2022 – Yellowstone

Leading Up to the Trip

For this trip, we once again flew to Salt Lake City Utah, and then drove a rental car to a tourist trap of a town called West Yellowstone. After a long day of travel, we checked into our cheap motel, had dinner at a joint called the Slippery Otter, and went to bed. This town only takes about 5 minutes to drive through, but it is jam packed with hotels, motels, and themed restaurants. I swear every restaurant has a bison burger on the menu.

After our travel day, we had 1 full day to do some actual touristy stuff. We had 3 major goals on this day. We wanted to see the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, and we had to check in with Yellowstone Rangers ahead of our backpacking trip. We started by targeting Old Faithful. On the drive over we stopped at numerous hot springs, geysers, and mudpots. It was pretty spectacular to unnatural shades of water, mud bubbling from the constant release of gas within the earth, and geysers shooting off in the distance like sprinklers; even if it all stank of sulfur!

Finally, we made it to Old Faithful. After parking the car and starting to walk over to the main attraction, we realized that there were crowds of people walking away. We missed the most recent eruption by just 5 minutes. This meant that we would have to wait about 90 minutes for the next eruption. This was a problem because one of my Dad’s greatest struggles in life is any sort of waiting. He immediately insisted that we get back to our car and drive to go see the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. He said that we would come back to Old Faithful later. I did not want to leave because I had a pretty strong feeling that if we left Old Faithful without seeing the eruption, we would never end up coming back. We got in the car and started driving down the road, and then my Dad had a change of heart. We turned around and headed back. We went into the nearest tourist trap to kill some time and ended up getting some ice cream. I got Huckleberry and my Dad got a scoop of Coconut that he says is some of the best ice cream he’s ever tasted! Huckleberries seem to be a fruit native to Yellowstone park, so you’ll see many places advertising Huckleberry flavored dishes. At long last Old Faithful erupted and we had front row seats. I feel like a lot of times in life it can be hard for something like Old Faithful to live up to expectations after hearing about it all my life, but she turned out to be amazing! Old Faithful blasts hundreds of feet into the air and it lasted a lot longer than I expected. I figured the thing was only a few seconds, but it actually erupts for a few minutes. I was close enough to really see the incredible amount of force that pushed the boiling water out of the earth.

Side note. Other landmarks that lived up to the hype: The St. Louis Arch, the Sear’s Tower, Devils Tower, the Great Bass Pro Pyramid of Memphis, Graceland, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Grand Canyon.

When Old Faithful finished doing her thing, we hopped back in the rental and drove straight over to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. It was about a 45 minute drive. The hike down to the overlook was short but very steep! There were also a lot of other people there to take in the view. The overlook is situated on the very precipice of a waterfall. You get the most incredible view of the Yellowstone river pouring over the edge of a cliff and proceeding down into the Canyon. I had never even heard of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, so this was a great surprise for me! It was gorgeous! We spent some time soaking in the views, snapping pics, and even went to a different trail to get another angle. Then we headed back to West Yellowstone to go check in with the Rangers.

The main reason we were required to check in with the Ranger was because of the danger of Bears on this trip. Yellowstone national park is Grizzly Bear country. The rangers want to make sure that anyone going out into the backcountry is adequately prepared. They even made us watch an information movie about being prepared for Bears. The rangers were super nice and friendly and they seemed to loosen up a bit when it became clear that we weren’t complete novices. They told us some funny stories about how naive some of the visitors in the park are. Apparently, they’ve had people ask what time and where are the animals rounded up at the end of the day. This was in reference to wild animals like bison, elk, and bears. They basically thought it was a zoo! Anyway, the Rangers gave us our proper approval and we were all set for our trip. This was the first hint that this backpacking trip was going to be fairly remote because most trails don’t have such an in depth approval process. With this being our last major goal for the day, we headed back to our motel and did some last minute packing.

