Day 2 in Yellowstone NP

Day two in Yellowstone was a beautiful day: much less windy though still on the cool side. With a good part of the park still covered with snow (it was the first week of June), we headed North to the Tower-Roosevelt part of the park, where rangers had pointed out a few hikes not under snow or water. One of those hikes was the Hellroaring Trail and on our way to the Hellroaring parking lot, we stopped at Gibbon, Rustic, Undine and Wraith falls.

 Gibbon Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Rustic Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Yellowstone National Park

 Undine Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Wraith Falls, Yellowstone National Park

The Hellroaring trail, used also for backpacking, drops for the first section down to the suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River, then through a wooded area followed by a sagebrush plateau. The 4 mi (round trip)  day hike is intended to end at the Hellroaring Creek, but we turned around early as the signs were not giving us directions to the Creek. We suspect that at the final junction (based on the map) we should head to the left, but a group of bison were in that direction, and with other groups of bison further up from where we came down the plateau, we opted to head back. It felt for the most part like we had the trail to ourselves. We passed a few backpackers and started off behind a group of day hikers, but otherwise it was just the two of us. Since Yellowstone is bear country, we did a lot of talking and fortunately if any animals were around, they were warned off by our voices. The ascent at the end of the hike was a workout for our legs and warm in the sun, but certainly not unbearable.

 View from Yellowstone River Suspension Bridge, Yellowstone National Park

After the hike, we drove to Tower Falls. Unfortunately, the trail to the bottom of the falls was closed, so we were only able to see it from the lookout above. The last time I was in Yellowstone, ten years ago, the hike to the bottom of Tower Falls was one of the few non-boardwalk trails we actually did, but it was later in the summer and the falls were not as full.

Tower Falls, Yellowstone National Park

On our way back, and just a few miles from Mammoth, there were a slew of cars parked along the road, which usually means one thing: bear. So we had to join the crowd, and after much careful searching, we spotted what everyone else was seeing: a bear and an elk acting strange. Several onlookers were certain the elk had a calf hidden in the brush somewhere and she was trying to lure the bear away. As the bear got farther and farther away, I decided I really didn't want to see it catch the calf and we headed the rest of the way back to our campsite.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Next up: Day 3 in Yellowstone NP

This is a series on our 2011 vacation. Here are the previous posts:

• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

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