Keith
Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2014
- Messages
- 75
I was recently in Yellowstone with my wife, son and his friend. We visited various historic sites in the woods, Turbid Lake, Heart Lake and Mount Sheridan.
Day 2: We decided to spend day 2 relaxing on a short 8 mile day hike to Turbid Lake while we acclimated to the altitude. On the way we spotted a grizzly in the same place @Joey and I saw one last October so that was a fun way to start the day.
We left my car at the Pelican Valley trailhead and had the boys drop us off at the Lake Butte trailhead (they decided to take in the Tetons instead) so we could make a loop hike out of it. Well, I actually had them drop us off at the hairpin turn about a mile east of Lake Butte because I wanted to explore the old road from that approach. Many people are aware of the old road that approaches Turbid from the Pelican Valley trailhead but it continues past Turbid to the East entrance road. We quickly found evidence of the road as we bushwhacked our way to the maintained trail.
Kristin was running out of patience with my bushwhacking route just as I found the trail, phew! The hike to Turbid from the South is a nice variety of burn area, meadows and woods so we really enjoyed it.
We saw an elk herd and a deer and lots of bear scat.
We found plenty of evidence of the old road including asphalt chunks:
I especially enjoyed the long straight corridor that was once a road but now feels like a tunnel in the woods.
I was also keeping an eye out for the old Jones Pass trail which I believe stopped being maintained after the fires of 88. I believe I found it but need to confirm my GPS points with Hugh.
We explored the thermal area just south of Turbid:
We then continued on to the lake itself. Here is an angle with Avalanche Peak in the background.
The lake has a very interesting color and certainly smells thermally. I wonder if it was once deeper:
We continued on to Pelican valley. The trail was pretty unpleasant to hike because it was basically a meadow full of uneven ground and ankle biters with no discernable trail (aside from occasional markers in trees). It’s clearly not as well used as the other trails in Pelican Valley.
Once we got back to main Pelican trail we made better time and our feet were much happier.
We saw Pelicans in Pelican Valley after the hike! We’ve been to Pelican many times but this was the first time we actually saw pelicans.
We also decided to investigate the old campground along the Pelican River just north of the East Entrance road. We found evidence of the old road and an interesting marker but not as much trash as I had expected. We did find several trees that were clearly cut with saws.
Main road of old campground:
I found it odd that the road was barely dismantled just past the 3 rocks used to block it off from the active road but most of the asphalt was removed deeper in. I have found it to be the other way around in the other decommissioned areas.
On the way back we ran across this fellow:
Featured image for home page:
Day 2: We decided to spend day 2 relaxing on a short 8 mile day hike to Turbid Lake while we acclimated to the altitude. On the way we spotted a grizzly in the same place @Joey and I saw one last October so that was a fun way to start the day.
We left my car at the Pelican Valley trailhead and had the boys drop us off at the Lake Butte trailhead (they decided to take in the Tetons instead) so we could make a loop hike out of it. Well, I actually had them drop us off at the hairpin turn about a mile east of Lake Butte because I wanted to explore the old road from that approach. Many people are aware of the old road that approaches Turbid from the Pelican Valley trailhead but it continues past Turbid to the East entrance road. We quickly found evidence of the road as we bushwhacked our way to the maintained trail.
Kristin was running out of patience with my bushwhacking route just as I found the trail, phew! The hike to Turbid from the South is a nice variety of burn area, meadows and woods so we really enjoyed it.
We saw an elk herd and a deer and lots of bear scat.
We found plenty of evidence of the old road including asphalt chunks:
I especially enjoyed the long straight corridor that was once a road but now feels like a tunnel in the woods.
I was also keeping an eye out for the old Jones Pass trail which I believe stopped being maintained after the fires of 88. I believe I found it but need to confirm my GPS points with Hugh.
We explored the thermal area just south of Turbid:
We then continued on to the lake itself. Here is an angle with Avalanche Peak in the background.
The lake has a very interesting color and certainly smells thermally. I wonder if it was once deeper:
We continued on to Pelican valley. The trail was pretty unpleasant to hike because it was basically a meadow full of uneven ground and ankle biters with no discernable trail (aside from occasional markers in trees). It’s clearly not as well used as the other trails in Pelican Valley.
Once we got back to main Pelican trail we made better time and our feet were much happier.
We saw Pelicans in Pelican Valley after the hike! We’ve been to Pelican many times but this was the first time we actually saw pelicans.
We also decided to investigate the old campground along the Pelican River just north of the East Entrance road. We found evidence of the old road and an interesting marker but not as much trash as I had expected. We did find several trees that were clearly cut with saws.
Main road of old campground:
I found it odd that the road was barely dismantled just past the 3 rocks used to block it off from the active road but most of the asphalt was removed deeper in. I have found it to be the other way around in the other decommissioned areas.
On the way back we ran across this fellow:
Featured image for home page:
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