Day 1 – Black Butte Trailhead to Upper Daily Creek Campsite

Something truly incredible happened before we even kicked off this backpacking trip. The plan was to simply back up our stuff and drive to the trailhead so we could get started with our hike. I had woken up and I was heading out to our car to throw my backpacking gear into it. There was another guy parked right next to us who was out and getting ready for his own excursion. At first I paid him no mind, but after taking a closer look I realized it was a family friend! Tyler Venchus! I first met Tyler about 15 years earlier when I walked down the street to a bus stop to meet him there and walk him back to my house for his first day in my Mom’s daycare. Tyler’s little brother Chandler also attended the daycare. This was the start of the Venchus family becoming very close family friends. Tyler also happens to be the same age as my sister Annelise and Chandler is the same age as my little brother Hayden. They all grew up in school together and competing on the same sports teams. My Dad even coached with Terry Venchus who was Tyler and Chandler’s Dad. Outside of school, sports, and daycare, the Venchuses would come over for bonfires and we’d all go fishing together sometimes. Suffice to say, I was totally shocked to look over that morning and see Tyler Venchus parked right next to us in the town of West Yellowstone. After the initial reunion, we all went out to grab breakfast together at a local diner. The whole time we traded stories about our respective trips. Tyler was on quiet the adventure of driving through the whole state of Montana and fishing every piece of water along the way! At night he had a shelter that popped up on top of his car that he would sleep in. He had been on the road for weeks, and had only come out of the wilderness because he was dealing with some car troubles. We briefly considered bringing him along with us on our trip, but quickly realized it wouldn’t be practical for various reasons. Plus, he still had his own adventure to tackle! When breakfast was wrapped up, we said our goodbyes and well wishes to Tyler and we hit the road for the trailhead. We were going to have a late start on this day, but it was totally worth it to catch up and hear some rad stories from an old friend.

The road to the trail followed the Gallatin River through a valley as mountain ranges appeared on both sides. We would be hiking up the North East range which now loomed above us. We parked our car at the the trailhead parking area and met a couple who was also getting ready to start their own trip. They were very friendly and let us know that they would be camping near us at Shelf Lake on Day 2. They planned on finishing their trip at the Specimen Creek trailhead a bit further down the road, so we followed them so they could drop their car off and then gave them a ride back to the start.

At 11:36am we finally started hiking! This is a pretty late start for us because we kept getting sidetracked! This wasn’t much of an issue though because this first hike was a relatively easy 6 miles. The trailhead was at the very bottom of the valley just beside the river. This meant that the trail kicked up pretty much as soon as we started hiking. The climb was a steady easy grade and the path was clear of debris making it easy to traverse. As a result we made steady progress. Along the way we met some day hikers on their way back to the road who warned us that a moose was just ahead of us! We made sure to be as quiet as possible so that we hopefully wouldn’t spook the Moose.

The trail at this point was following the Black Butte Creek. There were groves of trees and also flower filled meadows adjacent to the creek. Eventually we reached a meadow and on the far side we spotted the Moose just hanging out and grazing on the luscious grass! She was a beautiful cow and my Dad was able to snap a perfect picture with his expensive camera. My favorite thing about that picture is the absurdly humanlike eyelashes on the Moose! The couple we met at the trailhead had caught up with us here and mentioned that it must be fairly young due to its size. Soon after spotting the Moose, the trail split in 2 directions. Our friends were headed towards the nearby Black Butte campsite and we still had to hike a few more miles in the other direction to the Upper Daily Creek Campsite. We said goodbye and see ya tomorrow at the Shelf Lake camp!

After the trail split, we had one last climb before coming through to a meadow where we got our first view of the countryside! It was gorgeous! We took some time here to snap pictures and take videos. One downside to this trip was the bugs. They were thick! This was the year that Yellowstone had huge floods in a different part of the park. My Dad theorized that the increase in rain led to more bugs than usual. As we hiked, we seemed to slowly accumulate more and more houseflies buzzing about us. Eventually we reached our camp at Upper Daily Creek.

The camp was located in a meadow clearing surrounded by the forest. We quickly set up camp and had a few ours to hangout and enjoy our campsite. That night we watched a movie together on my Dad’s phone. He had downloaded a bunch of movies and had portable batteries with him in the event of his phone dying. Also, phone battery seems to last significantly longer when it’s put in airplane mode. We watched movies in the tent at night throughout the whole trip. The first one we watched was called “The Guns of Navarone.” An epic WWII movie from the 1960’s. We also watched the Terminator remake from the 2010s that greatly surpassed my expectations!

Day 2 – Skyrim Trail from Upper Daily Creek Campsite to Shelf Lake Campsite

This was the biggest hike of the trip and we knew it was going to be a tough day. This day we were hiking a route called the Sky Rim Trail. This route earned this name because the trail follows a mountain ridge the whole way. I have to admit that I vastly underestimated this hike. For some reason in my head, I sort of thought there would be a lot of climbing as we hiked up to the ridge, but once you were up there it would level off. This could not be further from the truth! The ridge is constantly rolling up and down over each success mountain peak. Duh! The steep climbs on the mountain ridge were shorter, but they get your heart rate pumping! This is what can really slow you down on a trip like this. We had to take a lot of breaks to recover from these steep climbs.

The Sky Rim Trail never full went above the tree line, but the trees were pretty sparse up there. The trail was well maintained and easy to follow. Plus, we had amazing views of the Gallatin National Forest all day long! One of the mountain summits we reached was a wide open field and we were met by a jet stream of wind shooting up and over it. My Dad saw a bird get caught in the wind, it tried to fight against it for just a moment before getting slingshot off into the distance! Additionally, we came upon a Buck grazing right along the trail. He stared us down for a few minutes before finally scampering away.

