Day 1: Hiking In to Heart Lake
Somehow, 8 miles in with a full pack was more than plenty for me on the first backpacking excursion of the summer. Although we passed beautiful fields of fringed gentians and walked along the lake, I was exhausted and my feet were pretty sore, and it sounds like the rest of the group felt similarly. But there’s not much that relaxing on a backcountry lakeshore won’t cure! Our site was right on the shore of Heart Lake, in a patch of thick spruce and fir trees that opened up on a gravel beach. After the hike in we relaxed in our camp chairs on the beach, reading, working on dinner. Once or twice we saw people walking on the other side of the lakeshore, but otherwise we felt like the only ones there.
Day 2: Climbing Mount Sheridan, and the Heart Lake Geyser Basin
We rose at 6:30 am to climb Mount Sheridan, 10,299 feet and 2,800 feet in elevation over 3.6 miles. The trail wound through a hillside burned in the 1988 fires, before winding along a ridge of white bark pine and smooth grey snags, with beautiful views back over Heart Lake. Finally we made our way to the top after much huffing and puffing, and were rewarded with views of Yellowstone Lake, the Snake River, the Tetons, and of course, Heart Lake. It was fantastic. After a hot descent, we took a swim in the lake, which surprisingly wasn’t brain-freezing cold. We emerged with that delicious, tingly feeling you get after swimming in cold water on a hot day.
Day 3: The Solitude of Wilderness..Sunrise at Heart Lake
Day 4: Snake River and the South Boundary Trail
Day 5: Yellowstone’s South Entrance
We hike out to the south entrance to Yellowstone, through deep woods, past fireweed and monkshood flowers taller than our heads, and past the Snake River Hot Springs. The trail is fairly flat, and easy, and we see no-one, despite the obviously well-used trail. In five days, we only saw a handful of people while hiking between Heart Lake and the south entrance of the park. While the press of crowds on the roads and parking lots and main attractions in the park reaches a fever pitch, there’s almost nobody in the backcountry. The heart of Yellowstone is out there….but sometimes you have to work for it.
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Photos: Jenny Golding