BryanG
Member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2016
- Messages
- 67
My girlfriend and I just finished up spending a month camping in Yellowstone and wow, it was amazing. I dont' know how many parts this report is going to be but we will start with part one.
We left San Diego on June 5th and planned to make the 1,000 mile drive over two days. But as we got into Utah we decided to push through to Idaho. We ended up sleeping at a rest stop for a few hours before we carried on, reaching Norris campground at about 6:30am on June 6th. It was pretty cold but we were very happy to be in the park for the first time.
After the nerve-wrecking process of obtaining a campsite we made a good breakfast before heading to canyon for ice and other supplies (bear spray and fishing permits included). We decided to hang out at camp most of the day and do some fishing of the Gibbon River before turning in early.
For our first hike we decided to hike to Grebe lake from the Grebe Lake TH, a short and flat 3.3ish miles. The trail was pretty sloppy but had plenty of beautiful wildflowers. We saw a few bear tracks once we neared the lake and plenty of moose sign, which surprised me since the ranger told us "there are no moose in Yellowstone".
The lake was absolutely beautiful and we got to see some sort of weasel, (trumpeter?) swans, osprey and caught plenty of fish. Actually Grebe was the productive body of water we fished in the park.
Pair of Swans on Grebe Lake
Clouds building over Grebe Lake
After a few hours the clouds started to become threatening so we decided to head back to the trailhead as we donned our rain jackets. We only received a few raindrops though.
Once we arrived back to the car we decided to head to Artists Paint pots to explore some of the amazing thermal features.
I also have some videos of the bubbling mud pits but I can't seem to get them uploaded.
Heard of bison in Virginia Meadows.
Day 3 - Hayden Valley and Ribbon Lake
We got up early to try and see some wildlife in Hayden Valley but once we got there the mist was so thick we couldn't see more than 30 feet in front of us. So we ended up sitting around for 30 minutes waiting for it to burn off. Once the sky cleared the views were spectacular.
Pretty flowers in the morning.
The mist clearing
We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, just some bison, elk with a calf crossing the Yellowstone River which was pretty awesome. After breakfast we headed to Artists point to view the grand canyon of the yellowstone and hike to Ribbon Lake.
Some pretty incredible colors.
A pond on the way to Ribbon Lake
The mosquitos were pretty insane at Ribbon Lake and we had to layer up to fish. We caught some small Brook and Rainbow trout but didn't keep anything.
We decided to make a loop back to the trailhead via the Wapiti Lake trailhead and the extra miles were worth it!
Clear Lake
The rolling hills near the Wapiti Lake TH
Many more hikes to come including hikes near Mammoth, The Lamar Valley, Lower Geyser Basin as well as hikes in Grand Teton NP, and Sawtooth National Forest. We are staying in Gardiner tonight and then driving to SLC tomorrow so hopefully I can upload some more reports as soon as I get some better internet. I have a pretty big back-log of trip reports from this summer but I also start medical school in two weeks so hopefully I can get them out before then! Yellowstone is a pretty amazing place and I hope I can get back into the park to do some longer backpacking trips someday!
More to come....
We left San Diego on June 5th and planned to make the 1,000 mile drive over two days. But as we got into Utah we decided to push through to Idaho. We ended up sleeping at a rest stop for a few hours before we carried on, reaching Norris campground at about 6:30am on June 6th. It was pretty cold but we were very happy to be in the park for the first time.
After the nerve-wrecking process of obtaining a campsite we made a good breakfast before heading to canyon for ice and other supplies (bear spray and fishing permits included). We decided to hang out at camp most of the day and do some fishing of the Gibbon River before turning in early.
For our first hike we decided to hike to Grebe lake from the Grebe Lake TH, a short and flat 3.3ish miles. The trail was pretty sloppy but had plenty of beautiful wildflowers. We saw a few bear tracks once we neared the lake and plenty of moose sign, which surprised me since the ranger told us "there are no moose in Yellowstone".
The lake was absolutely beautiful and we got to see some sort of weasel, (trumpeter?) swans, osprey and caught plenty of fish. Actually Grebe was the productive body of water we fished in the park.
Pair of Swans on Grebe Lake
Clouds building over Grebe Lake
After a few hours the clouds started to become threatening so we decided to head back to the trailhead as we donned our rain jackets. We only received a few raindrops though.
Once we arrived back to the car we decided to head to Artists Paint pots to explore some of the amazing thermal features.
I also have some videos of the bubbling mud pits but I can't seem to get them uploaded.
Heard of bison in Virginia Meadows.
Day 3 - Hayden Valley and Ribbon Lake
We got up early to try and see some wildlife in Hayden Valley but once we got there the mist was so thick we couldn't see more than 30 feet in front of us. So we ended up sitting around for 30 minutes waiting for it to burn off. Once the sky cleared the views were spectacular.
Pretty flowers in the morning.
The mist clearing
We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, just some bison, elk with a calf crossing the Yellowstone River which was pretty awesome. After breakfast we headed to Artists point to view the grand canyon of the yellowstone and hike to Ribbon Lake.
Some pretty incredible colors.
A pond on the way to Ribbon Lake
The mosquitos were pretty insane at Ribbon Lake and we had to layer up to fish. We caught some small Brook and Rainbow trout but didn't keep anything.
We decided to make a loop back to the trailhead via the Wapiti Lake trailhead and the extra miles were worth it!
Clear Lake
The rolling hills near the Wapiti Lake TH
Many more hikes to come including hikes near Mammoth, The Lamar Valley, Lower Geyser Basin as well as hikes in Grand Teton NP, and Sawtooth National Forest. We are staying in Gardiner tonight and then driving to SLC tomorrow so hopefully I can upload some more reports as soon as I get some better internet. I have a pretty big back-log of trip reports from this summer but I also start medical school in two weeks so hopefully I can get them out before then! Yellowstone is a pretty amazing place and I hope I can get back into the park to do some longer backpacking trips someday!
More to come....
