Yellowstone's Crescent Lake, High Lake, and Specimen Creek

Joey

walking somewhere
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Apr 1, 2014
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This is a three day backpacking trip I did November 8th through 10th, 2014. It was a 21 mile loop in the Gallatin Mountains, located in the NW corner of Yellowstone National Park. It was cold, snowy, and void of people.

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Camped along Specimen Creek


Early Saturday morning, I left Jackson and drove up to West Yellowstone, via Ashton, Idaho. I was able to secure my backcountry permit via email with the park service. From West Yellowstone, I drove north towards Bozeman another 20 miles before reaching the Specimen Creek Trailhead. I started hiking a little after 12pm. There wasn't any snow on the ground, but the ridges and peaks were dusted. Where the trail was melting out (from freezing overnight), fresh bear tracks were in the mud. Thankfully he was heading the other way.

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Driving near Island Park on the way to West Yellowstone



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Trailhead sign

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Specimen Creek

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Fresh bear tracks along the trail

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Views along the trail the first two miles.



I reached a trail junction 2 miles in, where I headed north up the north fork of Specimen Creek. My destination for camping this night was Crescent Lake, roughly 7.5 miles in. As I slowly gained elevation, I started encountering snow. I hiked through large meadows here which are beautiful.

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Views near campsite WE1

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Passing through meadows along the trail

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Near campsite WE4


After the meadows, the trail entered the woods. About a mile later I reached another trail junction, with the Crescent Lake - High Lake Trail. I headed east. The trail climbs steeply up switchbacks, on the north side of a wooded ridge. A few inches of snow covered the ground. It was a cold, slow climb up to Crescent Lake. I finally reached it a few hours before dark.

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Trail junction sign

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Crescent Lake






In the summer, Crescent Lake’s water is a beautiful turquoise color. Today it was frozen over. The entire area was snow covered. The sunlight was hitting the peaks around the lake as I set up camp. This would be the last time I saw sunlight for a while. I set my tent down the ridge to block out the high winds that were blowing. I had to bust a hole through the ice to get water from the lake. With the help of a fire starter, I enjoyed a large fire for several hours before heading to bed. (Its easy to burn wet wood with a good fire starter. Tree bark also helps)

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The view of Crescent Lake from the fire ring

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My tent





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A summer picture of Crescent Lake


Sunday was dreary. Colder weather moved in, and snow started flurrying. My water hole had frozen over during the night, and I had to bust through the lake ice again.


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Me at Crescent Lake before leaving camp in the morning

After packing up, I headed up the trail towards High Lake. I gained maybe another 1000 ft over a few miles to reach the ridge along Yellowstone‘s Park boundary. High winds, blowing snow, and several inches of snow on the ground made the hiking very slow. It was hard to follow the trail. The bright trail markers helped out a lot. It also helped that I‘ve hiked this trail before, and had an idea of where I was going.
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The trail as I left camp

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Making my way up to the ridge top.

At the top of the ridge, I couldn’t see much.

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Views from the top


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The orange trail markers helped a lot.






I dropped down to High Lake, which was also frozen over. The hiker campsite at the south end of the lake is a sweet spot. You can set your tent up right along the shore. I was permitted to camp here for the night, but decided to keep on going. It was freezing cold and windy. Plus heavy snow and below zero temperatures were forecasted for the coming evening. The campsite doesn’t allow wood fires, so it seemed pointless to freeze there for the rest of the day.

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Making my way down towards High Lake

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The meadows above High Lake

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High Lake

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Campsite WD4 is in the trees along the lake

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Campsite WD5, a horse packer campsite, is on the far side of the lake

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High Lake viewed from the southern shore


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A view of High Lake during the summer







I hiked down the trail another three tenths of a mile, where I reached a small saddle above the East Fork of Specimen Creek. I headed south along the creek, passing through some pretty country. This is one of my favorite places in the park. The trail stays in the meadows for a while, before entering the woods.

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Bear claw marks

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The trail nearing the saddle above Specimen Creek

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Hiking through the meadows along the East Fork of Specimen Creek



The snow really started coming down when I reached the Sportsman Lake Trail three miles later. I chose to camp here for the night. Campsite WD6 is a horse campsite that sits along meadows several hundred yards away from the main trail. Darkness was setting in, so I quickly set up my tent in a sheltered spot, right next to a large downed tree. I had another fire in the snow, finally heading to bed around 7pm.


It snowed all night. It was also very cold. My water bottle froze solid. Around 4am, I woke up to the sound of something walking on the snow near my tent. It was a long drawn out crunch, like a large pad hitting the snow. Several of them. It got closer and closer. I turned my headlamp on, and started talking out loud to myself. The foot steps continued to get louder and louder. A bear? A moose? I couldn‘t tell. So I grabbed my air horn, stuck it outside my tent door, and blew it. It sounded absolutely pathetic. Not loud at all. I imagine it has something to do with the cold air. I blew it a second time, which was much better. Everything was quiet. Nothing took off. So I just sat there. After a short while, the foot steps started up again, this time heading away from me.


