Yellowstone Backcountry (1 Viewer)

[JayDoc]

Alright you doers and adventurers and assorted know-it-all's, I'd like some input from those of you that have had memorable trips into the Yellowstone park back country.

The boy and I will be doing some hiking and back country camping in mid June and I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone who has camped out there around that time.
From what I've read the spring run off will have every waterway running high and some areas will be wetter than others.

This will be his first real back country experience so I'm thinking a leisurely ~20 miles over 3 days.
Advice on routes with chances for fishing or thermals or wildlife spotting would be appreciated.

Any input, even descriptions of your favorite places in the park would be appreciated.

 

[JayDoc]

....just because all threads deserve pics...

 

[snobdds]

Yea, don't go to Yellowstone. Overcrowded these days.

Go to the Wind River Range East of Jackson. No people and the beauty is even better.

Bring a gun and bear spray. Remember, a .357 will only serve to piss a bear off. Need big guns in Wyoming.

 

[JayDoc]

It's been years since I visited Yellowstone so maybe it's worse now.
Certainly that early in the season the back country can't be that crowded?
If so, I'd be interested in less popular back country sites.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Yea, don't go to Yellowstone. Overcrowded these days.

Go to the Wind River Range East of Jackson. No people and the beauty is even better.

Bring a gun and bear spray. Remember, a .357 will only serve to piss a bear off. Need big guns in Wyoming.

What's the mountainous area east of Pinedale like?

What are the low temps like in April and May?

Thanks!

 

[snobdds]

That area will still have snow well into June. The days will be warm, but the nights will still be freezing through about April. May will see the accelerated melting once the temperatures don't freeze at night.

The Wind River Range, The Snowy Range, and the Big Horns are where the local Wyomingites go. The Tetons and Yellowstone are too crowded and full tourist. I can go to my cabin in the Snowies and never see another person for a week.

It's a beautiful area though. I spent 3 weeks hiking around the Wind River Range through a NOLS class after high school. A person could spend an entire summer there and not look at the same view twice.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

That area will still have snow well into June. The days will be warm, but the nights will still be freezing through about April. May will see the accelerated melting once the temperatures don't freeze at night.

The Wind River Range, The Snowy Range, and the Big Horns are where the local Wyomingites go. The Tetons and Yellowstone are too crowded and full tourist. I can go to my cabin in the Snowies and never see another person for a week.

It's a beautiful area though. I spent 3 weeks hiking around the Wind River Range through a NOLS class after high school. A person could spend an entire summer there and not look at the same view twice.

Thanks! My step-grandfather was born in the Big Sandy-Boulter Lake (his name was Sandy Boulter) area in 1897 and I'm hoping to make a trip to that area this year.

Hi-Jack over.

 

[Rigger]

Snobdds gives good advice. Read his words and heed them. Read the paragraph about the bears twice.

I've lived in Wyoming for 17 years. Spent another 19 years in Montana. Never once saw a bear and that was just about too many bears for me. But I always carry spray and a hogleg when I'm in the back country.

 

[JayDoc]

So wait... you're telling me you've lived in bear country for 36 years and have never once seen a bear...I'll have to leave that tidbit out when I'm making my case to the wife just why I need another gun.

'but honey, the guys said a .357 wasn't enough. you want me to be safe right?'
I think I can pull it off.

 

[secretasiansam]

I lived in and worked 3 summers and 1 winter in YNP waiting tables. and now live 90 miles north. I don't think the Yellowstone back country is "crowded" at all, even with record tourist numbers the past few years. The main loop is another story. There used to be a statistic about how many tourists get more than 100 yards from the roads, it was small, Like less than 5%. plus there is over 1000 miles of backcountry trail and close too 300 backcountry sites.
in june I would stay away from the southern area of the park{south boundary, thoroughfare} it will be marshy and extremely buggy. all the rivers will be high in june, with plenty of snow still on the ground at high elevations. nights will be cold. days will be perfect minus a brief rainstorm or two.
Thermals are everywhere. wildlife is everywhere. for fishing try slough creek but those sites may already reserved, super popular for fishing.
bring bear spray for you and your boy. I have been close to bears in the Yellowstone backcountry, like within 20 yards! all encounters have been peacefull but I wouldn't want to be unprepared if they didn't go that way. truthfully I have only carried bear spray once, I had to pull it once. We came around a corner on a trail with a juvenile griz right in the middle. he ran away and we moved on. Didn't fire but was ready if needed.
good luck with your trip,

 

[Hornd]

Yea, don't go to Yellowstone. Overcrowded these days.

Go to the Wind River Range East of Jackson. No people and the beauty is even better.

Bring a gun and bear spray. Remember, a .357 will only serve to piss a bear off. Need big guns in Wyoming.

I always carry pepper spray, it is more of a deterrent than a gun. Carry it on you with a carabiner not in a pocket.

I love love love Yellowstone. Even Honeymooned there.
95% of the people stay on the roads and boardwalks.

