CodyL
Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2018
- Messages
- 114
Our annual fall trip to Yellowstone. Originally had planned another area at higher elevation. Due to heavy thunderstorms in the forecast, and possible snow at high elevations, we adjusted our trip and decided to head up Slough Creek. We have been going to Yellowstone enough years and through some bad experience, we try to avoid the misery that constant rain can bring with the added danger of near freezing nights. Its one thing to wet out in the rain in summer, but late fall can be dangerous and with families at home we are more risk adverse than ever! Slough creek always delivers no matter what season you go, its one of my favorite places. So we decided to head up and see how far we would get. The well used trail and easy exit would made it an easy decision in case we needed to bail out in the case of constant rain. A few highlights below.
Day 1 - We hiked to 2S1 in the rain. Easy walk. Spent most of the day in our tents, but knew this was a possibility so we embraced the down time. We had a short break in the weather to quickly cook some dinner at the bear box and then thunderstorms hit the rest of the night. We spent almost 12 hours straight in our tent! Safe, but not our idea of fun ha ha! Wanted to go over to Mcbride lake, but no break in the rain. We decided if the next day was as wet, we would just hike back out and change plans.
Day 2- A day we thought we may just hike out due to rain ended up being one of the best days in the backcountry that I've ever had! Forecast looked promising, so we spent the day heading up Slough creek, past Silver Tip ranch, and into Gallatin NF. Made camp just past the Slough Creek patrol cabin. Saw a ton of wolf tracks and scat all over the trail and along the river bed. During dinner we could hear wolves starting to howl back and forth across the river up on the hillside. By this time the weather had cleared out and the sun had come out! The sun felt great! I've seen wolves in Yellowstone off the roads, but never in the backcountry. Next thing we know we hear a pack of wolves chasing an elk through the trees and tall brush just across the river. They were able to take it down. By the constant howling, we could tell where they were, but we couldn't get eyes on the site with the carcass. The brush was too dense and we didn't want to get too close. Hindsight I wish we would have crossed the river and hiked high up the ridge above and tried to look down on it. Every once in a while we would see one or two run up in the trees above the brush. With only our iphones, we were able to get a few photos but pretty bad quality. The best part was they were wound up and would howl throughout the day and night serenading us. I'd heard that before in Lamar but it was just off the road. What started out as a rainy down day had become one of my best experiences! It was a little creepy hearing them howl at night as we tried to sleep- but awesome! I'll add a few photos and audio if I can figure it out, not the greatest with tech. Just a great day!!
Day 3- Hiked up to frenchies and spent the day roaming around the valley! Saw one black bear in the area. Sat and watched it eat bugs in a down tree for about 20 minutes, then the wind changed direction and it caught our scent and off it went into the trees!! Came back to the camp just North of the Slough Creek US Forest service Cabin and again spent the night listening to the wolves.
Day 4- Weather continued to be partly cloudy with some sun. We headed back down to 2S4. Not much to see this day, but as we headed out we ran into a hunting guide bringing people up for the hunt with a pack of horses. He told us he saw the pack of wolves a few days earlier, and they had counted 9. We made it to camp, got cleaned up and spent the night on the bank of slough creek looking at the water from that elevated campground!
Day5- Hiked back to the vehicle with another year under our belt and some new experiences to take with us! Saw a couple of bald eagles on the way. One adult and one that was a juvenile and still had a brown head. Again something I had never seen before! Last animal was a coyote just off the trail. Overall, so glad we stuck it out after that first day of constant thunderstorms! This trip ended up being pretty special! Only other people we saw were the outfitter with his clients on the horses and two YS Rangers staying at the Elk Tongue Patrol Cabin.
Here’s some random pics from the trip.
Listened to the wolves howling for hours on end! The bison weren’t too worried.
Day 1 - We hiked to 2S1 in the rain. Easy walk. Spent most of the day in our tents, but knew this was a possibility so we embraced the down time. We had a short break in the weather to quickly cook some dinner at the bear box and then thunderstorms hit the rest of the night. We spent almost 12 hours straight in our tent! Safe, but not our idea of fun ha ha! Wanted to go over to Mcbride lake, but no break in the rain. We decided if the next day was as wet, we would just hike back out and change plans.
Day 2- A day we thought we may just hike out due to rain ended up being one of the best days in the backcountry that I've ever had! Forecast looked promising, so we spent the day heading up Slough creek, past Silver Tip ranch, and into Gallatin NF. Made camp just past the Slough Creek patrol cabin. Saw a ton of wolf tracks and scat all over the trail and along the river bed. During dinner we could hear wolves starting to howl back and forth across the river up on the hillside. By this time the weather had cleared out and the sun had come out! The sun felt great! I've seen wolves in Yellowstone off the roads, but never in the backcountry. Next thing we know we hear a pack of wolves chasing an elk through the trees and tall brush just across the river. They were able to take it down. By the constant howling, we could tell where they were, but we couldn't get eyes on the site with the carcass. The brush was too dense and we didn't want to get too close. Hindsight I wish we would have crossed the river and hiked high up the ridge above and tried to look down on it. Every once in a while we would see one or two run up in the trees above the brush. With only our iphones, we were able to get a few photos but pretty bad quality. The best part was they were wound up and would howl throughout the day and night serenading us. I'd heard that before in Lamar but it was just off the road. What started out as a rainy down day had become one of my best experiences! It was a little creepy hearing them howl at night as we tried to sleep- but awesome! I'll add a few photos and audio if I can figure it out, not the greatest with tech. Just a great day!!
Day 3- Hiked up to frenchies and spent the day roaming around the valley! Saw one black bear in the area. Sat and watched it eat bugs in a down tree for about 20 minutes, then the wind changed direction and it caught our scent and off it went into the trees!! Came back to the camp just North of the Slough Creek US Forest service Cabin and again spent the night listening to the wolves.
Day 4- Weather continued to be partly cloudy with some sun. We headed back down to 2S4. Not much to see this day, but as we headed out we ran into a hunting guide bringing people up for the hunt with a pack of horses. He told us he saw the pack of wolves a few days earlier, and they had counted 9. We made it to camp, got cleaned up and spent the night on the bank of slough creek looking at the water from that elevated campground!
Day5- Hiked back to the vehicle with another year under our belt and some new experiences to take with us! Saw a couple of bald eagles on the way. One adult and one that was a juvenile and still had a brown head. Again something I had never seen before! Last animal was a coyote just off the trail. Overall, so glad we stuck it out after that first day of constant thunderstorms! This trip ended up being pretty special! Only other people we saw were the outfitter with his clients on the horses and two YS Rangers staying at the Elk Tongue Patrol Cabin.
Here’s some random pics from the trip.
Listened to the wolves howling for hours on end! The bison weren’t too worried.
