shredhiker
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- Feb 14, 2023
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This trip began with a flight into Jackson Hole, which would normally be beyond my acceptable budget, but I lucked out being just late enough into the season that prices on airfare & car rental were about half of what they run during the peak. It was a nice clear day that I flew in, and the view from above really is spectacular. As we approached our final destination I found myself glued to the window, looking out over Yellowstone Lake and down into the Thorofare, reminiscing about my time out there a few years prior. Landing right in front of the Tetons was quite the experience. I was traveling solo this time around, but I thought to myself that sometime I need to fly back into JAC when my wife is coming along.
Renting a couple of cans of bear spray and picking up the rental car was convenient enough, and I was on my way before long. I stopped at the DQ in Jackson for a late lunch, and then made my way up into Yellowstone just causing around with no destination in mind. There would be no major wildlife sightings, but traffic was on the tolerable side and the drive was pleasant all the same.
That evening, I’d meet up with my buddy Bruce who’d flown into Bozeman earlier that day. Planning this trip had been a bit chaotic & logistically it made sense for us to arrive at different airports. We opted to stay at one of the Flagg Ranch cabins, he’d picked up our permit on his way in, and after dinner we opted to drop one of our cars off at the Heart Lake trailhead where the upcoming hike would end. Once that was all sorted spent the evening sipping beers on the porch of the cabin, catching up on the handful of times we’d been to Yellowstone since our last hike up Slough Creek together. There was supposed to be a couple more of us, but it came down to just us two being able to make it.
Day 1:
We strolled over the restaurant at Flagg Ranch for their breakfast buffet, as our last bit of real food we’d get to enjoy before hitting the trail. We set out from the South Boundary trailhead. It was a pretty short & easy hike into campsite 8C1, mostly in the woods after the big Snake River crossing that starts the trip. There was a pretty large group of day hikers fording the river around the same time, they got ahead of us while I was snapping photos and surprisingly we wouldn’t see them again. We saw plenty of bear tracks throughout the day, heading both directions.
The last time I stayed at this campsite was at the end of my Thorofare trip, and was an unexpected itinerary change as I met my wife and her friends who’d decided last minute to camp there so we could all meet up. I hadn’t had much chance to explore the area then, but today we arrived at camp nice & early with clear blue skies overhead. After enjoying lunch and setting up camp, I headed out searching for the hot springs soaking area I’d heard about for so many years. Tired from traveling, Bruce stayed behind at camp. A fairly short hike from camp, I found the aforementioned spot easily enough, just following the logical path of the surrounding terrain. After a few minutes of stumbling around on the slick rocks of the Snake River, I found a nice spot to enjoy the warmth of the nearby spring & had a nice half hour soak. Without another soul in sight and the beautiful scenery all around, this really was an afternoon to be remembered.
Once I got back to camp, we were snacking by the fire pit and heard something that sounded big and loud just through the trees where we’d set our tents. Hesitantly, we grabbed our bear spray and crept in that direction to investigate. Keeping quiet at first, then clapping our hands and yelling out once we had a look around the area and saw nothing of note. I think the moment was equally relieving and disappointing for us both. After dinner we walked up the trail a bit to get a better view out over the surrounding meadows. As evening crept in, we wandered about with my zoom lens and his binoculars handy, hoping to spot some wildlife. There was a lone cow elk grazing out in the meadow to the east, but no other sightings that evening.
View of the meadow by 8C1
Day 2:
We had about a 7 mile walk to campsite 8C4. We followed the South Boundary trail to the Snake River cutoff, which would take us northeast through a section of trail I’d never hiked before. At the trail junction, there were a few signs that I should have read more carefully, as we were about to learn the hard way that section of trail had been re-routed at some point…
Sticking to where we thought the trail should go, we had a bit of difficulty finding where to cross the Snake River. That didn’t seem too alarming, in my experience that was normal for water crossings in the parks backcountry. Once across the river it took a while to locate the faint remnants of a trail, which I just assumed was seldom used. Soon enough the trail disappeared entirely as it became apparent we’d need to climb a couple hundred feet.
