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This trek begins where all trips should, looking over the incredibly scenic setting of Cooke City, MT. It was early October 2014. We (my niece and her boyfriend, my college buddy Keith, and I) camped here after a 3-night trek from Lamar to Pelican. We packed, had breakfast in Cooke City, and returned to Yellowstone.
Keith and I said goodbye to Lindsey & Mike at Tower Junction and headed for one of my favorite spots, the Boiling River.
The path to the Boiling River.
Near where the Boiling River dumps into the Gardner River.
After a nice soak, we headed to Glen Creek TH to start our trek over the Gallatin Range and back. It was a beautiful afternoon to start our trek. I was super excited to hit the Yellowstone back country. I had wanted to complete this trek for a few years, and the elk rut should be in full swing. Keith and I have been elk nuts since way back and we hoped the evenings and mornings would be filled with the sounds of their bugles.
The view across Glen Creek valley to Electric Peak. On the way to our first camp, we passed 5-6 day hikers/photographers coming out. The only other people we saw on the trek was a family on horseback on day 4. There were black bear tracks littering the trail as we hiked through the Douglas Fir along the trail. As the evening gave way to dark, we approached our campsite. As we cooked in the dark, we talked of elk, specifically that we hadn’t heard a single bugle yet. This would be a recurring theme on the trip.
Keith having a fine breakfast at our first camp near the upper Gardner River. It was around freezing and the trees around camp kept the sun from reaching us and warming us up a bit.
We broke camp and started up the trail, which followed the upper Gardner River for a few miles.
The views only improved as we climbed up valley toward Electric Peak. As we climbed, the spruce/fir forest opened up giving us near constant views of the peak.
Soon we were in the white bark pine community. This old snag showed signs of past fires.
Hundreds of white bark pines appeared to have died from blister rust or pine beetle. It was sad to see so many recently-killed trees across the landscape. In spite of that, the views were awesome and the weather was unbelievable for early October.
Keith climbs the last steep section up to Electric Pass. At the top, cell reception was strong enough that he called his wife to check in.
More great views to the east down upper Gardner River and across the northern part of Yellowstone to the snow-capped Absarokas in the distance.
I let Keith talk to his wife in private and continued down the west side of Electric Pass. Keith is barely visible at the point that the trail meets the pass.
This really was one of those days that was so awesome, it was easy to feel very fortunate to be here.
I was sucking wind badly on the climb to Electric Pass but it didn’t matter, this was friggin’ awesome.
Another view of Electric Peak with some white bark pine snags in the foreground.
The view west of the Sportsman Lake area. The descent down to our camp near Sportsman’s Lake was steep and the knees were definitely not happy. We bumped into a small band of elk on our way down.
The view from camp 2 near Sportsman’s Lake.
A bear-scraped lodgepole pine. There was lots of black bear sign along the trail in upper Glen Creek and both black and grizzly on the west side of the Gallatins. We saw no bears though.
Keith following the barely discernible trail across the meadow leaving camp 2. Another day of brutal sunshine.
Keith at the Sportsman’s Lake Ranger Station.
Another bear track in the trail, this one left by a grizzly. We also saw lynx tracks today.
A view of the Fan Creek trail. This was not too far from where we saw lynx tracks.
One of the Fan Creek locals.
A view of Fan Creek, some awesome moose habitat. Our camp was just across the creek but the trail to go there took another 45 minutes or so.
A view up Fan Creek.
Near the lower end of the Fan Creek trail. We were now heading up toward Fawn Pass.
View from the trail heading up to Fawn Pass. We dropped down to the Gallatin River a little farther up the trail, where we camped next to the Gallatin River.
Keith’s tent near the Gallatin River. Another beautiful evening. We kept expecting elk to come out of the trees
to feed in the meadows but no luck. Earlier, while relaxing around camp, a family on horseback came down from the direction of Fawn Pass and after watering the horses, headed for Highway 191. First humans since day 1.
The next morning we climbed back up to the Fawn Pass Trail and headed toward Fawn Pass.
View of the southern Madison Range to the west. It was another day of awesome scenery and excellent fall weather. We did see a handful of elk a little higher up a few minutes after taking this photo.
An unnamed pond on the way to Fawn Pass.
A couple of young mule deer bucks.
View of Crowfoot Ridge toward the southwest.
Another view west to the Madison Range, Redstreak Peak is the second high peak from the left.
Fawn Pass, at last. I’ve wanted to hike here for a long time. It was great to be there on such a nice day. It is kind of strange how the Park Service likes to sign areas like this.
Keith enjoying the local furniture.
Gray Peak and Fawn Pass Lake.
Looking back up toward Fawn Pass.