The next morning, I was eager to look for tracks. Quite a few inches of snow had fallen over the night. To my surprise, it was sunny outside.

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Views around camp in the morning

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Views of my tent in the morning


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The fire ring

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My tent was set up behind the downed tree along the edge of the trees.






The sun wouldn’t last though. To my dismay, the only tracks I found near my tent were some type of rodent tracks. So I actually blew my air horn at a mouse. :facepalm:

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Tracks near my tent



As I packed up, more snow clouds came in. My tent poles were frozen together, and I couldn’t break some of them down. So I left them sticking up a few feet above my pack. I headed back to the trail, and started hiking west. Fresh snow covered the trees and the trail. The tent poles sticking out from my pack knocked all the snow off the branches above me onto my head as I hiked.



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Views along the trail.

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Specimen Creek

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The trail

Soon I found wolf tracks in the snow on the trail. They were from that morning. I could see where they had peed in a few spots. The wolves used the trail for about 4 miles, before they finally disappeared into a meadow. Snow kept falling, and I hurried up my pace to get out of the woods.


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Wolf tracks



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Dropping down towards the creek junction

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Views across the river towards campsite WE1

Finally I reached my last trail junction, where I backtracked the first two miles of my trip to the trailhead. It looked much different from my first day hiking in.

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Trail junction sign

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Views along the hike back to the trailhead


The End.


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I very much prefer the summer time photos over the frozen ones! :cold: LOL!

It's great you still get out!!!
 
Get pics and trip. You are tougher than me....... anymore now I get cold in snow camping, must be a 'older' thing.... That area has been on my list for some time, for the summer/fall ...if I can ever get other areas crossed off.
 
Get pics and trip. You are tougher than me....... anymore now I get cold in snow camping, must be a 'older' thing.... That area has been on my list for some time, for the summer/fall ...if I can ever get other areas crossed off.
Haha, I'm not tough at all. I just didn't read the weather report thoroughly enough. :) I though it was going to be sunny.

But yes this is a place you should explore. Its different from the rest of Yellowstone. A wooded high country.
 
I saw you before that and was shocked you were going with forecast we discussed. You are certainly stout for such things but there's gotta be 3' of snow on the ground there now, last batch Grassy Lake Snotel got 32.3".

I let a pack of matches at Goodwin Lake. You wouldn't mind going and getting for me, would yah? I think the Gros Ventre only got 2' so it shouldn't be a problem.

Another great report. Thanks for sharing man.
 
@Joey - Crescent Lake looks cold! Another wonderful trip report. I'm just sitting back and living Yellowstone vicariously through you. Can I give you locations to go next? :) I really liked the shots of Specimen Creek making its way through the trees.
 
Looks much like my trip this weekend minus the elevation of course. Some great winter shots there. My favorites are of the snow covered tent. I love the snow! Nice job Utah!

Side note: I didn't know you carried an air horn. Did you have it on our July trip?
 
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Great report Joey. Real nice video pan on the sunny morning. You've got a steady hand. This got me pumped for my trip next weekend up in the Whites where the snow is already flying too! And we all know your just being modest... trips like this most definitely put you in the "tough as nails" category... Even if you do blow your horn at rodents : )
 
I am so jealous and yet not at the same time! I only got to do one dayhike in that area and wanted to go back and backpack so bad! Gorgeous country. On the other hand...:cold:
 
Found this News Flash ....... Park Service kills giant rodent terrorizing campers in Yellowstone. Ranger said they are more fearsome than the grizzley bears and are trying to stop the infestation.

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Joey, you ever think about getting some professional help?:roflmao:

Your toes look a little cold in some of that video. Time to put the skis on-----
That critter looks like a muskrat.

And thanks for another great report.
 
nice. i had a trip like that last november in the sawtooths. woke up with five new inches of snow, and booked it out of there.
 
No muskrat ......... its a regular rat.
 
No muskrat ......... its a regular rat.
The one in the shovel: yes the European import RAT

The one in Joey's vid looks to me like a young muskrat-maybe a soon to be deceased young muskrat. I've only been wandering this part of the country for about 60 years and wood rats (packrats) and muskrats are about it in the high country. There is no way a common rat is going to survive winter in those places. Thankfully.
 
K...... didn't know which. Figured Joey's was just a wood rat as well.
 
Wow, I hung up the pack weeks ago! Very inspiring trip report.
Personally I think the mountains looks better in white!
 
I saw you before that and was shocked you were going with forecast we discussed. You are certainly stout for such things but there's gotta be 3' of snow on the ground there now, last batch Grassy Lake Snotel got 32.3".

I let a pack of matches at Goodwin Lake. You wouldn't mind going and getting for me, would yah? I think the Gros Ventre only got 2' so it shouldn't be a problem.

Another great report. Thanks for sharing man.
Haha, I can get you some matches for free here in town. No I'm done with this artic weather. No more for this year.

I enjoyed our conversation the other night, look forward to talking with you more about this wonderful country. And perhaps hiking together sometime next summer. I would like to do both a hike from Silver Gate down to Dubois, and Cody to Dubois. Probably not all next year though.

Thanks John.
 
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