Yellowstone Shuttles

[Artemis201]

Hey folks

I'm planning a ~4 day backpacking trip in the Bechler area of yellowstone in early august. Our plan is fly in to a nearby airport, get some kind of ride or shuttle service to Bechler Ranger Station, hike to the Old Faithful area, and then shuttle back to an airport to fly out.

We're not picky about what airports we use, but I've had trouble finding any shuttle services within the park outside of tours.

Does anyone know how we can do this? I know the ranger station is more difficult, but I'm really surprised Old Faithful doesn't have regular buses.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

Going to/leaving the Bechler corner area is definitely problematic. A couple years ago, instead of trying to pull off a shuttle to Bechler RS, a friend and I started at the South Entrance, hiked west along the South Boundary Trail to Grassy Lake Reservoir then started on the trail system into Bechler Meadows and came out at Lone Star. It was a 5 night trip, so if you have the time, it is an option. All we missed by this route rather than taking off from the Bechler RS was ~ 4 miles of trail through spruce and lodgepole on your way to Bechler Meadows.

If you are set on leaving from the RS, you might want to put an ad in a local paper (Driggs, Idaho Falls, Ashton CofC newsletter) looking for a shuttle.

 

[Artemis201]

I'm currently super flexible in both my dates and route. I've been looking for something 3-6 days long at a pretty leisurely pace (5-8 miles a day). I've also never been to Yellowstone so it would be great if the trail took me past some of the more well-known/impressive sights in the park. Bechler river trail seemed great for this with 30 miles, ending at Old Faithful, and including soaking in "Mr. Bubbles" as a treat.
The problem has been getting to/from, and i don't think hiking in and turning around halfway to hike out would help.

Do you have any suggestions for trails to try out instead of the Bechler area?

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

A Bechler River loop is an great idea. The loop we trekked was ~45 miles. The Bechler country is famous for its hordes of mosquitoes until early-to-mid August. IMHO, Mr. Bubbles is one of the few natural hot springs that is worth the hike in. We left the vehicle at Lone Star TH parking and hitched to the south entrance in a little over an hour. It is a very popular trail during the summer season. We hiked it in late September - no mosquitoes, few hikers, lots of great weather. Almost all of my Yellowstone treks involve hitch hiking, which I have had great luck with, so bear this in mind.

The trek from Lamar River (near Soda Butte) to Pelican Valley is awesome and is a 4-5 night venture if 8 miles/day is your goal. It's about 35 miles end-to-end. If you want to slow it down and fish, or day hike up Miller Creek or up onto Mirror Plateau, that is possible too. It is a popular route so book campsites early. This is a great route for wildlife viewing also.

Another favorite is a loop from Glen Creek TH (NW part of the park), hike up near Electric Peak, over to the Gallatin drainage and over Fawn Pass on your way back to the Glen Creek TH. It's about 45 miles and involves some relatively high altitudes (~10,000 feet over Electric Pass) but the scenery is nearly non-stop. Depending on the season, good amounts of wildlife too.

For brevity, those are just a couple. PM me and I'll pass along some other ideas.

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Now Artemis, getting a shuttle back to the Bechler Area could be problematic. Now several years ago there was a local shuttle out of Jackson that went north to Flagg Ranch, near the South Entrance of Yellowstone Park. But this Shuttle Company named Alltrans was bought by another company and discontinued this service. And last summer, one had to be staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge to take a shuttle that has run for years even anywhere up in Grand Teton NP which was a real bummer. Bummer for myself for I live without a car. There is a shuttle company that is out of Idaho called the Salt Lake Express. It has runs daily up to West Yellowstone and over here to Jackson. They have a website called www.saltlakeexpress.com

Now there could be some shuttles up in Yellowstone Park in the summer going to the various locations. But I don't know how this is doing now. This was operated by the concessionaire and not the Park Service. At least they used to have one. Also do know here in Jackson or other locations there are some taxis, if you are interested in going this route. Maybe you might come upon something on the web that is operating now that I am personally unaware of.

Also several years ago, all the surrounding communities from Bozeman and Livingston on the north, West Yellowstone on the west end, Cody on the easy end, to all the way down here to Jackson and even over to Dubois I believe ... they tried to start a all summer season long shuttles connecting all the communities. But it failed miserably bigtime. After a summer or two, it was discontinued I have hitched in the Park without any problems also if this is of interest.

Hope this helps some. Wishing You the Best!

 

[River]

We were considering this as a ski last winter. Here is a list of transportation providers for the park. I'd start with Back Country Sports.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/transbusn.htm