YELLOWSTONE BACKPACKING TRIP PART 3:

LAKES AND GEYSERS

In this segment, Christy and I resume our hike by climbing out of the Bechler River Canyon. We continue to Shoshone Lake and visit the Shoshone Geyser Basin. We spend two nights on the shores of Shoshone Lake before heading out past Lewis Lake on our final day.

NO FENCES

Christy and I began the hardest day of our trip by hiking back up through Three Rivers Meadow and past Ragged Falls. The trail led up a ridge and the Gregg Fork quickly disappeared below us. We hiked through a shady forest and took one short side trip to a view of Twister Falls. It was nice, but nothing compared to the waterfalls downstream.

We continued on and passed a group of hikers using llamas to carry their gear. The trail led to a bridge over the Gregg Fork, which was now a fraction of its former size. Christy and I had begun to realize that the chance of a creek being bridged was inversely proportional to the size of the stream. Small creeks and boggy areas often had bridges, but major rivers did not.

We passed Douglas Knob and hiked through a boggy meadow that would've been all kinds of fun a month earlier. After lunch we resumed our hike on a boring trail through scrubby pine forest. On this section we crossed the continental divide twice, though it was hard to notice. In fact, this part of the hike seemed to consist of a roller coaster ride up and down 50' hills. Streams heading west from this area form the headwaters of the Firehole River. The Firehole joins the Yellowstone, which becomes the Missouri and eventually ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. Streams flowing east end up in the Snake River, which joins the Columbia River and flows into the Pacific. Don't think about it too hard, it'll give you a headache.

We finally left the woods behind at a small meadow. Here we picked up the trail heading down to Shoshone Lake. It led through a pretty but buggy valley full of lily pads and wildflowers. After what seemed like an eternity, we spotted the blasted landscape of the Shoshone Geyser Basin in the distance. The first thing I noticed was that it is completely in its natural state. There are no boardwalks, no fences, and no signs. There were also no crowds. In fact, we didn't see anyone the entire time we were there. It's a large basin, so it took us awhile to walk through. I wanted to spend some time there and explore, but it was getting late and it had been a long hike. We decided to continue to camp and return later.

Our campsite was allegedly just past the geyser basin. The guidebook indicated that it was only a short distance, and the ranger had even warned us to be cautious if we got up for a walk in the middle of the night. That would have required some serious sleepwalking, as the campsite was at least a mile past the geyser basin. This was rather annoying, as we had already hiked 12 miles, mostly uphill, and were ready for a rest. The bugs also chose this moment for a full-blown assault. I suppose it should have been expected. After all, we were hiking through a marsh, so it was certainly prime mosquito habitat. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore and threw off my pack in a fit of cursing that would have made a truck driver blush. I jumped around slapping at my attackers in a rage. Christy kept walking.

I didn't accomplish much with my outburst. If anything, there were even more mosquitoes surrounding me when I finally put my pack on and continued the search for the campsite. I was almost ready to give up the search for the actual campsite and improvise one when I caught up with Christy at the designated spot.

At first it seemed like a mediocre campsite. There was only one reasonable place for a tent, and it was on a hill. It was also rather close to the food pole. However, the site did have one redeeming quality. It came with its own beach. The beach was gravel, but it provided a great place to relax, eat dinner, and look out over the lake. Shoshone Lake is lovely, and the beach proved to be a great place to relax and enjoy it. Best of all, there was a bit of a breeze that discouraged the mosquitoes from bothering us.

Through the first 6 days of the backpacking trip, we had been appalled at the lack of wildlife. Except for squirrels and the birds in Bechler Meadows, we had seen nothing. Not even a lousy deer. We had even gone out of our way to look for animals by visiting likely areas at dusk. Things were looking up here though. Near camp we spotted a snake, a lizard, and a frog. We had also seen more large brown birds that may or may not have been Sandhill Cranes. After dinner I was scanning the shoreline with the binoculars when I spotted something large and white on a tree branch. It moved, and I realized that I was looking at a Bald Eagle. It was perched on a dead limb, scanning the water for fish.

