THE
THOROFARE
Friday
was the second layover day of the trip.
My plan to was to hike from Bridger Lake to a waterfall on Cliff Creek
in Yellowstone National Park. The hike
would take us through a small part of the legendary Thorofare, which is
generally considered to be the most remote place in the contiguous United
States. We started out by following the
trail around the south and east sides of the lake. We enjoyed some nice views of the lake and
surrounding mountains before heading into scrubby forest. Before long we reached a junction with a
trail marked by an ancient sign. The
trail to the right leads to another fork, with one branch leading back to Hawks
Rest and the Yellowstone River and the other heading upstream along Thorofare
Creek. We turned left and followed the
trail to the Yellowstone National Park boundary and on to a ford of Thorofare
Creek. Thorofare Creek is really a small
river, but the crossing wasn’t too bad.
The current was pretty strong, but the water
was only a little over knee high in the deepest spot.
It
was a sunny day, and the hike was through a mixture of meadows and woods. I decided to hang one of my solar panels on
the back of my pack to start charging one of my power bricks.
We
hiked on through the woods, passing near the Thorofare Ranger Station. A few minutes later, we reached a junction
with the South Boundary Trail. That
trail heads west to Falcon Creek, and eventually the Snake River. Here we were startled to run into other
backpackers for the first time. It was a
family with a 7-year old boy. Incredibly, they had started from the South
Entrance Road in Yellowstone – a route that requires several major river
fords. They can be challenging at any
time, particularly early in the season when water levels are higher. They had brought a rope to help with the
crossings, but it sounds like the difficulty was a lot greater than what they
had expected. Still, they had made it
this far. Now they just had to finish
the second half of their loop. I was
impressed with the seven year-old, who seemed to be
handling his first week-long backpacking trip.
We
continued on to Escarpment Creek, where we briefly
lost the trail. We eventually figured
out that we had to walk downstream along the creek to regain the trail. After that, we emerged in a vast meadow that
was somehow only a small part of the greater Thorofare. It was a pleasant, partly cloudy day, and we
had great views of the meadows and surrounding mountains.
As
we hiked north through the meadow, the spectacular cliffs on either side of
Cliff Creek came into view. I first
heard of the waterfall on Cliff Creek in “The Guide to Yellowstone Waterfalls
and Their Discovery” by Paul Rubinstein, Lee H. Whittlesey, and Mike
Stevens. It’s a comprehensive guidebook,
covering the entire park. Many of the
waterfalls are extremely remote. The
waterfall on Cliff Creek is a good example.
It’s 28 miles from the nearest trailhead. Although there is a good trail most of the
way, the final stretch to the waterfall requires a short but difficult
bushwhack. The waterfall on Cliff Creek
is one of many that the authors discovered, or at least first documented. They named it “Mist of the Trident Falls”.
My
original plan was to leave the trail a bit south of Cliff Creek and contour
over to the falls. It was a good plan,
but we entered the woods a bit before the optimal jumping off spot. The forest was thick, and wet from numerous
springs and small streams. In short, the
route that looked ideal on the map didn’t look ideal in
reality. We decided to stay on
the trail and followed it all the way to Cliff Creek. We rock hopped across, and the bushwhacking
on the far side of the stream looked reasonable. The waterfall was less than a ¼ mile
upstream, so we decided to head straight for it. This was a mistake.
Later on, we discovered that the best route is
to continue on the trail beyond Cliff Creek.
The ridge north of the creek has open meadows, offering a much more
pleasant approach. That route does
require a very steep final descent though.
We
headed upstream, avoiding the thickest forest and the occasional patch of willows. We made good progress on the River Right side
at first, but then a cliff blocked our route.
We were forced to cross the creek into the jungle. The bushwhack from there was horrible, though
still nowhere near as bad as Yellowstone Point.
At least the terrain was flat.
Still, we had to zigzag around piles of fallen trees, bushes, and thick
brush. Progress was painfully
slow. It took us almost an hour to go
less than a ¼ mile.
When
we got close, outcroppings of volcanic rock blocked our path. Oddly, it was easier to scramble over them
than to wade through the jungle. From
the top of one, I finally got a glimpse of the waterfall. The bushwhack had been terrible, but it was
worth it! Mist of the Trident Falls is
spectacular. It starts with a hidden
initial plunge, followed by an 80’ freefall over jagged cliffs of black
volcanic rock. It then runs through a
boulder garden before a final 20’ sliding cascade.
Larry
caught up with me, and we followed the base of a jagged cliff to reach the
bottom of the slide. We took a long
lunch break there, enjoying a rarely visited waterfall and taking photos. During our break, I discovered that my solar
panel was still hanging on the back of my pack.
Oops. That was a mistake. I’d forgotten that it was back there when we
started bushwhacking. Somewhere along
the way, the electronic connector had broken.
I was now down to one solar panel for the remainder of the trip.
Neither
of us wanted to return by the same route.
I eyed the steep hillside across from us, which was mostly open. It looked like easy walking on the ridge
above if we could climb it. But first, I
wanted a closer look at the main part of the waterfall.
The
route directly upstream was blocked by giant boulders. I backtracked a bit to rock hop the creek and
passed a small cave. I then climbed a
bit, before sidehilling through thick forest towards
the waterfall. I then descended steeply
to the edge of the pool right at the base of the main drop. Wowee! I thought the view from downstream was
spectacular. This was incredible! An easy scramble brought me to the base of
the cliff. It would be possible to walk
behind the waterfall, but there was moss and flowers and other greenery
everywhere. I didn’t want to trample
anything, so I contented myself with the view from there.