After leaving Fawn Pass we hoofed it down the trail to our campsite. There were elk tracks all along the trail but we saw none. The hike down was beautiful as it passed through a long series of meadows. The grand sweeping views were gone but the closeness of the forest was refreshing. We missed the little sign for our campsite after crossing the Gardner River. The trail split and we took the wrong fork long enough to miss the sign. After returning to the correct trail (past the sign), we continued on and ended up making our own campsite along a small creek and in a stand of trees. This would actually lead to a great morning.
Back down along Glen Creek on our way out, looking at Quadrant Mountain.
The Payoff
So after 5 evenings of ruminating on why we had heard no elk bugling, we had no answers. Maybe it was too warm for them to be too wound up was our prevailing theory. The days were definitely warm and the nights were taking forever to cool off. I fell asleep easily that night. It had been a long day.
In the middle of the night, a bull elk brought his harem by our camp, maybe 50 yards away, bugling furiously. Another bull joined in and for 30 minutes or so, we were serenaded by at least 2 bulls. I lay there listening to the bugles and Keith snoring in his tent.
Just before dawn, other bulls brought their harems in and the bugle-fest started all over again. Keith (as I later discovered) was already out of his tent and sneaking up on one group in the near dark. I dressed and crawled out of the tent. As the hillsides were becoming visible I peered over a low rise in the terrain at a small 6-point bull and his cows about 25 yards away. He slowly moved his group up the slope.
Another bull below me started to bugle, I eventually spotted him and saw Keith about 20 yards from it hunkered down in some aspens. Keith saw me and snuck away to meet up. He said there was another couple of bulls on the other side of camp. Pretty soon they were bugling also. Soon another one higher up on the ridge to the north started bugling. He meandered along the edge of a stand of Douglas Fir with several cows.
There was one other bull bugling but we could not locate him. We kept glassing east across the Glen Creek valley at Terrace Mountain but could not find them. He kept bugling like a mad man but we still could not locate him. I finally happened to glance down toward Glen Creek itself and there he was right out in the middle of the valley floor near the trail. He had about 10 cows with him and he obviously thought he was the man, which he probably was.
Eventually 5-6 other bulls started bugling and we looked up onto Terrace Mountain and it was now crawling with elk. We eventually spotted 4 other bulls and 35-40 cows/calves. Some were up top and others were on the side slopes. The bulls continued to bugle for another half hour or so. Finally, it all went quiet. Keith and I were standing on the sagebrush-covered slopes, grinning from ear-to-ear.
We returned to camp, ate a quick breakfast, packed and headed down the trail. We were still jacked up about the events of the morning and relived it all as we hiked down the trail.
On the hike out, we caught several great views of Electric Peak behind us. A perfect end to an awesome trip.
Keith and I said goodbye to Lindsey & Mike at Tower Junction and headed for one of my favorite spots, the Boiling River.
The path to the Boiling River.
Near where the Boiling River dumps into the Gardner River.
After a nice soak, we headed to Glen Creek TH to start our trek over the Gallatin Range and back. It was a beautiful afternoon to start our trek. I was super excited to hit the Yellowstone back country. I had wanted to complete this trek for a few years, and the elk rut should be in full swing. Keith and I have been elk nuts since way back and we hoped the evenings and mornings would be filled with the sounds of their bugles.
The view across Glen Creek valley to Electric Peak. On the way to our first camp, we passed 5-6 day hikers/photographers coming out. The only other people we saw on the trek was a family on horseback on day 4. There were black bear tracks littering the trail as we hiked through the Douglas Fir along the trail. As the evening gave way to dark, we approached our campsite. As we cooked in the dark, we talked of elk, specifically that we hadn’t heard a single bugle yet. This would be a recurring theme on the trip.
Keith having a fine breakfast at our first camp near the upper Gardner River. It was around freezing and the trees around camp kept the sun from reaching us and warming us up a bit.
We broke camp and started up the trail, which followed the upper Gardner River for a few miles.
The views only improved as we climbed up valley toward Electric Peak. As we climbed, the spruce/fir forest opened up giving us near constant views of the peak.
Soon we were in the white bark pine community. This old snag showed signs of past fires.
Hundreds of white bark pines appeared to have died from blister rust or pine beetle. It was sad to see so many recently-killed trees across the landscape. In spite of that, the views were awesome and the weather was unbelievable for early October.
Keith climbs the last steep section up to Electric Pass. At the top, cell reception was strong enough that he called his wife to check in.
More great views to the east down upper Gardner River and across the northern part of Yellowstone to the snow-capped Absarokas in the distance.
I let Keith talk to his wife in private and continued down the west side of Electric Pass. Keith is barely visible at the point that the trail meets the pass.
This really was one of those days that was so awesome, it was easy to feel very fortunate to be here.
I was sucking wind badly on the climb to Electric Pass but it didn’t matter, this was friggin’ awesome.
Another view of Electric Peak with some white bark pine snags in the foreground.