We watched the Eagle for awhile, but it never went fishing. Christy did spot something in the water though. With the help of the binoculars, we were able to watch an otter playing in the waves. It seemed to be totally carefree as it jumped and dove. Late that evening he actually swam towards us. There was an inlet nearby that led to a marshy pond. It was apparent that he wanted to swim through it to get home, but didn't want to come that close to us. Finally he left the lake farther down and ran across the shore, before jumping into the pond.

We enjoyed a lovely sunset before heading to the tent. I slept well until I was wakened by something wet hitting my neck. It took me a minute to understand what was going on. Ah, rain. Since it hadn't really rained in 3 weeks, I had gotten in the habit of leaving the fly off. Oops. Luckily it was only drizzling. I ran outside to fix the fly and encountered a new misery. It was 3AM, but the mosquitoes were still outside the tent waiting for us. I was wearing boxer shorts, and my marginally effective repellent had worn off long ago. The next few minutes of my life were ones of indescribable torment. Finally I fixed the fly and dove back into the tent. It stopped raining long before I had killed all of the intruders that came in with me.

CHOCOLATE BURRITOS

I got up at sunrise Thursday and walked back to the Shoshone Geyser Basin. I was traveling light, and it still took a full 30 minutes to reach the near side of the basin. Once I arrived, the mosquitoes disappeared. One of the nicest aspects of the thermal areas is that the bugs seem to avoid them.

I spent an hour and a half in the basin and had the entire place to myself. There were a number of interesting features to explore. The first one I reached had an impressive cone, but did nothing but steam and rumble. Farther in I reached the real highlight of the area. Minuteman Geyser has an impressive cone, and it erupted four times while I was there. The eruptions reached 15 to 20 feet high and lasted several minutes each. I found a place to sit where I was surrounded by steaming vents, rumbling fissures, boiling pools, and spouting geysers. It was a nice place to relax and be entertained by Mother Nature's creativity.

I returned to camp for breakfast. Afterwards, we were reluctant to leave. We had a great spot on the beach, and the bugs weren't harassing us. We only had an 8-mile hike to do, so what was the rush? Instead of hurrying on, we decided to lounge on the beach. I think it was that morning that I finally started to get in the rhythm of Yellowstone. It had taken 7 days, but the petty things, like the heat and the bugs, no longer seemed that important. What was important was that we were next to an alpine lake and it was a beautiful day. We knew there were eagles nearby, looking for fish, and otters playing in the waves. We could rush on to the next place later.

We lounged in the sun for a couple of hours. Then we waded into the lake to cool off. Our swim was short-lived in the frigid water. I think we had gotten a bit spoiled from all of the warm swimming holes. Afterwards we eased into lunch. This was a bit difficult, as the only food we had remaining was a freeze-dried dinner, some cereal bars, and a few random snacks. We attempted to fashion lunch from our random snacks. We still had some tortillas, but the peanut butter had gotten funky. What could we put on the tortillas?

The only likely option was Nutella. According to Kobe Bryant, Nutella is wonderful on everything from pretzels to fruit to women other than your wife. We took Kobe's advice and put it on the tortillas. Now, if you've ever had Nutella before, you know it's just a fancy, healthy-sounding word for chocolate. So essentially we had chocolate burritos for lunch (coming soon to a Taco Bell near you). Mom, are you reading this?

We finally rolled out of camp at 1pm. We climbed away from the lake into the woods. This first climb was the steepest we'd seen since the first day. It ended quickly though, and soon we descended towards Moose Creek. Along the way we passed two backpackers that were thru-hiking the Continental Divide Trail. The CDT runs from Mexico to Canada through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. I had actually forgotten that it ran by Shoshone Lake. We chatted with the hikers for a bit before we let them resume the quest for Canada.