We stopped to check our GPS devices, and I got my paper map out to reference that as well. From what we could tell, we were right on track and there was really only one clear path up and out of the valley we were in. We moved ahead off trail, which was slow going but not terrible. Occasionally we’d find a faint social trail, but for the most part we just followed the terrain. After about a mile of this, we met back up with the main trail which was clear as day.
From the higher vantage point we’d reached, it was obvious looking back that the signs we’d come across near the trail junction were trying in vain to point us in the right direction. The old trail we followed appeared to have a few sections washed out, which was quite clearly visible from where we stood. We continued on for just a bit, to complete the 500 ft climb for the day, before stopping for lunch.
The rest of the hike was pretty easy going, traversing a steep hillside with Snake River down below us. I’ll spare everyone the ugly details, but Bruce was feeling under the weather as we got close to camp. It had been a pretty hot day without much tree cover, which apparently had taken a toll on him. I found a spot with a few logs and some shade where we took a short break, before he insisted we push on to camp so he could rest for the day. We made quick work of the last half mile or so, and he felt fine a couple of hours later. The evening at camp was uneventful, though we had a decent view across the river, the only thing we’d see as the sun went down was a squirrel hanging around camp. Earlier in the day we saw a few grizzly tracks, but they’d become less frequent as we hiked on.
Morning fog on the Snake River as we left camp
One of many bear tracks on the trail
Vibrant fall colors
Looking southeast, after our climb up the old trail
First glimpse of Mt Sheridan
Day 3:
We had a short & easy 5 mile day to campsite 8C5. We were in big open country most of the day and the fall colors were gorgeous in every direction. Once we got to camp I went out solo exploring a section of old trail that hugged the Snake River. From what I could tell the water had washed away most of it, but there was plenty of open forest that I could navigate through easily enough. After about a mile of this, cut north through the trees to connect with CDT which I followed back to camp.
The view from our site was beautiful, but surrounded by tall meadows, it wasn’t an ideal spot for wildlife watching. All we saw that night was a decent sized rabbit hanging around camp. Having been in this area of the park a few times before in the latter half of September, this was the least amount of wildlife I’d seen by a long shot.
Day 4:
We headed north along the Heart River, one of my favorite little sections of trail in the park. We got a fairly early start as I remembered hiking this area a few years prior, and not having adequate time to really stop and enjoy it. I had plans to take my time and soak it in today. Bruce opted to hike ahead of me, as I stopped to take a thousand photos. It was another warm sunny day for the most part, and I saw a handful of snakes throughout the day.
Rather than following the direct route toward Heart Lake, we got off on the Trail Creek trail to campsite 8O2. I had also hiked that section a few years ago, hearing from Heart Lake to Grouse Creek. I vaguely remember parts of it being nice, but I sort of rushed through that section as well. It was mostly in the trees, with some views finally opening up as we got near our campsite at Outlet Creek.
Grey skies were looming overhead and getting darker by the minute. Once we arrived at camp, we decided to hang food and set up tents immediately in case the weather took a turn. This was a wise choice as we got a few hours of very heavy rain, just after getting the tents up. I took shelter for most of the afternoon well into the evening, finally about an hour before dark the rain let up long enough to come out and have dinner.
This was my least favorite campsite of the trip. The tent sites weren’t great and the creek made for a pretty lousy water source, but it was usable for the night. The view of the valley looking down Outlet Creek & toward Overlook Mountain was quite nice though. As the sun went down we could hear a few elk bugling, as best I could tell there a couple in the valley with us and a few on the other side of Overlook somewhere. We weren’t able to spot any before it got too dark to see, but it was still an exciting end to the day.
