Beaver Pond Trail Hike

Monday August 31, 2015    Day 34    Yellowstone N.P.  Mammoth Campground, site 46, day 4

Cooked a nice breakfast over the morning coffee campfire in the cast iron skillet.  Made a diced onion, green pepper, ham, and eggs together into a scramble. 

Today was hike day for the Beaver Ponds Trail near Mammoth Hot Springs.  Our neighbors, Jill and Chance were leaving today so we went over to say goodbye.  They were leaving for Glacier National Park.  They had never been there and we recommended Two Medicine Campground.  Saying goodbye took about an hour.   They were nice people and we enjoyed meeting them.

We started our hike at 10:45.  Was a very nice hike.  Started out with a 600 ft. ascent in 0.6 mile.  Not as bad as it sounds as it was a gentle rise with long switchbacks.  We got up on the plateau and it flattened out.  Many different terrain from meadows, to sagebrush, to forests, and mountain views.  After ½ way, about 2.5 miles, we came to the beaver ponds which were beautiful.  We were down in elevation a little.  They  don’t put beaver ponds on top of ridges or mountains.  Afterwards, we had to climb a little but not as bad as the initial climb.  From there we were on a plateau for the rest of the trip back to Mammoth.  Outstanding views of the Gardner Valley, the cliffs across the way, the town of Gardiner, and the mountains to the north.  We finished the 5-mile hike in 3.5 hours.

The hike started right next to the hot springs at Mammoth



A closer view as we hiked along.



We hiked up the side of this valley to a plateau.

From the top, we could see all of Mammoth.







We then entered a forest for most of the next two miles.



We thought we had come to the beaver ponds the trail was named after. 

But these were just bogs.  There was no stream inlet or dam.

But they were pretty.

This is a real beaver pond.

View when we first came upon it.

After going around it.  Note the dam and the trail to the right.

A closer view.



View from the top of the sagebrush plateau on the way back.  Gardner River down there.

A meadow area of the Gardner River seen from the blur.  Also North Entrance Road.

Mammoth as we were coming off the plateau at the end of the hike.

Early in the trail we met two couples our age just a hiking down the trail at a pretty quick pace.  They started behind us and then passed us.   After about two miles, they were coming back toward us.  They asked us how many miles the trail was and where did it go!  We told them it’s a 5-mile loop trail and the beaver ponds were about half way.  They told me they’ve hiked more than two and a half miles and the trail keeps on going and hasn’t turned yet.  So they thought they were on the wrong trail and turned back.  They were not carrying bear spray either.  They had only gone two miles and if they continued a half mile more, they would have seen the beaver ponds.  I don’t think they were even carrying water.

After we got back, we went into Gardiner to reward ourselves with pizza at the K-Bar again.  We call it our Yellowstone Tip-A-Few.  For those who live in Grand Haven, you know what I mean.  The K-Bar has one of the best pizza I’ve ever had.  While we were in town I washed the truck with one of those spray it yourself car washes to get the 3 week old Wyoming dust off from our Sacajawea days. 

Here's where you can get great pizza in Gardiner, MT.

It was another excellent day in Yellowstone.

Taking a Ride Through the Park

Sunday August 30, 2015   Day 33    Yellowstone N.P.   Mammoth Campground, site 46   4^th day

I fished the Gardner River from 11:00-14:00.  Fished the usual spots with a couple of takes on an Adams parachute, but no hook-ups.  Went down a little and nymphed a run and picked up a brown trout about 12” long.  That was it for my 3 hours of hard work.  It's a good thing I don't have to rely on my fishing for sustenance.

When I got back we went for a ride along the Mammoth-Tower road.  But on the way, I stopped at the local bag of ice vending machine in Mammoth. 

Putting in three $1.00 bills for a 7# bag of ice that cost $2.00 in
the grocery store.  But closest grocery store is a ten mile round
trip with a 1,000 feet elevation change.  Winding switchbacks.

There is a self-interpretive trail along the way that we stopped at.  It was a ½ mile boardwalk with signs describing the flora and fauna and geology of the area. 

 

 

We continued on to Tower Junction where the Northeast Entrance road turns off to the left.  We went straight towards Tower. 

The Tower-Canyon road just north of Tower.

We drove through the Tower Campground just to look at it.  It has small sites, little privacy and set up mostly for tent camping.  That’s typical of most of Yellowstone’s campgrounds.  They were built in the ‘50’s when everyone car camped with tents.

