We started at Dogshead/Lewis Channel trail head and hiked a 63 mile loop that included part of the Bechler River in the Southwest corner of the park. We spent 6 nights and 7 days and saw too many waterfalls, geysers, hot pools, steam vents and interesting thermal features to count. We also had sun, wind, lightning, thunder and rain at times. It was a really epic adventure for us and I recommend it highly. The only bears we saw on the backpacking trip were a Black sow and two cubs from our campsite on day 5. The grizzly crossed the road in front of us on a driving day. ( Made my day !) We woke up to a coyote sniffing around our tent on night 6 and it froze in the light from the head lamp. We also startled a group of Sandhill cranes in the woods and they all took flight at once. Awesome ! We met folks from Utah, Wisconsin, Sweden and even Corvallis on the trail. All of our campsites had food hanging poles and a water source and we also carried a bear canister. Surprisingly, bear canisters are not required.
We stayed in a variety of cabins and campgrounds on our other nights in and around the park and love them all (except Mammoth campground, can you say "too close to the road"?) Although an entire herd of elk came through the campground and sunset. It was neat. If you have never been to Yellowstone, I highly recommend the trip. The old lodges are amazing and the thermal features are just cool and you just might see a grizzly bear !
- Grand Prismatic. Wow ! We had to hike up on a hill to get this shot.
- Bears !
- Found these horses in the back country with "handcuffs" on their front legs. They were hopping. Weird
- That hill in the backround had a sow and two black bear cubs on it in the morning ! And the creek was almost bathwater warm due to a hot spring further up.
- The last day on the Pitchstone Plateau we followed cairns and no trail for miles. We saw no one else all day.
- #1 on my bucket list !
- Mr. Bubbles. A well known back country hot spring. It was better than amazing !!
- Obligatory Falls Shot
- Throwing the food bag. By the 4th night he was a pro. We also carried a bear canister.
- Wow !
- We had to ford several times, but this one was the deepest.
- This pit toilet was my favorite.
- When hiking in Grizzly country, this made me the most nervous.
- Lots of these.
- Shoshone Geyser Basin. It was really awesome.