First good look down the Heart River Canyon
One of my favorite views in the park
Day 5:
It rained intermittently through the night, but it let up shortly after sunrise. I quietly made my way out of the trees and toward the big open meadows by the creek, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the elk we’d been hearing the previous night. As I was scanning across the valley for movement, about 200 yards in front of me across the creek was a large dark grizzly. Within a few seconds it made its way toward the trees near the base of Overlook Mountain and disappeared. I hung around for a few more minutes before heading back to camp to make breakfast.
The rain wasn’t going anywhere, and within a few hours we were packing up wet tents and donning our rain gear as we made our way to 8J1 on Heart Lake. We could see blue skies trying to park through the clouds, but the rain persisted throughout the day. This section has a few water crossings with low visibility, which weren’t fun to navigate in the rain. I was thankful there were two of us at least. As we arrived to camp, I asked if we should just hike on out as the weather had been so lousy & it was really cold once we stopped moving. Bruce said the weather forecast from his in-reach called for it to clear up, so we sat it out.
This ended up being a good choice, within a couple of hours the sun started to shine, and we were able to start drying our things out. I couldn’t help but laugh thinking that this campsite had one of my favorite views in all of the park, and every time I’d stayed there it rained a lot. Later that evening as we began to lose the sun, the elk were bugling in full force once again, though we wouldn’t see any. I followed the shore of the lake down to where Beaver Creek ran into it and enjoyed watching the sun set.
Sunset looking north up Beaver Creek
Day 6:
In essential Heart Lake fashion, we woke up the a heavy fog completely obscuring the view of Mount Sheridan. Ready for a shower and some hot food, as soon as the fog cleared we began making our way toward the Heart Lake patrol cabin, where we took a short snack break before continuing on. My previous trips through this area had always started at Heart Lake, this was my first time ending a trip this way and coming into the geyser basin by the lake under bright blue skies was a welcome change from the cold & wet we slogged through the day before.
Somewhere around Double Spring Bruce, who was about 30 ft ahead of me, yelled out “Bear!” I quickly drew my bear spray and cautiously walked up behind up, right about a hundred yards ahead of us was a chunky brown colored bear crossing them meadows and heading into the trees. It wasn’t close enough to be alarmed, but certainly enough to keep us on alert. We didn’t get a clear enough look to identify it, but it was certainly big enough to be a grizzly. A few minutes after it went into the trees ahead on our right, we got off trail to the left into the open meadow trying to leave plenty of space.
We decided to stick a little closer together as we continued on. Maybe a quarter mile up the trial we were completely in the trees, and about 50 yards to our right we spotted what I have to assume was the same bear! He didn’t seem to be bothered by us, and was completely occupied digging & eating something in the ground. There wasn’t a great way for us to back away from him at that point, Bruce yelled out ‘hey bear’ which gave no response so we hiked on with our bear spray still in hand. This time we were able to clearly see it was a big healthy black bear.
Once we got what we felt was a safe distance from the bear, we picked up our pace as we headed toward the crossing of Witch Creek. We hiked about another quarter mile when we stopped so I could adjust my pack & put my tripod away. Looking down the hill where we’d just came from, I couldn’t believe my eyes as we saw the same bear yet again, casually strolling up behind us. Once again, completely preoccupied with digging & eating, not acknowledging our presence at all. I threw my pack back on, and we began the climb toward the upper group of the Heart Lake Geyser Basin.
After completing the climb, we stopped to enjoy a look around the basin, then stopped for lunch and pulled a few damp items out of our packs to let them dry in the sun while we ate. From that point on it didn’t take long to make our way back to the trailhead, hiking through the remnants of the 1988 fire.
Upon getting back to the car, it occurred to me I hadn’t arranged a place to stay my last night before flying back home. The logical choice would have been to grab a campsite at Colter Bay, but prices seem to get higher every year and the thought of a bed sounded great. I made my way down toward into Grand Teton and found a spot with phone service. After texting a few friends to let them know I was doing fine, I called the Black Bear Inn in Dubois to book a room for the night. I’d always enjoyed staying there, and had plenty of time to make the drive over the pass without rushing.
