Keith
Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2014
- Messages
- 75
For years I visited Yellowstone with my family and we thoroughly enjoyed the established trails. But then I started looking closely at the historic maps and I kept seeing this “Howard Eaton Trail” all over the park (pretty much the original figure 8 in the park). Only a few segments are described in hiking books and are still maintained. I took an interest in exploring them and then I met some other folks doing the same (most notably @scatman). I’ve hiked segments all over the park and I've been chipping away at this segment from Blacktail through Oxbow and Geode Creeks:
A couple years ago I hiked the western portion starting at Blacktail (described in http://backcountrypost.com/threads/segments-of-the-howard-eaton-in-yellowstone-10-29-11-1.3813/#post-44189). I was easily able to find the markers a couple miles from the road. I did have to navigate around bison herds so that slowed me down a bit. This year I decided to pick up where I left off and to take it across Oxbow Creek and to the east.
On my previous journey I lost the trail when I got sidetracked by a game trail and was running low on daylight. It took me a little time this year to find it again but I did find it without too much trouble. Overall I hiked a little over 6 miles this time and found 18 markers -- including the marker at the intersection with Oxbow Creek. I had some excitement near the end when I fell on my bear spray (details later).
I parked in a turnout just west of the Blacktail Plateau Drive and headed North to find the trail. It was pretty easy going at first:
I was vigilant being on the lookout for bears and bison but the only wildlife I saw was an Osprey and a sage grouse (is that what they are named?). The grouse gave me quite a scare -- they can really make you jump!
I did come across a rocky and wooded section that was surprisingly difficult to navigate:
Here's a look back. It was harder to traverse than it looks -- really:
I knew I was getting close to the trail but it did take me awhile to figure out where it heads down Oxbow Creek:
Found it! It's amazing how orange have remained all these years -- at least the shaded ones:
It's actually very pretty around Oxbow -- lots of valley views and no people!
This is looking across Oxbow where I am headed:
Looking back before beginning the sharp descent down to the Oxbow. There are markers but you can't make them out in this picture:
Can you see the marker in this picture -- the tree on the left. This marker is very faded:
A closer look at the marker. You can see how easy the trail is to follow at times:
Really starting to head downhill down:
The section just west of Oxbow Creek is VERY easy to follow. It makes me wonder if it doubles as a game trail:
Crossing Oxbow Creek:
After a steep climb up the east side of Oxbow Creek -- looking back to the west side:
The trail remains easy to follow on the east side:
Clearly there are other people lurking around here at times. I found several antlers on rocks and in trees and this time I found a dead tree with a marker carefully placed against a living tree:
Once you climb out the east, there are plenty of great views to the west:
Including views of Electric Peak:
These nursery rocks always crack me up. This one had a marker as well -- clearly a great place for lunch on a hot day:
At this point I lost the trail again:
And then I decided I didn't want to go down into another valley -- I'll tackle this portion to Hellroaring in the future (hopefully with @scatman):
A few last looks around before heading back to the road:
More view to the west:
And that's when I stopped taking pictures. While scrambling up a hill I fell and my bear spray landed on a rock and it blew up in my pocket. My left leg was completely drenched in bear spray! I took my pants off, bagged up all the mess and did my best to clean off my before racing back to the road in my underwear. It felt like a REALLY bad sunburn so the fun was over. I put some rain paints on for the walk along the road. I had planned on hitchhiking but didn't want to sully any stranger's vehicles with bear spray. I raced back to Mammoth for a shower and waited out 2 very painful hours until the burn wore off.
Here is the route I took as measured by my GPS. The locations of the markers can be seen as well (except that hete8/hete9 was where I stopped to take my paints off):
Now a personal side tangent. I met @scatman (and through him @Joey ) online while reading a blog about this section near Oxbow Creek (https://yellowstoneballpark.wordpre...-exploration-of-the-howard-eaton-trail-51510/) . I've been fortunate to enjoy numerous Yellowstone adventure with those two over the past four years. Life is a journey and I'm grateful to have such great family and friends!
A couple years ago I hiked the western portion starting at Blacktail (described in http://backcountrypost.com/threads/segments-of-the-howard-eaton-in-yellowstone-10-29-11-1.3813/#post-44189). I was easily able to find the markers a couple miles from the road. I did have to navigate around bison herds so that slowed me down a bit. This year I decided to pick up where I left off and to take it across Oxbow Creek and to the east.
On my previous journey I lost the trail when I got sidetracked by a game trail and was running low on daylight. It took me a little time this year to find it again but I did find it without too much trouble. Overall I hiked a little over 6 miles this time and found 18 markers -- including the marker at the intersection with Oxbow Creek. I had some excitement near the end when I fell on my bear spray (details later).
I parked in a turnout just west of the Blacktail Plateau Drive and headed North to find the trail. It was pretty easy going at first:
I was vigilant being on the lookout for bears and bison but the only wildlife I saw was an Osprey and a sage grouse (is that what they are named?). The grouse gave me quite a scare -- they can really make you jump!
I did come across a rocky and wooded section that was surprisingly difficult to navigate:
Here's a look back. It was harder to traverse than it looks -- really:
I knew I was getting close to the trail but it did take me awhile to figure out where it heads down Oxbow Creek:
Found it! It's amazing how orange have remained all these years -- at least the shaded ones:
It's actually very pretty around Oxbow -- lots of valley views and no people!
This is looking across Oxbow where I am headed:
Looking back before beginning the sharp descent down to the Oxbow. There are markers but you can't make them out in this picture:
Can you see the marker in this picture -- the tree on the left. This marker is very faded:
A closer look at the marker. You can see how easy the trail is to follow at times:
Really starting to head downhill down:
The section just west of Oxbow Creek is VERY easy to follow. It makes me wonder if it doubles as a game trail:
Crossing Oxbow Creek:
After a steep climb up the east side of Oxbow Creek -- looking back to the west side:
The trail remains easy to follow on the east side:
Clearly there are other people lurking around here at times. I found several antlers on rocks and in trees and this time I found a dead tree with a marker carefully placed against a living tree:
Once you climb out the east, there are plenty of great views to the west:
Including views of Electric Peak:
These nursery rocks always crack me up. This one had a marker as well -- clearly a great place for lunch on a hot day:
At this point I lost the trail again:
And then I decided I didn't want to go down into another valley -- I'll tackle this portion to Hellroaring in the future (hopefully with @scatman):
A few last looks around before heading back to the road:
More view to the west:
And that's when I stopped taking pictures. While scrambling up a hill I fell and my bear spray landed on a rock and it blew up in my pocket. My left leg was completely drenched in bear spray! I took my pants off, bagged up all the mess and did my best to clean off my before racing back to the road in my underwear. It felt like a REALLY bad sunburn so the fun was over. I put some rain paints on for the walk along the road. I had planned on hitchhiking but didn't want to sully any stranger's vehicles with bear spray. I raced back to Mammoth for a shower and waited out 2 very painful hours until the burn wore off.
Here is the route I took as measured by my GPS. The locations of the markers can be seen as well (except that hete8/hete9 was where I stopped to take my paints off):
Now a personal side tangent. I met @scatman (and through him @Joey ) online while reading a blog about this section near Oxbow Creek (https://yellowstoneballpark.wordpre...-exploration-of-the-howard-eaton-trail-51510/) . I've been fortunate to enjoy numerous Yellowstone adventure with those two over the past four years. Life is a journey and I'm grateful to have such great family and friends!
