travel tangent: yellowstone and grand teton 2011

A tangent for anyone missing travel and adventure during the pandemic. 

For our fourth guided trip together, MAC and I chose a backpacking adventure in the first US National Park—Yellowstone in Wyoming.  Because the guided trip with REI Adventures was only three nights/four days, we extended the trip by renting a car and playing tourist in Yellowstone and nearby Grand Teton National Park.  We flew into Bozeman, Montana and met up at the airport—MAC from Atlanta, Georgia and me from Seattle, Washington.  After just a short flight from SEATAC, I was standing in the very small, very quiet, and very quaint BZN waiting for MAC to arrive from ATL, the busiest airport in the country.

The meet-up with the group was at the Bozeman REI store the next morning so we stayed at a nearby hotel.  No happy hour at the Bellagio, veggie burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe, or gawking at the spectacle of Las Vegas through the desert heat like the previous two years.  We walked through a light rain to a nearby restaurant in a strip mall for an Italian dinner. 

Because MAC and I were staying at the same hotel after backpacking, we each left a duffle bag with clothes for the rest of the trip with the hotel when we checked out in the morning.  At 7AM, we met our group of nine: two young guides, two couples, one young woman travelling solo, and MAC and me.  In the store, the guides went over backpacking requirements, looked over everyone’s gear, and gave participants a chance to buy anything they were missing.  The place hadn’t opened for the day yet so it was magical to have an entire REI store (my happy place) all to ourselves.  From there, we loaded our big backpacks, piled into the van, and had a two-hour drive south to our trailhead in Yellowstone.  Most of this massive park (3,472 square miles) is in Wyoming but some of the border extends into Montana and Idaho. 

Our trek started from the Hellroaring Creek Trailhead and followed the Yellowstone River Trail.  It felt like we had just warmed up when it was time to stop for lunch.  Per the trip details, we needed to train to be able to carry 35-40lbs.  No problem!  I was already training to climb Mount Rainier.  While I didn’t find it difficult to carry the weight, it was still challenging because I was not familiar with having all this extra gear—sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent (supplied by REI)—taking up space and hanging off my pack.  Besides our own gear, we all carried at least one large bag of food for the group.  Fortunately, there was no elevation gain on that first morning as we adjusted to the packs—the trail lost ~500 ft elevation getting to the Yellowstone River.  We took a suspension bridge across the river and continued the trail west. 

After we set up our tents (despite my night of digestive issues the previous year in Death Valley, MAC was prepared to share a tent with me for a second time) at a designated backcountry site called Little Cottonwood Creek, the guides prepared snacks and dinner for us.  I already knew everything tastes better when you’re camping but it seemed even more so after carrying a heavy pack all day and with a view to ourselves looking down to the Yellowstone River.  The backpacking was a single-file activity so meals were the best time to get to know the other participants.

All food and personal products, food wrappers, lip balm, really anything smelly had to be put in the bear canisters that the guides hoisted high on structures that were at every backcountry site for this purpose.  Yellowstone National Park has the largest concentration of wildlife in the contiguous USA and the megafauna includes grizzlies and black bears.  When we were hiking off the trail, it was startling to occasionally see animal bones and antlers. 

The second day we carried on along the north side of the Yellowstone River and into the Black Canyon.  We had some creek crossings* that may have been tricky earlier in the season but MAC and I did not find challenging.  After setting up camp at another designated site right beside the river and having dinner, the group was all-in for a strenuous hike up the wildflower-covered slopes of the Black Canyon to get a magnificent view of the river, canyon, and distant snow-capped mountains. 

On the third day, we left our tents set up, took our day packs, and did a hike west along the Yellowstone River—the longest free-flowing river in the US—to Knowles Falls and beyond.  This was the sunniest day of the trek (we spotted a rattlesnake close to the trail warming itself) and included a refreshing swim in Crevice Lake before we returned to our campsite.  

