of Witch Creek, with expansive views of Heart Lake and Mt
Sheridan. 
Mt Sheridan and the Rustic Geyser Group from the shore of Heart Lake.
Lower
down we chatted with the previous night’s campers at 8H6, they reported few
bugs and no problems with bears, good news for us. We reached the lake shore at
the unoccupied patrol cabin in another 1:45, then walked the lakeshore for a
half mile to our camp site. 
Pitching our tent.
Rustic
Campsite (aka 8H6) has some amazing amenities. Heart Lake in your front yard covers
2,150 acres, one of the largest wilderness lakes around. In the back yard is
the Rustic Geyser Basin, headlined by the colors of Columbia Pool and
frequently erupting Rustic Geyser. Next door is the old lookout tower on nearby
10,300’ Mt Sheridan, an ideal hike for your middle day. What it doesn’t have is
an ideal spot for your tent. By Jean’s exacting standards there isn’t a place
ideally smooth or level enough for our tent. But we made do, pitching our tent
near a new log enclosure, and just downhill from the old cook area. 
Columbia Pool with Heart Lake in the background.
With
bear protocols in place at Yellowstone, we got our tent up and food moved to
the cook area. We could see Rustic Geyser and it’s nearby features steaming
away, so we headed over to see if we could watch an eruption. We hiked through
the woods on the left side to access the gentle hillside above the small basin.
There are two fumaroles and one pool on the hillside, with a good view of
Columbia Pool just below. We had a decent view of Rustic and others boiling
away, but didn’t see a safe looking route that let us get nearer. After about a
15 minute wait, we heard the rumble of thunder and saw dark clouds pouring over
Mt Washburn. We abandoned our post and bolted for the tent. About halfway back
I took a quick look and saw the last few seconds of Rustic erupting in a 6’ plume,
but not lasting even long enough for a quick pic.
A view of the Rustic Group from above.
The
shower kept us pinned in the tent, but it was barely strong enough to
completely wet the ground. For dinner we fired up the pocket rocket, which
worked well, but was probably not really designed for boiling multiple rounds
of water. We spent a little time on the beach before hitting the sack in
advance of our Mt Sheridan hike. 
Watching the rain shed off our tent fly.
8-13-24,
Mt Sheridan
Heart Lake from Mt. Sheridan.
We
were up at 7:45 Eastern for our Mt Sheridan hike. The weather forecast from the
previous day gave us a clear morning, but predicted rain in the afternoon. The
trail climbs almost 3,000’ from the lake to the summit, but is well graded. We
started out through the meadows at the base of the peak, climbed switchbacks
through the forest to the ridge crest, then finished with an above tree line
section. Even this late in summer the flowers were out, and a few snowfields
remained near the ridge crest. But the sky was already clouding over, and we
picked up the pace hoping to beat the rain to the top. 
In the fog on the lower slopes of Mt Sheridan.
The
weather started cloudy and did not improve as we climbed. We could barely see
the peaks surrounding Heart Lake, and had limited views down toward the lake
and geyser basin. By the summit we were in and out of dark, billowing clouds.
We huddled in the lee of the tower just long enough to eat some snacks and snap
some pictures. But after 30 minutes, thunder pealed and headed down. 
Jean at the summit of Mt. Sheridan.
The
top ridge section of the trail is exposed and we wanted to get down to the
safety of the trees ASAP. The wind rain began almost immediately, chilling us
as we tried to hurry across the exposed ridge. Once back into the trees we had
a little safety margin. My new REI raincoat was holding up well, but Jean’s old
Precip jacket was leaking. Jean led a stiff pace all the down into the meadow,
which kept us working hard enough descending to stay warm. Near the campsite
there was a short rain free interlude where we imagined some relaxing time on
the beach, or at the geyser for the afternoon. But it was not to be, as the
rain picked up again. Jean was completely soaked, and my feet were soggy wet.
Gear drying in camp.
Back
at camp we found that the faint trail up to the cook area had drained water
back towards our tent that was now ponding under the vestibule on my side. We
picked up the tent and moved it away from the trail, which kept all our gear
dry. After a two hour hike in the rain, we had another hour pinned in the tent
watching the rain drops splatter on the fly.
Finally,
the birds began singing and the rain began to let up. It was still quite early
in the afternoon, but we didn’t trust the rain and began to cook dinner,
grateful for the chance to avoid cooking in the rain. The pocket rocket again
worked well. We were able to boil enough extra water for drinking. The rain
held off long enough for us to do some relaxing on the beach. We heard loons,
and saw Canada Geese and mallards, but missed the pelicans we had seen on prior
trips. The final bout of rain drove us back to the tent for the night, By then
we were down to a single pair of dry socks.
Sunrise over Heart Lake.
8-14-24,
Heart Lake hike out
Heart Lake Sunrise
With
just the hike out left to go, we had the luxury of departing late from Heart
Lake. The very foggy morning gave us some good photo ops. This gave us time to
set the tent out to dry, and to head over to Rustic Geyser for a final chance
to watch for an eruption. We resumed our stakeout on the hill above the geyser
and waited about 18 minutes. All of a sudden Rustic burbled and launched jets
of water. The eruption lasted about 40 seconds, reached a maximum of 6-8’ of water,
and was accompanied by significant steam. Our wait times were consistent with
the estimated 20-30 minute eruption interval assumed for Rustic.
Rustic geyser erupting.
Returning
to camp, the tent body was dry, but we had to fold up a soggy tent fly. My
rarely worn boots had blistered my left heal hiking into Heart Lake, and my
right heal hiking up Sheridan, so Jean applied some belated blister blockers on
me. We chatted up some fisherman on the lakeshore (cutthroats), and saw several
other parties and two deer hiking out. It seemed a long way up to Paycheck
Pass, where we snacked and enjoyed our last view of the geyser basin. Luckily
the flatter west end of the trail went quickly, and the day stayed dry. I did a
fair amount limping due to the heel blisters.
Looking down on the Rustic Group.
At
the trailhead were we able to donate our white gas to the fishermen we had
talked to earlier. We stopped at very quiet Grant Village for gas and ice
cream, and the rain caught up to us there. Driving over to Old Faithful Village
it turned briefly to slush, just for variety we reckoned. We checked into the
Old House (Room 241, 2 doubles, a shared bath, and good view of the upper
geyser basin), got dinner at the lodge cafeteria, and watched our first
eruption of Old Faithful for the trip. 
On the hike out of Heart Lake.