I
made a mistake leaving. I decided to
sidehill higher up, to take a shortcut to our planned exit route on the ridge
above. I ended up traversing steep loose
gravel that was sketchy and highly unpleasant.
I eventually reached a more stable spot and saw Larry down below. Speaking was impossible due to the roar of
the waterfall, but I managed to communicate with hand signals. He got the message that he needed to get a
closer look at the main drop.
I
waited until he started his return, and I steered him away from the nasty route
I had taken. Then I started the final
climb up. I had to use my hands in a few
spots on the climb, but there wasn’t anything more substantial than small rocks
and hard packed dirt to grab onto. Fortunately it wasn’t far to the top.
When
I reached the crest of the ridge, I was surprised to find a well-beaten elk
trail. It followed the ridge to the left
and right. Left looked like our exit
route. But what was to the right?
I
followed it to the crest of a hill.
Below, Cliff Creek runs through a slot canyon with several smaller
falls. I scrambled down for a closer
look, and I followed the creek downstream to the brink of the main
waterfall. There’s a great view over the
Thorofare from there. I then backtracked
upstream to the base of a small waterfall as the creek exits the main run of
the slot canyon. I scrambled back up to
the ridge above, and I followed the creek upstream past a few more small falls,
pools, and potholes. I reached the
beginning of the slot canyon, and the end of the excitement.
From
there, I backtracked along the ridge and joined Larry, who had just climbed up
the slope. We followed the trail along
the ridge initially, but then it began curving away to the north. That was the wrong direction, so we left the
trail and followed the ridge down. Most
of this stretch was through an open meadow with incredible wildflowers and
non-stop views of the Thorofare. The
descent was easy, and we reached the main trail just north of Cliff Creek.
The
previous day, we had briefly considered taking a layover day to hike up North
Two Ocean to the ridge separating Two Ocean Pass and Falcon Creek. That hike would’ve taken us past several
waterfalls on North Two Ocean Creek and to views of the Tetons and the
Thorofare. That would’ve been a 20 mile hike though, and it would have meant sacrificing our
layover day at Bridger Lake. I can’t
believe we almost skipped this incredible waterfall!
We
hiked back the same way. There was one
mishap. Just before the crossing of
Escarpment Creek, I stopped to change into my water shoes. Incredibly, my boots were still dry, and I
wanted to keep them that way. I found a
log in the shade that was just out of sight from the stream. Larry was already crossing the creek, so he
went ahead. I assumed that he would find
a place to wait, as he had been reluctant to get ahead of me throughout the
trip. I changed shoes, had a short break
and a snack, and then waded across the creek.
I changed shoes again on the other side, but I didn’t see any sign of
Larry. That was odd. I looked around on either side of the trail,
but there was no hint of him. I decided
that he must have gone ahead, so I started up the trail.
A
few minutes later I reached a junction with the South Boundary Trail. We had discussed taking that trail as an
alternate route back to Bridger Lake.
However, we hadn’t made a final decision on whether to go that way. Oddly, Larry wasn’t waiting at the
junction. Where did he go? I walked up each trail a short distance, but
there was no sign of him. I tried
yelling his name, but that seemed futile.
What
to do? He must have continued ahead, but
which trail did he take? If I picked the
wrong one, we would both be totally on our own.
He would have to find his own way back to camp. I decided to wait a bit and see if he
returned. After 10 minutes there was
still no sign of him. I decided to
backtrack to Escarpment Creek. Maybe I
had walked by him and neither of us had seen the other one? I returned to the creek and even hunted
around for him away from the trail. He
wasn’t there.
This
was puzzling. I returned to the junction
again and waited a few more minutes.
Which way would he have gone? We
had discussed the alternate route, but he wasn’t familiar with that at
all. He had the GAIA app on his phone,
but he hadn’t loaded the maps in advance, so that was useless. I decided that he probably would have gone
back on the same trail we had hiked that morning. I started heading that way, figuring that I
was a good 30 minutes behind him.
Five
minutes later I spotted Larry walking down the trail towards me. What a relief! It took a while to figure out what had
happened. Apparently
Larry had waited on the far side of Escarpment Creek for 10 minutes or so. He hadn’t seen me, so he walked back to the
creek to check on me. He didn’t see me
on the far side. Presumably I was still
sitting on the log in the shade, just out of sight. Instead of crossing to check, he decided that
I must have somehow walked right by him without either of us noticing the
other. He hurried down the trail, trying
to catch up with me. At that point I was
crossing the creek, then changing shoes again.
By the time I reached the junction, he had decided to walk to the
Thorofare Ranger Station to get help. He
thought I’d left him, and he didn’t know how to get back to camp on his own.
When
we ran into each other, he was on his way back from the ranger station, which
had been empty. Luckily
he had decided to backtrack rather than pressing on. Luckily I had chosen
the correct trail to follow.
The
rest of the hike back was uneventful. We
waded Thorofare Creek and returned to Bridger Lake. There was a group camped on the north side of
the lake – the first other people we had seen between Hawks Rest and the
lake. We had heard that the area was
popular and to expect crowds, but we somehow had it pretty much all to
ourselves. I’m guessing most people
camped near the river because of the algae bloom on the lake.
There
was a ton of wildlife around Bridger Lake.
On our return, we spotted ducks, geese, and a pair of swans out on the
water. Back near camp, we saw a beaver
splashing around. That night I saw a bat
at dusk, and later I heard a bizarre bird crying out. It may have been a loon, or perhaps a
crane. The next morning
I heard coyotes singing at sunrise.
Later, as we were packing up, we spotted an interested creature walking
through the woods behind our campsite. I
think it was a Pine Marten, or possibly a Fisher. Sadly, I wasn’t able to
get a photo.
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