Early morning fog at Heart Lake
Mostly burned off a few hours later
We spotted the bear shortly after I took this photo.
When we got into the trees up ahead, we ran into it the second time.
Renting a couple of cans of bear spray and picking up the rental car was convenient enough, and I was on my way before long. I stopped at the DQ in Jackson for a late lunch, and then made my way up into Yellowstone just causing around with no destination in mind. There would be no major wildlife sightings, but traffic was on the tolerable side and the drive was pleasant all the same.
That evening, I’d meet up with my buddy Bruce who’d flown into Bozeman earlier that day. Planning this trip had been a bit chaotic & logistically it made sense for us to arrive at different airports. We opted to stay at one of the Flagg Ranch cabins, he’d picked up our permit on his way in, and after dinner we opted to drop one of our cars off at the Heart Lake trailhead where the upcoming hike would end. Once that was all sorted spent the evening sipping beers on the porch of the cabin, catching up on the handful of times we’d been to Yellowstone since our last hike up Slough Creek together. There was supposed to be a couple more of us, but it came down to just us two being able to make it.
Day 1:
We strolled over the restaurant at Flagg Ranch for their breakfast buffet, as our last bit of real food we’d get to enjoy before hitting the trail. We set out from the South Boundary trailhead. It was a pretty short & easy hike into campsite 8C1, mostly in the woods after the big Snake River crossing that starts the trip. There was a pretty large group of day hikers fording the river around the same time, they got ahead of us while I was snapping photos and surprisingly we wouldn’t see them again. We saw plenty of bear tracks throughout the day, heading both directions.
The last time I stayed at this campsite was at the end of my Thorofare trip, and was an unexpected itinerary change as I met my wife and her friends who’d decided last minute to camp there so we could all meet up. I hadn’t had much chance to explore the area then, but today we arrived at camp nice & early with clear blue skies overhead. After enjoying lunch and setting up camp, I headed out searching for the hot springs soaking area I’d heard about for so many years. Tired from traveling, Bruce stayed behind at camp. A fairly short hike from camp, I found the aforementioned spot easily enough, just following the logical path of the surrounding terrain. After a few minutes of stumbling around on the slick rocks of the Snake River, I found a nice spot to enjoy the warmth of the nearby spring & had a nice half hour soak. Without another soul in sight and the beautiful scenery all around, this really was an afternoon to be remembered.
Once I got back to camp, we were snacking by the fire pit and heard something that sounded big and loud just through the trees where we’d set our tents. Hesitantly, we grabbed our bear spray and crept in that direction to investigate. Keeping quiet at first, then clapping our hands and yelling out once we had a look around the area and saw nothing of note. I think the moment was equally relieving and disappointing for us both. After dinner we walked up the trail a bit to get a better view out over the surrounding meadows. As evening crept in, we wandered about with my zoom lens and his binoculars handy, hoping to spot some wildlife. There was a lone cow elk grazing out in the meadow to the east, but no other sightings that evening.
View of the meadow by 8C1
Day 2:
We had about a 7 mile walk to campsite 8C4. We followed the South Boundary trail to the Snake River cutoff, which would take us northeast through a section of trail I’d never hiked before. At the trail junction, there were a few signs that I should have read more carefully, as we were about to learn the hard way that section of trail had been re-routed at some point…
Sticking to where we thought the trail should go, we had a bit of difficulty finding where to cross the Snake River. That didn’t seem too alarming, in my experience that was normal for water crossings in the parks backcountry. Once across the river it took a while to locate the faint remnants of a trail, which I just assumed was seldom used. Soon enough the trail disappeared entirely as it became apparent we’d need to climb a couple hundred feet.