I would fish the Lamar where it meets Soda Butte
The Madison where it is formed
The Firehole down and across from Old Faithful
and the Yellowstone up from Fishing Bridge.

All are well known and have access close to the car.
Cuttys aren't too picky.

Yellowstone Fly-Fishing Guide: Craig Mathews, Clayton Molinero: 9781558215450: Amazon.com: Books

 

[JayDoc]

We'll definitely be carrying bear spray. I'm not sold on the gun yet but I'm leaning that way.

This may be a silly question but I see lots of info on fly fishing in Yellowstone - are you allowed to fish with regular rod and reel?
I have gone fly fishing once in northern CO and enjoyed it but that's not where my experience is and I don't own a fly rig.
I see that barb-less hooks are required but I haven't read any other restrictions.

 

[lcwizard]

best trip of my life was my honeymoon. We rented a cabin in Yellowstone in late February and spent the week Cross country skiing the trails.
This was the early 80's before snowmobiles were allowed. They sent you in via a snow coach from West Yellowstone. The quiet was awesome.
The only noise was from animals and geysers. Saw my first grizzly and moose on that trip. We don't have much of either in AZ.
TWA ( the old airline company ) ran it it. The food at the lodge was great and the cabin was wonderful

 

[micruz60]

@lcwizard
A grizzly in February?... Must've been a low snow year.

I would highly recommend getting a cabin in Roosevelt lodge area, good base for day trips, and yes, the loop roads can be busy, get up eeaarly mornings beat the rush, see wildlife. Fishing is with whatever gear you want, barbless hooks, free fishing license, keep a record of catches. Mid june you may have off color rivers, but Fishing bridge outlet from the Lake Yellowstone is good. Additionally, there is a good high mountain pass - Union pass up from Dubois area east side of Togwotee pass, east of J Hole... May not be clear in mid june. This road goes over and down to Green river headwaterlakes NW of Pinedale. Soo many good loop roads, look at Sunlight basin wyo hwy 296 Nw of Cody.. Links up to Hwy 212- Beartooth pass into Red Lodge Montana. Google Earth is your friend. Check out the old hotels too. Mammoth and Lake... Even the new one in Canyon is worthy.

 

[lcwizard]

@lcwizard
A grizzly in February?... Must've been a low snow year.

The last week of Feb, into March. We saw it from the snow coach by a hot pool trying to recover a deer or elk that had fallen into a hot pool and left cooking.
The ranger said it is not uncommon see a bear wake from hibernation there in early March especially if there is uncommonly warm weather
although mid to late March is more common. We had and "Indian summer" like weather. The days were wonderful, sweater weather

 

[micruz60]

Mmm, venison steak, parboiled...

Yeah, it isn't uncommon to have the bears out in early spring, there once was a skier up Berry canyon (across Jackson Lake, just South of Flagg ranch) get chased on the snow by a hungry momma black bear, he was glad to be on skiis downhillin'

 

[lcwizard]

30 yrs passed and I never thought twice about the bear. Now you made me wonder so I had to Google that.... I guess he was a male

Denning and Hibernation Behavior - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

When temperatures warm up and food is available in the form of winter-killed ungulates or early spring vegetation, bears emerge from their dens. Male bears emerge first, usually from early to mid-March (average days denned = 131 days), followed by solitary females and females with yearlings or two-years olds (average days denned = 151 days) in late March through mid-Aril (Haroldson et al. 2002). The last to emerge are females with new-born cubs (average days denned = 171), from mid April through early May (Haroldson et al. 2002). Males, subadults, solitary females, and females with yearlings or two-year-olds usually leave the vicinity of their den within a week of emergence while females with new-born cubs remain in the general vicinity of the den for several more weeks (Lindzey and Meslow 1976, Haroldson et al. 2002).

 

[lcwizard]

I guess bears and people have some things in common...my wife was always the last out of bed also

 

[micruz60]

The boy and I will be doing some hiking and back country camping in mid June and I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone who has camped out there around that time.

This will be his first real back country experience so I'm thinking a leisurely ~20 miles over 3 days.
Advice on routes with chances for fishing or thermals or wildlife spotting would be appreciated.

If you are feeling ambitious... There is the trek from Old Faithful south on the Howard Eaton trail to Firehole river headwaters to Bechler river trail... Hot springs... Shoshone geyser basin... Not really a loop, but one can start at Old Faithful and then out and back from Grant's Pass to Lonestar geyser. Cool side trips to thermals along upper Firehole.

 

[sggoat]

That area will still have snow well into June. The days will be warm, but the nights will still be freezing through about April. May will see the accelerated melting once the temperatures don't freeze at night.

The Wind River Range, The Snowy Range, and the Big Horns are where the local Wyomingites go. The Tetons and Yellowstone are too crowded and full tourist. I can go to my cabin in the Snowies and never see another person for a week.

It's a beautiful area though. I spent 3 weeks hiking around the Wind River Range through a NOLS class after high school. A person could spend an entire summer there and not look at the same view twice.

This sounds like my brother and I should have talked to you before we did the YS thing last yr.