Hellroaring Creek in Yellowstone National Park

While the weather didn't cooperate for hiking this weekend I reviewed some old pictures and my journal that detailed one of our favorite hikes, Hellroaring Creek.  This is one of the most beautiful and peaceful hikes in Yellowstone National Park.
Here's a look back at 2012.  

Our day started about 2 hours before sunrise with cinnamon rolls warming on the dash of the car by the heater.  It was yet another chilly October morning and the nighttime temperatures had been below 20 degrees every night.  Our tents and bags were keeping us warm but the heater of the car was a much needed pick up!  We were headed North from our base camp at Madison Campground to Lamar Valley.  Lamar Valley is well known in the Yellowstone Park System as being the place to view wildlife, especially wolves.  

We were able to make it to watch the sunrise and see the park come to life.  Unfortunately, due to the size of the Valley we ended up doing a lot of windshield time.  

The road winds through the valley and offers many views and opportunities to see wildlife.  There were a few cars on the road.  It was October so the height of tourist season was over and the week before they had almost a foot of snow, lucky for us it melted!

Can you see this guy?  It's a coyote centered in the photo.  They are camouflaged very well.  We were able to watch him catch a mouse.  It was fun to see him hunt.  

One of the highlights for me was to be able to see Moose.  Moose are one of my favorite animals to watch.  We were so lucky to see a bull, cow and calf grazing in the valley.  

I absolutely love watching these animals.  I could have sat for hours just watching them wander around. 

During our time at Lamar Valley we didn't see any wolves.  We had hoped to at least catch a glimpse.  We did see a large group of cars and people with spotting scopes.  We stopped to ask them if they had any luck spotting any wolves and turns out they follow the wolves and have devices to monitor the wolves' tracking collars.  They told us the wolves were in the backcountry and hadn't been near the road in the Valley for a couple of days.  

We had spent most of the morning in the car and we were all getting stir crazy.  I had done a little research before our trip and had a hike in mind, Hellroaring Creek Trail.  It wasn't very far from Lamar Valley and had great reviews.  We decided we would enjoy our lunch at Hellroaring Creek since it was a short 2 miles to get to the creek.  The trailhead was easy to find and had several cars already there.  

We quickly gathered our daypacks and lunch and took off! 

The trail starts with a 700ft decent into a valley via switchbacks.  The switchbacks offered a continuous view of the Buffalo Plateau and Hellroaring Mountain.  Once you get to the bottom you arrive at a suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River. 

  

The view from the bridge at the Yellowstone River below. 

After the bridge you walk through a wooded area filled with songbirds. 

After this wooded area the landscape quickly changes to a valley like appearance.  Few trees, tall grasses and small hills make up the remainder of the trail to Hellroaring Creek.  

Just after the wooded area there is this sign that points to backcountry campsites.  My quick and initial research on this trail didn't speak about it being a path to backcountry sites.  I have since read that they are great sites to camp at.  When we go back to Yellowstone we will have to do a backcountry hike from this trail.  

It is easy to see by the scat and tracks that many animals frequent this area, especially bison.  Once we got to the creek it was like an oasis.  It was a beautiful, rocky creek.  The rocks caused the water to sound like it was rushing all the time.  I can't imagine how this creek must look and sound when the snow is melting and it is really rushing! 

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the privacy and sounds of the creek.  We did a little exploring around the creek, playing on the rocks and building rock cairns. While we were exploring we found an iPhone.  It was in a sturdy case and clearly had been lost by someone.  We decided to take it back to the car with us and see if we could return it to it's original owner.  

While we were sitting enjoying our lunch we were joking about how crazy it would be to see a bison out here.  We had seen so many tracks that we were certain they were in this area often.  We discussed how we would feel exposed with little area to hide except in the bushes along the creek, if a herd of bison were to appear.  We also joked about what we would do if a herd approached as we were on the grassy area of the trail.  

All of the joking came to a sudden halt when this guy appeared. 

At first we thought we were day dreaming.  We then starting hoping he was alone.  We also kind of hoped he wasn't.  We were so amazed that he was just walking right up to the creek where we were at.  

We of course made little movements and didn't talk and stayed clear of his path.

We were all very mindful of not getting close to him and allowing him to drink at the creek undisturbed.  It was just amazing to be so close to this bison and feel like we were apart of his world.  We were enjoying the creek and so was he.  

After we made it up the switchbacks to our car we charged the iPhone that we had found on along the creek.  It did not have a lock on it and we were able to discover who it belonged to.  We called the owner who lived in Georgia.  He had been on a boy scout trip several months earlier and lost it along the creek.  When we returned home we mailed the phone back to its' rightful owner. 

It's so nice when fun surprises occur.