On the third (and last) night on the trail, it rained but was dry for the hike out in the morning.  Soon after leaving our site, we went south on the Blacktail Deer Creek Trail and crossed another impressive pedestrian suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River.  We gained ~1000 ft and, as we got out of the canyon, the landscape opened up again to meadows.  In the backcountry we had seen few other people but on this day we met another guided backpacking group and a large group on horseback.  By the time we got to the Blacktail Deer Creek Trailhead, MAC and I were both feeling proud of our accomplishment carrying those big packs.  We got back to our hotel in Bozeman mid-afternoon and, in the evening, most of the group went out for dinner together downtown.  I remember the pizza tasting particularly good.

The next morning after a good sleep off the ground, MAC and I went back to BZN to rent a car and then drive back to Yellowstone.  Shortly after we entered the park, traffic came to a standstill.  There were bison walking toward us on the road and, from where we sat in the car, we watched a herd of bison, with lots of calves, running up a hill after drinking from the river.  While watching the bison (Yellowstone is home to the largest wild herd in the US), we saw one of the backpacking guides with a friend.  In talking with his friend, he referred to us as the ladies.  It seemed significant.  I was in the best shape of my life but, by 46, I had reached some point where I would thereafter be referred to by young men as a lady. 

The ladies did a short hike to view the strange and coloUrful Grand Prismatic Spring, sat with the masses waiting for Old Faithful to blow, and walked the extensive boardwalk around a hydrothermal basin.  Too crowded for me but still impressive—Yellowstone has half of the planet’s active geysers.  Compared to the backcountry though, this was like being in a separate park.  We had lunch at the historic Old Faithful Inn and asked about rooms but they were fully booked.  For accommodations, this was a MAC day.  I like to always have reservations but here I needed to concede to MAC who wanted to be spontaneous and not plan for where the day would end and where we would stay.  It was definitely a stretch for me. 

We headed south to Jackson.  I loved hitting the elevation where there was snow on the side of the road and I loved getting away from the crowds.  The 40 mile-long Teton Range is spectacular.  We stopped many times along the drive to take photos.  The day ended at a lovely inn beside a creek right in downtown Jackson and with dinner at a nearby microbrewery.   

The list of fauna we had seen in Yellowstone by that time was long and included: coyote, fox, bison, elk, deer, and marmot.  But we hadn’t seen a moose.  And we both REALLY wanted to see a moose.  As we were driving north back into Yellowstone the next morning, there was another big traffic tie up.  What was it?  Could it be?  YES, it was a moose—safely off in the distance where we could have a good look at it.

We did more touristy things in Yellowstone that day including going to the huge travertine-terraced Mammoth Hot Spring.  I particularly liked the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and it was there that I came to understand MAC’s fascination with photographing waterfalls.  As the size of the crowds got to me, I gave MAC time for her pics and wandered off to find a quieter spot.  The patience was reciprocated.  MAC is not a coffee drinker but knew well by that trip my need to frequently stop the car at a promising café or espresso hut for a latte. 

By the end of the trip, we had been friends for four weeks (over three years) and our travel-compatibility was further confirmed.  This trip to Yellowstone ten years ago was not our last trip together, but it did turn out to be our last guided trip together—I’m hoping we can change that in the future.  I see many of the guided adventure companies offer something new now—glamping trips just for ladies.

*MAC and I both bought water sandals at REI for expected water crossings but didn’t need them.

A big THANK YOU for all the positive feedback on these travel tangents. I guess I’m not the only one missing vacation trips and adventure. Here in Nova Scotia, we are in our third wave of the pandemic: we have the most active known cases and hospitalizations to date and are in a province-wide lockdown that started 04/28/21.

References and related links:

• MAC: mon amie Caroline.
• REI: Recreational Equipment, Inc.
• Yellowstone National Park (NPS site)
• Grand Teton National Park (NPS site)
• death valley 2010 (post #159)
• arizona and utah 2009 (post #157)
• havasu falls 2008 (post #155)