We hiked down the Moose Creek valley but generally stayed above the creek. Finally we reached the stream in a willow thicket. It certainly looked like prime Moose habitat, but we didn't see any. We waded the stream and began a pesky climb to a ridge overlooking the lake. This part of the forest was burned, and it was another hot, sunny day. The trail was surprisingly steep, and we struggled up through loose rock and dirt. At least the views were nice. We looked out over the expansive grassy delta of Moose Creek to the vast blue waters of Shoshone Lake.

We finally reached the top of the ridge and descended steeply. The trail led back into shady forest, and before we knew it we were standing on the lakeshore. We were right at the outlet, and our trail continued on the far side. When we got our permit, the ranger had claimed that the outlet was shallow and that we might be able to cross without getting our boots wet. Ha! The outlet was wide and deep. It was better downstream, but still knee deep. Jesus would've had a tough time staying dry crossing it.

We walked downstream and crossed. The current was deceptively strong, but we made it without trouble. We then hiked along the lakeshore at the edge of a meadow. Out on the lake we spotted some canoeists that had paddled up the river from Lewis Lake. That would be a trip worth doing. The trail led into a fern-filled forest. We followed it to our final campsite of the trip. This one featured an actual outhouse, so we knew we were getting close to civilization.

We pitched the tent in the woods, but once again spent most of our time by the lake. It was a windy evening, which kept the mosquitoes subdued. After dinner we relaxed on the rocky beach. It was still windy, and white capped waves licked the shore. We didn't spot any wildlife this time, but we still had plenty of entertainment. First we were treated to a stunning red sunset over the lake. The sun dropped through heavy clouds, but peeked through an opening just before it fell below the horizon. Then a thrilling thunderstorm rolled in. We watched startling flashes of lightning on the far side of the lake until the storm got close enough to make us nervous. Then we retreated to the relative safety of the woods and watched some more. We waited until the first raindrops came before running for the tent.

SEGUE

It rained off and on Thursday night. We had planned on getting up early Friday morning, but it was raining when we woke. We dozed until it stopped and then packed quickly. It was the first morning since we'd left North Carolina that didn't feature a blue sky. Heavy gray clouds hung overhead and threatened more rain.

We finished off the bottle of bug repellant, had cereal bars, and hit the trail. We actually had a choice of two paths that led back to the road. We were ready to get out, but we opted for the longer one. The shorter trail stays in the woods the whole way. Our path followed the Lewis River all the way to Lewis Lake. It was a scenic hike through the valley, and we were rewarded for our efforts with some additional wildlife sightings. We spotted several marmots on a large boulder in the river. Later, we saw two animals swimming in the river. We didn't get a very good look at them, but they were probably otters, or possibly beavers.

Lewis Lake was very turbulent due to the persistent wind. From the shore we had a great view of the Red Mountains, highlighted by the snow-capped peak of Mount Sheridan. The Tetons loomed in the distance beyond the south end of the lake.

The last couple of miles took us through more burned forest. The walking wasn't bad though, thanks to the breeze and the clouds. In fact, it was the best hiking weather of the trip. It was cool and cloudy, but with no more rain. Thanks to the breeze, the mosquitoes took the day off.

We reached the car before noon. This allowed us plenty of time for showers before lunch. We drove to Grant Village, where the second-best $3 purchase of my life got me a hot 30-minute shower. The best $3 purchase of my life was the shower I bought Christy at the same time. Heh, heh. It's a good thing Christy doesn't read these things.

After our hedonistic showers we stopped at the Grant Village Restaurant for lunch. We had been warned against the park food, but we were a long way from other options, and we were out of Nutella. We both had cheeseburgers, and they were wonderful! I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food.

After lunch we had to figure out what to do next. We still hadn't decided what we wanted to do the following week. We could head back to Boulder and then home, or we could stay an extra week in the Tetons. We decided not to decide. We elected to camp in the area Friday night either way. Then we would either head back on Saturday or plan a backpacking trip in the Tetons.

Since we had plenty of time, we decided to stay in the park a little longer. I dropped Christy off at the gift shop; I mean visitor's center, while I drove up to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This basin is situated right on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. The first thing I noticed upon arrival was a steaming crater right in the middle of the parking lot. Talk about your bad choices for parking spots. That would make for an interesting conversation with your insurance agent.

