Trip Date: September 2013
This trip to Yellowstone National Park was part of our trip to Glacier National Park and Grand Teton National Park in September and over 11 days of hiking we hiked over 140 miles with an elevation gain of over 25,000 feet. These are not technical reviews – just my opinion and favorite parts! This was a trip of a lifetime and well worth the 2 lost toenails. Now, on to the review {awesome pictures}!
Yellowstone National Park
Our Travel Dates: September 6 – September 11 (2013)
Our Yellowstone National Park Recap:
Yellowstone Totals: 61.8 miles & elevation gain of 14,600 ft
{You can read about Day 1-5 in Glacier National Park here}
Day 6 – Drive down from Glacier to Gardiner
Day 7 – Pebble Creek (7.8 miles, 1600′) & Petrified Trees 2x (4.5 miles, 1,800′)
Day 8 – Bunsen Peak (11 miles, 2,900′) to Osprey Falls (5 miles, 600′), Hoodoos (5 miles, 600′) & Mammoth/Hot Springs, drive to West Yellowstone
Day 9 – Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, & Artist Paintpots (2.5 miles, 500′ total)
Day 10 – Mount Washburn (7.5 miles, 1,400′) & South Rim of the Canyon (5.7 miles, 700′)
Day 11 – Big Horn Peak (12.8 miles, 4,500′)
Scott spent a lot of time planning our hikes and our cabins. I swear he picked out the MOST STRENUOUS hikes he could for each park. This book helped with our planning: A Ranger’s Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes. Also, this is an amazing website to check out if you are going to Yellowstone!
Day 6 – Drive down from Glacier to Gardiner
This was just another beautiful drive in Montana! We stopped in Bozeman for lunch and fell in LOVE!
Day 7 – Pebble Creek (7.8 miles, 1600′) & Petrified Trees 2x (4.5 miles, 1,800′)
Coming into Yellowstone on the first day we got caught in a “traffic jam” of bison! The traffic was backing up so far they had to call in a ranger to move the bison out of the way! After the minor delay we proceeded to Pebble Creek! We planned on doing the entire Pebble Creek hike but once we got to the part where we had to keep crossing creeks we turned around after the second one because we didn’t have on the right gear. We still did 7.8 miles and it was gorgeous. It is quite the climb to begin with but then levels out and you are in the valley for miles. After finishing up Pebble Creek we tried to eat lunch but the restaurant we planned to go to was actually closed so we had to just keep munching on what we had on hand (more details below). After eating we went to do Petrified Trees. We got about halfway up the mountain when it started raining so we can down the mountain and waited until the rain slowed down. Once it started clearing we made our way back up. We thought this was going to be an easy hike but it fooled us! It was VERY steep but we made it to the top finally!
Day 8 – Bunsen Peak (11 miles, 2,900′) to Osprey Falls (5 miles, 600′), Hoodoos (5 miles, 600′) & Mammoth/Hot Springs, drive to West Yellowstone
The Bunsen Peak part of the hike was a pretty typical hike for us but once we got to the trail to Osprey Falls things changed! I was scared to death – it was so steep and the trail was so narrow. I literally cried one time. It is just switchback after switchback that takes you down into the falls. What a gorgeous view once we made it. We sat and ate a snack and then headed back out of the falls. We went to lunch and explored Mammoth/Hot Springs before heading back out again to hike The Hoodoos. The Hoodoos is one for the books! When we saw Hoodoos, we though of Bryce Canyon type Hoodoos but that is not what we saw. Oh, and did I mention that we were exposed on top during a lightning storm? This was another mountain that we had to run off! We even tried to hitch hike down to our car! Maybe that has something to do with my negative view of this hike! After being soaked on this hike we headed out to change cabins again – this time in West Yellowstone so we could explore the hikes on that side of the park!
Below was the double rainbow we saw after hiking the Hoodoos and leaving for West Yellowstone.
Day 9 – Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, & Artist Paintpots (2.5 miles, 500′ total)
We actually had a big hike planned for this day but I was exhausted by this time so we decided to do a few shorter ones and more “touristy” things. The daily total for the hikes was only 2.5 miles but we were able to see a lot of really cool things! We hiked up to see Grand Prismatic Spring, climbed up the side of a mountain on the side so we could get a better view – it was truly amazing! Then we went to Old Faithful and got there with pretty good timing because we only had to wait about 10 minutes before it did its thing! After Old Faithful we went to Artist Paintpots. Words can’t describe this, only pictures so I’ll include them below. I’ll just say that Yellowstone is a crazy, crazy place! I felt like I was on a different planet most of the time!
Day 10 – Mount Washburn (7.5 miles, 1,400′) & South Rim of the Canyon (5.7 miles, 700′)
Everyone told us that we had to do Mount Washburn and it was really cool but it was also similar to the hikes we have in Georgia. It was a wide, paved road for the most part instead of narrow steep trails. It was nice for a change of pace! After hiking Washburn we went to South Rim of the Canyon only to find out that our camera was dead and Scott forgot the extra battery. We drove back to our condo, got the battery, and headed back to South Rim. Scott thought it was magnificent but I think that is because he has never seen the Grand Canyon! It was beautiful but seemed to be just a smaller scale of Grand Canyon. I have visited the Grand Canyon but that was before our hiking days so we plan on going back soon to hike!
Day 11 – Big Horn Peak (12.8 miles, 4,500′)
Big Horn Peak is actually not in the “official” entrance to the park but is on the way to Big Sky. This was one of our favorite hikes! It was one of the hardest 12.8 miles I’ve ever hiked! It was so pretty, part of the time we were in the valley, part of the time we were in the forest, or climbing the mountain! At the top it was pretty steep and scary because of the narrow ledges! After hiking we headed to Big Sky to eat dinner. Big Sky was another gorgeous Montana town!
After leaving Yellowstone National Park we spent one day in Grand Teton National Park and hiked 18.9 miles.
– Whitney