The largest and last mountain that day was called Big Horn Peak. At the base of the climb we were looking for where the trail would wind down into the valley because we thought we were finished climbing. Then we realized that the trail went straight up the next mountain! There was no visible trail and we had to follow markings left by rangers. This is one of the steepest grades I’ve ever hiked. We would hike for about 5 before needing to stop to catch our breath. After a lot of huffing and puffing, we made it to the top and it was once again a big wide open field. My Dad was awestruck by the views all day long, but I have to admit that I was ready for camp at this point. By the time we reached the top of Bighorn Mountain, we had been hiking for about 6 and half hours and we still had 2 more hours left before reaching camp. It’s a long time to be on your feet with a heavy backpack let alone hiking up and down mountains.

Just past Bighorn Peak was a really cool but tricky cliffside section of the trail. After this section, trail still rolled up and down the ridge, but we were descending lower now. We actually ran out of water during the last hour or so of this hike, but the hard hiking was behind us so we knew we could make it to camp. We stumbled into our Shelf Lake Campsite just past 6pm.

First we went straight down to the lake to filter water and start hydrating. We were completely exhausted, but there were 2 hours till sunset! Our relatively late start at 9am was looking like a mistake! We made a few errors in our exhausted state that I don’t think would normally happen. In an attempt to hang our Bear bag, my Dad got the rope stuck on the Bear pole. It had looped around it multiple times. After trying to hit the rope down by throwing rocks at it, I realized I could get it down by undoing the loops. I took the opposite end of the rope and was able to reverse the loops with some precise throws back over the Bear pole. The other mistake we made happened when our tent bag was caught by a gust of wind and thrown into the lake. It sunk beneath the water immediately. We hastily made dinner and set up the tent just as the last bit of sunlight died out. Shelf Lake was nestled up right against the mountain ridge. It was a really cool area and I wish we had a bit more time to enjoy it!

Sometime during our scramble to set up camp our friends from the trail head came over and said hi. They were setup at a campsite on the other side of the lake. It was really nice to have friendly people to talk to after not seeing another soul for the entire day. At this point, I was considering taking a 0 day (meaning staying at Shelf Lake and not hiking) because we were so exhausted, but our friends let us know that even though the park seems completely empty there would most likely be people coming to camp at Shelf Lake the next day. They also let us know that the next day of hiking would be much easier. This backcountry has few visitors because the park requires permits and they don’t give out very many. Each campsite area only accommodates 1 or 2 groups.

The Sky Rim Trail was one of the most epic days of hiking in my 11 years of doing these trips. We gained 4700 ft of elevation which is more than any of our days spent hiking in Glacier National Park, the Wind River Range, and Smoky National Park. Unfortunately I did not have my Garmin Forerunner 935 watch until 2019, so I don’t have data on our trips to Colorado or the Grand Canyon. I believe the only day of hiking that was more strenuous than the Sky Rim Trail was the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon. From the river to the rim is about a 4,700 ft change in elevation, but hiking that trail is not one smooth ascent. It goes up and down as you traverse the canyon. I think we probably gained around 6,000 ft of total elevation while hiking the Tanner Trail. Brutal.

Day 3 – Shelf Lake Campsite to High Lake Campsite

The Sky Rim Trail totally kicked our butt so we really dragged our feet waking up and breaking camp on this day. We didn’t leave camp until 11am. We were tired from the previous days hike, but there was also a bit of a hangover due to the fact the best views of the trip were now behind us. There is a lot of excitement and anxiety that goes into planning a trip like this. You never know exactly what’s going to happen on the trail during those big days like the Sky Rim Trail. Now that we had done the hard part, these last 3 days in Yellowstone would be a victory lap for us!

The trail led us down into the valley where the trees once again grew thick and tall. Not long after starting our hike we met a large group hiking up to Shelf Lake making me glad that we didn’t take a 0 day after all. At the halfway point we came upon Crescent Lake. It was another gorgeous lake bordered by a towering mountain ridge. We stopped here to relax and take lunch.

After Crescent Lake, the trail kicked back up and much to our chagrin we had to do a bit of climbing. We found ourselves at the top of Shooting Star Mountain with another gorgeous view of the countryside. After Shooting Star Mountain and a few miles of hiking the trail took us to our camp at High Lake. This camp was not pleasant largely due to the large amount of mosquitos. The Bear pole was setup on top of this muddy hill surrounding by dense foliage. Going for the bear bags was like going into the belly of the beast. The skeeters were dense! We tried to set our tent up far away in an area that was more open, but the mosquitos were still pretty bad. We had great access to water here as a crystal clear stream trickled right next to the camp.

Day 4 – High Lake Campsite to Specimen Creek Campsite

Day 5 – Specimen Creek Campsite to Black Butte Trailhead