Yellowstone – The Hikes

The number of hikes available in Yellowstone is truly overwhelming!  You could spend many summers here and still not hike it all.  And then once you narrow down to a few hikes, you have to figure out how hard they actually are.  We met young people who race to the tops of some hikes I’d have trouble making at all, or folks who hike as a very regular activity.  I was hesitant to take their advice too much to heart because I’m more a middle of the road hiker.  I struggle with super steep and super long hikes, but I want to see wildlife and get away from the crowds which generally means I can skip the shortest/easiest hikes.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big athlete.   I’m active and love to hike, but I’d say I’m pretty average in my physicality (and below average compared to many of my friends).  Many of these hikes were challenging for me, but absolutely doable.  I do them at my pace, but I do them.   I consulted with guidebooks and friends, and below is what we ended up doing (or would do next time if we go back).

• Mount Washburn is 3.5 miles up and back and was our favorite.  Take the Dunraven trailhead, not the one you drive up high to get to – Gypsy (an amazing little app that will help you get around the park) will encourage you take that drive otherwise you’d never know there was a trailhead there.  The Dunraven one is much prettier.  The sign says 3 miles, but I don’t think it counts going all the way to the top.  It’s a bit on the steep side, so we took a lot of breaks.
• Elephant Back – it’s a good hike with a great view up high over the lake.  Keep an eye and ear out for the red squirrels who chatter at you.  And chipmunks abound!  We were told we might see porcupines, but no luck for  us
• Storm Point or Pelican Creek.  Storm point is longer – both take you through a forest down to the lake and back.  We did Pelican and ran into so many mosquitoes, we opted out of Storm Point – I would probably have done Storm Point instead if I had to do Deet either way
• Norris Geyser and Mammoth Hot Springs – It’s a mile on boardwalks and you will see a ton of features – Gypsy (again that great app) will walk you through that whole area
• Old Faithful – we only watched the one geyser and decided it was good enough for us, but there is a TON to explore down here.
• Mystic Falls – a beautiful moderate/easy hike by Old Faithful.  You can find a path that takes you pretty much even with the top of the falls.  One of my favorite hikes
• South Rim from Artist Point around the whole loop – it is wildly different from the canyon to the mud pots.  Not a hard hike.  Uncle Tom’s is in here, too – we did it separately in the early morning so we didn’t have crowds and didn’t have to bother with a back pack on all those stairs (it’s like 300 stairs pretty much straight down) but beautiful!
• In the Grand Tetons – Jenny Lake seems to be the spot to really hit.  It’s 7 miles all the way around, but there is also a boat that will take you across so you can make it in smaller chunks.  HIGHLY recommend looking for the Moose Pond trailhead on the West side of the lake.  No one was back there and it was beautiful!  Easily my favorite part of all the hikes.  You don’t have to take the full 2 mile loop though.  Once you can’t see the ponds any more, turn around and see them again.  The rest of the hike takes you right by the road which isn’t nearly as fun or scenic.
• If we ever go back, I definitely want to hit Fairy Falls – it was closed when we went. It over looks the grand prismatic which we skipped because of the crowds.
• And I would seriously consider hiking from Jenny lake to Cascade Canyon – you would have to hitchhike or hike all the way back, and we didn’t have that kind of time or energy at the very end of our trip. Lots of wild life potential.
• Also on the way out of the park at the Mammoth area is an area called Boiling River.  It’s not in the guidebooks, mostly cause the locals would like to keep tourists out of it.  Anyway, we were told there is a no swimming sign that everyone ignores. It’s basically a hot spring next to a cold stream that you can go back and forth between.  In general, the water in the rivers is pretty darn cold, but you can also swim at Firehole – we only stuck our feet in.