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| Yellowstone Backpack - Bechler Area, WY | |
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| | Yellowstone Backpack - Bechler Area, WY | | | |
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Yellowstone Backpack - Bechler Area, WY
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| Backpack | 49.46 Miles |
4,844 AEG |
| | Backpack | 49.46 Miles | 4 Days 8 Hrs 5 Mns | | |
| 4,844 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a partial re-creation of a backpacking trip I did over 30 years ago. A friend worked at a scout camp just outside the border of Yellowstone National Park and arranged for me and another scout camp employee to backpack in Yellowstone several days. None of us took a camera, and my strongest recollection was of us "hot tubbing" in the wild where the geothermal features drain into the river.
Last year, I reconnected with my buddy (Trent), and we decided to do it again! The two of us were joined by my buddy's son and a mutual friend (Chris).
The scout camp is still there (Camp Loll), and my buddy still has connections, so the scout camp was gracious in allowing us to stay there both the night before our trip an the night after, as well as shuttle us to/from our start and exit point. 
Day 1: Cascade Creek TH to Union Falls -- 8 miles to camp; 4.1 mile side hike to Union Falls/Scout Pool.
Less than a half mile into the hike, we hit Cascade Creek and experienced our first ford. About a mile later, we forded the Falls River. Both crossings were relatively shallow and uneventful.
The rest of the hike to our campground was mostly a forest walk, and (other than the water) I could easily have been convinced that we were hiking through the foothills of the Peaks in Flagstaff. It was pretty, but not spectacular.
We arrived at our campsite in the early afternoon, set up camp, and then headed further up the trail for the highlights of the day--Union Falls and Scout Pool.
Union Falls is a long and popular day hike, but we were there on a Tuesday and only encountered a couple of other small groups. The falls are impressive.
After enjoying the views, we backtracked a bit to the fork that leads to Scout Pool, an idyllic swimming hole with a small cascading waterfall that provides a first-class back massage. Additionally, the water was pleasantly warm due to some thermal run off upstream.
We swam in Scout Pool till late afternoon, enjoying it to ourselves after the handful of dayhikers left, before returning to our campsite. We wouldn't encounter another soul the rest of our trip until our exit day.
At camp, campfires were allowed, and we partook. It felt strange to have a campfire, as my Grand Canyon backpacking has me trained for fire-less campsites.
The mosquitoes were out in force. We were happy to have mosquito nets, and the scout camp had given us some spray to put on our camp and hiking clothes that seemed to be pretty effective. There was no way to totally avoid bites--but our mitigation efforts worked pretty well. Except for when I went to use the pit toilet and forgot my bug spray. 
Day 2: Union Falls to Bechler River -- 12.7 miles
Day two was all about getting from one place to another--moving from the Mountain Ash drainage to the Bechler River drainage. The scenery was (comparatively) pedestrian--forest hiking interspersed with meadows, with a handful of creek crossings--as well as one area where a beaver dam backed up the creek and made for a messy crossing.
The crossings and heat slowed us down a bit. That, along with muggy air and lack of any standout/wow scenery, made this day a bit of slog. At the Mountain Ash/Bechler River trail junction, my Trent's son was not feeling it, and they both decided that they needed to bail on the rest of the trip, taking a shortcut back to the Ranger Station. Chris and I were bummed, not only because we would miss his company, but also because he was the trip leader and the one who had hiked these trails many times.
It was at that point that I was glad that I had mapped out our route on Route Scout and was at least comfortable in being able to get us to our planned destinations.
After spending a few minutes trying to "download" any additional intel that might be helpful for our next 2.5 days, we said goodbye to Trent and son, and we soldiered on.
Our pace quickened at that point, but Chris, who is not a regular hiker/backpacker was feeling the miles. After skirting the eastern edge of the Bechler Meadow, we first encountered the winding Bechler River in late afternoon, which provided some welcome visual relief. We also saw a couple of herons(?) across the river, not too happy with our invading their space. They squawked loudly and took to flight in protest of our presence.
As we turned up on the Bechler trail, the mosquitoes welcomed us with gusto, but our gear kept us generally protected (I've never backpacked with so much clothing coverage--long sleeves with collar, pants, and hat with mosquito net).
We had to cross one more meadowy spot, and came to a boggy area, where there were a couple of raised log/bridges, but they were separated by just enough space that we were almost convinced we were just going to have to get mucky to get across. Then, Chris miraculously found a 4-foot length of wood (in the otherwise tree-barren meadow) that we could toss across and get just enough of a foothold to make the crossing. Yay!
From there, it was smooth sailing to our next campsite--and idyllic spot right on the Bechler River. I planted my camp chair in the middle of the river at the point of a small island, and enjoyed the sunset.
Day 3: Bechler River 7.5 miles; River soak tour 2.0 miles.
This was the "money" day. Hiking along the Bechler River was pretty magical. It's early in the season, and the trail was overgrown with everything green with some deadfall to navigate here and there. Enjoying complete solitude, we took in Collonade and Iris Falls, and enjoyed the cascades of the river, as we traversed upstream.
A significant section of the trail crosses a bouldery rock field, but some first-class trail construction made this section smooth sailing.
We took our time, as the mileage was relatively short, and the scenery outstanding. We forded the Bechler River twice (mid-upper thigh depth).
Our campsite was incredible, with Albright Falls essentially cascading right into our campsite.
After setting up camp, we headed upstream to the geothermal pool area and found a nice spot to soak where the drainage entered the river. It turned out not to be the spot we were aiming for (we needed Trent with us!), but we enjoyed a good hour and a half soak in the warm water.
Day 4: Hike out -- 15 miles.
Our last day had us retracing our steps along the Bechler River, and re-enjoying the sights we had seen the day before.
About half way through, we entered new territory in crossing the Bechler Meadow proper. The rangers had warned that it may still be quite boggy, so we were a little worried about that. Turned out that there were only 4-5 boggy spots, and we were able to negotiate around them, staying dry.
Our last crossing was of Boundary Creek, and it looked like we'd need to get wet once more, but then we looked upstream a bit and were surprised and gratified to see a one-person suspension bridge that saved the day.
With four miles to go, we motored on. Chris was a trooper. Early on, I had gotten grief and skepticism about my choice of footwear (trail runners), but Chris's battered feet an ingenious use of moleskin, duct tape, and various other tools for masking blisters told the story of whose footwear turned out better. 
We ended up timing our arrival just perfectly, with Trent and his son pulling up just before we finished, with cold beverages in hand.
After updating the ranger on the status of the meadow and other intel from our hike, we headed back to Camp Loll for a nice dinner and a good night's rest before heading back to reality .... |
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