The view west of the Sportsman Lake area. The descent down to our camp near Sportsman’s Lake was steep and the knees were definitely not happy. We bumped into a small band of elk on our way down.
The view from camp 2 near Sportsman’s Lake.
A bear-scraped lodgepole pine. There was lots of black bear sign along the trail in upper Glen Creek and both black and grizzly on the west side of the Gallatins. We saw no bears though.
Keith following the barely discernible trail across the meadow leaving camp 2. Another day of brutal sunshine.
Keith at the Sportsman’s Lake Ranger Station.
Another bear track in the trail, this one left by a grizzly. We also saw lynx tracks today.
A view of the Fan Creek trail. This was not too far from where we saw lynx tracks.
One of the Fan Creek locals.
A view of Fan Creek, some awesome moose habitat. Our camp was just across the creek but the trail to go there took another 45 minutes or so.
A view up Fan Creek.
Near the lower end of the Fan Creek trail. We were now heading up toward Fawn Pass.
View from the trail heading up to Fawn Pass. We dropped down to the Gallatin River a little farther up the trail, where we camped next to the Gallatin River.
Keith’s tent near the Gallatin River. Another beautiful evening. We kept expecting elk to come out of the trees
to feed in the meadows but no luck. Earlier, while relaxing around camp, a family on horseback came down from the direction of Fawn Pass and after watering the horses, headed for Highway 191. First humans since day 1.
The next morning we climbed back up to the Fawn Pass Trail and headed toward Fawn Pass.
View of the southern Madison Range to the west. It was another day of awesome scenery and excellent fall weather. We did see a handful of elk a little higher up a few minutes after taking this photo.
An unnamed pond on the way to Fawn Pass.
A couple of young mule deer bucks.
View of Crowfoot Ridge toward the southwest.
Another view west to the Madison Range, Redstreak Peak is the second high peak from the left.
Fawn Pass, at last. I’ve wanted to hike here for a long time. It was great to be there on such a nice day. It is kind of strange how the Park Service likes to sign areas like this.
Keith enjoying the local furniture.
Gray Peak and Fawn Pass Lake.
Looking back up toward Fawn Pass.
After leaving Fawn Pass we hoofed it down the trail to our campsite. There were elk tracks all along the trail but we saw none. The hike down was beautiful as it passed through a long series of meadows. The grand sweeping views were gone but the closeness of the forest was refreshing. We missed the little sign for our campsite after crossing the Gardner River. The trail split and we took the wrong fork long enough to miss the sign. After returning to the correct trail (past the sign), we continued on and ended up making our own campsite along a small creek and in a stand of trees. This would actually lead to a great morning.
Back down along Glen Creek on our way out, looking at Quadrant Mountain.
The Payoff
So after 5 evenings of ruminating on why we had heard no elk bugling, we had no answers. Maybe it was too warm for them to be too wound up was our prevailing theory. The days were definitely warm and the nights were taking forever to cool off. I fell asleep easily that night. It had been a long day.
In the middle of the night, a bull elk brought his harem by our camp, maybe 50 yards away, bugling furiously. Another bull joined in and for 30 minutes or so, we were serenaded by at least 2 bulls. I lay there listening to the bugles and Keith snoring in his tent.
Just before dawn, other bulls brought their harems in and the bugle-fest started all over again. Keith (as I later discovered) was already out of his tent and sneaking up on one group in the near dark. I dressed and crawled out of the tent. As the hillsides were becoming visible I peered over a low rise in the terrain at a small 6-point bull and his cows about 25 yards away. He slowly moved his group up the slope.
Another bull below me started to bugle, I eventually spotted him and saw Keith about 20 yards from it hunkered down in some aspens. Keith saw me and snuck away to meet up. He said there was another couple of bulls on the other side of camp. Pretty soon they were bugling also. Soon another one higher up on the ridge to the north started bugling. He meandered along the edge of a stand of Douglas Fir with several cows.
There was one other bull bugling but we could not locate him. We kept glassing east across the Glen Creek valley at Terrace Mountain but could not find them. He kept bugling like a mad man but we still could not locate him. I finally happened to glance down toward Glen Creek itself and there he was right out in the middle of the valley floor near the trail. He had about 10 cows with him and he obviously thought he was the man, which he probably was.
Eventually 5-6 other bulls started bugling and we looked up onto Terrace Mountain and it was now crawling with elk. We eventually spotted 4 other bulls and 35-40 cows/calves. Some were up top and others were on the side slopes. The bulls continued to bugle for another half hour or so. Finally, it all went quiet. Keith and I were standing on the sagebrush-covered slopes, grinning from ear-to-ear.
We returned to camp, ate a quick breakfast, packed and headed down the trail. We were still jacked up about the events of the morning and relived it all as we hiked down the trail.
On the hike out, we caught several great views of Electric Peak behind us. A perfect end to an awesome trip.