We continued on to Canyon Junction over Dunraven Pass.  We checked out the campground at Canyon.  It is quite large with at least 6 loops.  The sites were geared towards tent campers.  The sites are uneven.  There are R.V.s there, but more tents. 

Mammoth is our favorite campground in Yellowstone.

From Canyon Junction we took the Canyon-Norris road.  Along the way we took a ride on the Virginia Cascades drive which follows a small creek to a waterfall.  But there is no parking at the waterfall.  Eventually there is a parking area about ¼ mile upstream, but we kept going.  The drive eventually connects to the Canyon-Norris road again. 

There are several trailheads along this road which go to backcountry lakes.  I pulled over at one of them, Ice Lake Trail.  It was only ½ mile to the lake which had three back-country campsites around it.  It was close enough that we could hear the road noise.  It was a very pretty lake as any of them would be. 

Ice Lake

One of the trails I would like to take some day is Grebe Lake Trail.  Grebe Lake is the headwaters of the Gibbon River.  It is the best place in Yellowstone to catch grayling, which is extinct in MI and almost everywhere else in the country.  But my fishing book says it’s tough to cast to them from sure and recommended a float tube.  It is a 3-mile hike to the lake.  One of these days I want to do it.

We turned towards Mammoth at Norris Junction.  We checked out Norris Campground while we were there.  It was similar to the other two we looked at.

We got back to the campsite at 18:30.

Taking it Easy in Mammoth Hot Springs. 3rd Day

Saturday August 29, 2015    Day 32     Yellowstone N.P.  Mammoth Campground, site 46   3^rd day

We started our day with the bull elk bulging elk on the ridge above the campground.

The bull elk bulging elk on the ridge above the campground.

The bull elk bulging elk on the ridge above the campground zoomed in.

 

There is a trail from the campground that takes us up the hill to Mammoth Hot Springs.  We took the trail and went to the Albright Visitor Center.  It was very interesting with dioramas of the wildlife of Yellowstone.  Afterwards we went on a walk around the old army buildings built in 1891 that are currently used as residences.  When Yellowstone became a national park, there was no national park service and they needed to control poaching and homesteading in the park, so they built a fort at Mammoth. 



Top of the Trail

 

North end of campground taken from top of hill.  Our trailer is farthest one to the left.

Officers quarters.

Bull just hanging our in someone's yard

 We had new neighbors in site 47.  Looked like a young couple.  The girl was wearing a long skirt.  It turned out to be a mother and son.  Jill and her son, Chance.  She was kind of hippyish.  They were walking by and asked me about what I was powering with the solar panel.  It was about two hours later they left our site.  We chatted with them about everything.  They were interesting and very enjoyable people.  Her son, Chance, was talented in many ways.  He was a woodworker and excellent photographer, a machinist, and he was studying mechanical engineering in college.  Jill home schooled all her kids, and her entire family was vegetarian.  What an interesting couple they were.

After a burgers for supper we took a ride over to Obsidian Creek near the Indian Creek Campground.  It is easy water to fish for small brook trout and you can fish it without getting in the river.  It is one of the only places in the park where live bait is allowed for children, so they too, can catch fish.  I went there with Marsha just to mess around and show Marsha what it’s like to catch fish on a fly.  When we got there the wind was howling.  It was hard to cast and it was a cold wind.  I kept loosing flies and got tangled up a few times.  I didn’t have my act together.  I never did catch anything.  We were there only about ½ hour and came back to the campground.  There was no wind here. 

Bighorn Sheep and Face to Face with a Bull Elk

Friday August 28, 2015      Day 31     Yellowstone N.P.,  Mammoth Campground, site 46

A really beautiful sunny 50^o morning.  Stayed inside and published the 3^rd day at Two Medicine.  Just made cereal for breakfast.

At 10:00 we hiked a portion of the Lava Creek Trail.  The trailhead is across the road from the campground.  It goes down into the Gardner Canyon and follows the Gardner River upstream.  After 3.5 miles it meets up with Lava Creek.  We just followed it about 2.5 miles (round trip) into the section where I normally fish the Gardner.  However, we were up on bluffs looking down into the meadow section, a view I don’t get when I’m down there fishing.



The trailhead.  Heading towards the canyon.

 

The Gardner River looking towards my fishing spot.

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Had to go to Park’s Fly Shop in Gardiner to get a Yellowstone license.  It was $25 for 7 days.  On the way back on the North Entrance Road, we saw some bighorn sheep on the cliffs on the side of the road. 

 

  

Came back to the campground and made some hot dogs for lunch.  While doing this, the campground was full of elk wandering around eating the leaves or the willows around the campground.  We see this every year we come here.