We stopped to check our GPS devices, and I got my paper map out to reference that as well. From what we could tell, we were right on track and there was really only one clear path up and out of the valley we were in. We moved ahead off trail, which was slow going but not terrible. Occasionally we’d find a faint social trail, but for the most part we just followed the terrain. After about a mile of this, we met back up with the main trail which was clear as day.
From the higher vantage point we’d reached, it was obvious looking back that the signs we’d come across near the trail junction were trying in vain to point us in the right direction. The old trail we followed appeared to have a few sections washed out, which was quite clearly visible from where we stood. We continued on for just a bit, to complete the 500 ft climb for the day, before stopping for lunch.
The rest of the hike was pretty easy going, traversing a steep hillside with Snake River down below us. I’ll spare everyone the ugly details, but Bruce was feeling under the weather as we got close to camp. It had been a pretty hot day without much tree cover, which apparently had taken a toll on him. I found a spot with a few logs and some shade where we took a short break, before he insisted we push on to camp so he could rest for the day. We made quick work of the last half mile or so, and he felt fine a couple of hours later. The evening at camp was uneventful, though we had a decent view across the river, the only thing we’d see as the sun went down was a squirrel hanging around camp. Earlier in the day we saw a few grizzly tracks, but they’d become less frequent as we hiked on.
Morning fog on the Snake River as we left camp
One of many bear tracks on the trail
Vibrant fall colors
Looking southeast, after our climb up the old trail
First glimpse of Mt Sheridan
Day 3:
We had a short & easy 5 mile day to campsite 8C5. We were in big open country most of the day and the fall colors were gorgeous in every direction. Once we got to camp I went out solo exploring a section of old trail that hugged the Snake River. From what I could tell the water had washed away most of it, but there was plenty of open forest that I could navigate through easily enough. After about a mile of this, cut north through the trees to connect with CDT which I followed back to camp.
The view from our site was beautiful, but surrounded by tall meadows, it wasn’t an ideal spot for wildlife watching. All we saw that night was a decent sized rabbit hanging around camp. Having been in this area of the park a few times before in the latter half of September, this was the least amount of wildlife I’d seen by a long shot.
Day 4:
We headed north along the Heart River, one of my favorite little sections of trail in the park. We got a fairly early start as I remembered hiking this area a few years prior, and not having adequate time to really stop and enjoy it. I had plans to take my time and soak it in today. Bruce opted to hike ahead of me, as I stopped to take a thousand photos. It was another warm sunny day for the most part, and I saw a handful of snakes throughout the day.
Rather than following the direct route toward Heart Lake, we got off on the Trail Creek trail to campsite 8O2. I had also hiked that section a few years ago, hearing from Heart Lake to Grouse Creek. I vaguely remember parts of it being nice, but I sort of rushed through that section as well. It was mostly in the trees, with some views finally opening up as we got near our campsite at Outlet Creek.
Grey skies were looming overhead and getting darker by the minute. Once we arrived at camp, we decided to hang food and set up tents immediately in case the weather took a turn. This was a wise choice as we got a few hours of very heavy rain, just after getting the tents up. I took shelter for most of the afternoon well into the evening, finally about an hour before dark the rain let up long enough to come out and have dinner.
This was my least favorite campsite of the trip. The tent sites weren’t great and the creek made for a pretty lousy water source, but it was usable for the night. The view of the valley looking down Outlet Creek & toward Overlook Mountain was quite nice though. As the sun went down we could hear a few elk bugling, as best I could tell there a couple in the valley with us and a few on the other side of Overlook somewhere. We weren’t able to spot any before it got too dark to see, but it was still an exciting end to the day.
First good look down the Heart River Canyon
One of my favorite views in the park
Day 5:
It rained intermittently through the night, but it let up shortly after sunrise. I quietly made my way out of the trees and toward the big open meadows by the creek, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the elk we’d been hearing the previous night. As I was scanning across the valley for movement, about 200 yards in front of me across the creek was a large dark grizzly. Within a few seconds it made its way toward the trees near the base of Overlook Mountain and disappeared. I hung around for a few more minutes before heading back to camp to make breakfast.
