Deep in Yellowstone

A week ago I had the opportunity to hike deep into the Yellowstone backcountry with Butch Bach, a longtime Yellowstone Park Ranger, and the guy who wrote the book on the wild interior of Yellowstone.  Trace any line across a Yellowstone map, on or off trail, and he has probably walked it, or skied it. We started from Pelican Valley, near Yellowstone Lake, hiked over Mist Creek pass, through Lamar River Canyon, and exited the Lamar Valley.  Thirty-five miles in four days.  The best perk to hiking with a ranger: we got to stay in patrol cabins, an ammenity not normally available to civilians.

Some pics from the trip:

Rule #1: Bison always have right of way.  Especially when they are running down the trail toward you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butch Bach: About the best hiking companion a person can have. We’re coming off of Mist Creek Pass.  You can still see ample evidence of the 1988 fires.  At times I get discouraged to see all the charred trees, but then I remind myself that I’m living through a Genesis story.  I just won’t be around long enough to see it finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of a long day it was great to relax at patrol cabin.  This is one of the oldest, near to where the last of the bison nearly went extinct a century ago.  Only the bravery of an army officer kept an infamous poacher from finishing them off.  But that’s another story…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the little creeks in Yellowstone.  I brought a watercolor kit and did a 9×12 sketch of it.  Enjoyed working in a new medium, but, well, it’s just not easy!  Stay tuned for some studio paintings based on the sketches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is folks!  Grizzly bear scat.  Bet that bear felt better after unloading that!  Saw scat and tracks everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes the greatest beauty is not the far off vistas, but a patch of Oregon grape right at your feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearing the finish.  The weather has turned cold, and that night it would snow in the mountains.  Hiking thirty-five miles through some of the wildest remaining wilderness just does something to you.  It’s like a reset.  Now to look through the sketches and watercolors and plan new paintings, so that I have an excuse to go back there, if only in my memory.