Taken from inside the Oliver looking out dinette window.

A couple of cows on the hill just outside the camper.

Spike between us and site 47.

A cow eating the willows next to my truck.



I'm not an elk!

Spike in  the bushes across the rosad from our site.

Fished the Gardner from 14:00-17:00.  First time since last year.  Caught two cutbows on an ant pattern.  A cutbow is a cross between a cutthroat and a rainbow trout.  It looks exactly like a rainbow, with the red slit of a cutthroat on its throat.  I was walking to another section where I always do well and had to cross some of the channels as I made my way up river.  I crossed a section and as I got to the other bank, I looked up and there was the big daddy elk standing there about 20 feet from me, just staring. 

He was right in front of me!

I immediately, slowly backed away and he just stood there watching me, fortunately.  I decided to end my fishing for the day and go back to the campsite.

We did an old tradition that we started last year.  When we come to Mammoth, we go into Gardiner and have a pizza at the K-Bar.  Best pizza in all of Montana.

 

Arrival at Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth Campground

Thursday August 27, 2015   day 30    Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth Campground, site 46

53 towing miles

Woke up this morning to this terrific sunrise.

 

Sunrise at Baker's Hole

Left Baker’s Hole at 07:30 and headed for Yellowstone National Park through the west entrance.  The west entrance road takes you 14 miles to Madison Junction, where we stopped at Madison Campground to dump our tanks.  Madison Junction is so named because the Firehole and the Gibbon River join together to form the Madison River.

Left there and drove on to Mammoth to the campground.  The road between Norris Junction and Mammoth had a lot of construction, was all tore up, and was one lane.  It was like this last year. 

Arrived at the campground at 10:00.  We were able to get our favorite site, #46.  We stayed in #48 last year, and #46 in 2013. 

Mammoth Campground, site 46 as seen from campground road.
 

 

Overview of meadow and cliffs across from our site.

We immediately made some nice big sandwiches because we were hungry having not eaten anything yet.  Tried catching up on blogging with little success.

When waiting in line to sign up for a campsite, the guy in the trailer ahead of us was asking Marsha about ours.  He had bought his this year and was unhappy with the fit and finish and was considering a Casita, but had not looked at one yet.  He liked ours and wanted to see it.  He had a 20’ box trailer and wanted something with a little more quality.

After he set up and saw that we were set up, he came over for a showing and liked what he saw.  As we were talking, a storm suddenly came up with big rain drops, thunder, and then small hale. 

 

Hale in the fire pit.

Hale on the picnic table.

 It lasted about ½ hour and we were all standing under the awning.  The awning held up well because there was no wind.  While we were standing around he talked about all his adventures over the years with backpacking, camping, hiking, all over the US national parks.  His name was Nelson and he’s camping here by himself.

Went into the town of Gardiner at the north entrance.  The roads in town are all torn up getting new sidewalks, curbs, and pavement.  We needed some groceries. 

When we got back, we tried to take our campground walk, but got interrupted by more rain.  So I tried working on the blog by uploading some pictures, but it was too slow.  Gave up.

But while I sat out, a bull elk came walking across the hill, next to the campsite.  He was slowly working his way across the hill, eating vegetation.  He was a young bull, with spike antlers about 12” long with no branches.  Later found out that it was a yearling.

 

Just a teenager.

 

Some day it will be his turn.

Then tried another campground walk, phase II.  Made it all the way around to the check-in station where we saw a lonely looking kid (college age) standing there with a bike asking for the camp host.  Asked him what he needed and he said he was stranded there and needed to get to Gardiner.  He had a bike and I asked him why he didn’t ride his bike.  He said his bike had no brakes and I looked at it and he was right.  Why would they make a bike with no brakes, I asked.  He said it’s a special bike for indoor track racing.  There is no way you could ride a bike the five miles o Gardiner with no brakes.We told him we could give him a ride to Gardiner.  He was so grateful.  Asked him how he got stranded with a brakeless bike at Mammoth Campground with the sun setting and it getting dark.  He had a fight with his girlfriend of 2.5 years and she dropped him off and threw his bike out of the van and took off.  He was in sad shape and I felt very sorry for him.  He had a motel reservation in Gardiner and that’s where he wanted to go.  He had no idea what he would do next or how he would get home to Minneapolis.  I asked him if he needed money and he said he was OK.  What a story, and I’ll never know how it ends.  His name was Stone.  He was so grateful for our kindness (he kept saying).

It was 21:00 and dark when we got back to the campsite.