The second thing I noticed was a sign stating that a visitor had been mauled by a bear on the boardwalk in June. I'm sure there's more to that story, but I was stunned that someone had been attacked in a tourist area. I hadn't brought bear spray for any of our tourist walks. I hadn't thought it necessary, but I guess you never know.

I toured the basin quickly. There were a few dozen people around, which made it seem crowded after Shoshone Geyser Basin. The best features were a series of deep blue springs. There were also a couple of geyser cones out in the lake. They looked like tiny volcanoes sticking up out of the water.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be much activity here. I didn't stay long, but headed back to pick up Christy. I thought I'd have to tear her away from a stuffed moose, or a coffee mug with a moose, or a book about moose, or possibly some petrified moose droppings with "Yellowstone National Park" engraved in them. Actually, she was waiting for me when I arrived. I was relieved. We were both ready for a change in scenery.

We didn't have to wait long. We headed down the south entrance road past Lewis Lake and Lewis Falls. We drove through the Lewis River Canyon, staying high above the stream. The snowy peaks of the Tetons towered over us, almost in challenge. I used that view to try to convince Christy to stay. She was kind of homesick and was leaning towards heading back. I missed my dog, but otherwise wasn't very motivated to return home. Plus, we were already here. This was an opportunity to hike the Tetons that we shouldn't miss.

We drove out of the park and past Flagg Ranch. We passed the road to Driggs, Idaho, and continued on to Jackson Lake. From the lake we had an even better view of the Tetons as they fell away steeply to the water. We continued into Grand Teton National Park and stopped at Colter Bay. There is a large campground here, and we got a site. It was mid-afternoon on Friday, so we didn't want to mess around and get stranded without one. We got a decent site, with lots of trees for shade and privacy. In fact, it passed my campsite privacy test with ease. The test works like this: if you can go to the bathroom in broad daylight without actually going to the bathroom, it's a private site.

After we set up camp we drove to the visitor's center. We spoke with a ranger there about our backpacking options. Then we drove the park road past Jenny Lake. It was late afternoon, so we didn't see any wildlife. We did run into a huge thunderstorm that had been brewing all day. It was the kind of storm that shakes the car and reduces visibility to zero. It passed quickly though, and we headed for Jackson.

Jackson aspires to be the Aspen of Wyoming. It's full of art galleries and upscale shopping and people with too much money and time on their hands. In short, it's a dangerous place. Especially for two people that just spent eight days in the wilderness. We suffered through the chaos that is driving in Jackson before we gave up and parked. We walked through town looking for a place for dinner. Walking wasn't much better. Downtown was like the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. There was a bunch of shops full of stuff we didn't want to buy, and throngs of people not looking where they were going.

We struggled to find a restaurant. Oddly, there didn't seem to be many. We found a cute Mexican Restaurant with a 90-minute wait. We wandered on. After a couple of laps around town, I was all set to try Sam-n-Ella's Raw Chicken Bar. Then we caught a whiff from the Teton Steakhouse. I wasn't really interested in steak, but the sign on the door promised a variety of alternatives. We decided to try it.

Our choice was a good one. The restaurant was Sizzler style, where you order at the counter and then are seated. I got ribs, but the highlight was actually the salad bar. After a week in the woods we always crave fresh vegetables. This did the trick. I was nearly stuffed on soup and salad by the time the ribs came out. At $20 each it was rather expensive, but we were in Jackson. I think it was worth it.

We drove back to Colter Bay at dusk. Along the way we passed entire fields full of elk. Christy announced that she couldn't make a decision about the following week. She said it was up to me, knowing full well exactly how I'd vote. So ultimately Christy decided to stay, no matter how you slice it. The next morning I'd try to get a backpacking permit. We didn't have reservations, and it was the busiest time of the year. Still, I felt that if I arrived first-thing, we'd have a decent shot.

Back to Wyoming

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!