The rain wasn’t going anywhere, and within a few hours we were packing up wet tents and donning our rain gear as we made our way to 8J1 on Heart Lake. We could see blue skies trying to park through the clouds, but the rain persisted throughout the day. This section has a few water crossings with low visibility, which weren’t fun to navigate in the rain. I was thankful there were two of us at least. As we arrived to camp, I asked if we should just hike on out as the weather had been so lousy & it was really cold once we stopped moving. Bruce said the weather forecast from his in-reach called for it to clear up, so we sat it out.
This ended up being a good choice, within a couple of hours the sun started to shine, and we were able to start drying our things out. I couldn’t help but laugh thinking that this campsite had one of my favorite views in all of the park, and every time I’d stayed there it rained a lot. Later that evening as we began to lose the sun, the elk were bugling in full force once again, though we wouldn’t see any. I followed the shore of the lake down to where Beaver Creek ran into it and enjoyed watching the sun set.
Sunset looking north up Beaver Creek
Day 6:
In essential Heart Lake fashion, we woke up the a heavy fog completely obscuring the view of Mount Sheridan. Ready for a shower and some hot food, as soon as the fog cleared we began making our way toward the Heart Lake patrol cabin, where we took a short snack break before continuing on. My previous trips through this area had always started at Heart Lake, this was my first time ending a trip this way and coming into the geyser basin by the lake under bright blue skies was a welcome change from the cold & wet we slogged through the day before.
Somewhere around Double Spring Bruce, who was about 30 ft ahead of me, yelled out “Bear!” I quickly drew my bear spray and cautiously walked up behind up, right about a hundred yards ahead of us was a chunky brown colored bear crossing them meadows and heading into the trees. It wasn’t close enough to be alarmed, but certainly enough to keep us on alert. We didn’t get a clear enough look to identify it, but it was certainly big enough to be a grizzly. A few minutes after it went into the trees ahead on our right, we got off trail to the left into the open meadow trying to leave plenty of space.
We decided to stick a little closer together as we continued on. Maybe a quarter mile up the trial we were completely in the trees, and about 50 yards to our right we spotted what I have to assume was the same bear! He didn’t seem to be bothered by us, and was completely occupied digging & eating something in the ground. There wasn’t a great way for us to back away from him at that point, Bruce yelled out ‘hey bear’ which gave no response so we hiked on with our bear spray still in hand. This time we were able to clearly see it was a big healthy black bear.
Once we got what we felt was a safe distance from the bear, we picked up our pace as we headed toward the crossing of Witch Creek. We hiked about another quarter mile when we stopped so I could adjust my pack & put my tripod away. Looking down the hill where we’d just came from, I couldn’t believe my eyes as we saw the same bear yet again, casually strolling up behind us. Once again, completely preoccupied with digging & eating, not acknowledging our presence at all. I threw my pack back on, and we began the climb toward the upper group of the Heart Lake Geyser Basin.
After completing the climb, we stopped to enjoy a look around the basin, then stopped for lunch and pulled a few damp items out of our packs to let them dry in the sun while we ate. From that point on it didn’t take long to make our way back to the trailhead, hiking through the remnants of the 1988 fire.
Upon getting back to the car, it occurred to me I hadn’t arranged a place to stay my last night before flying back home. The logical choice would have been to grab a campsite at Colter Bay, but prices seem to get higher every year and the thought of a bed sounded great. I made my way down toward into Grand Teton and found a spot with phone service. After texting a few friends to let them know I was doing fine, I called the Black Bear Inn in Dubois to book a room for the night. I’d always enjoyed staying there, and had plenty of time to make the drive over the pass without rushing.
Early morning fog at Heart Lake
Mostly burned off a few hours later
We spotted the bear shortly after I took this photo.
When we got into the trees up ahead, we ran into it the second time.
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