hiking the Buffalo Plateau trail in Yellowstone NP
This is a satisfying day hike on the Buffalo Plateau trail, which shares the same trailhead as the more popular Hellroaring trailhead.
The trailhead is reached by following the signs for Hellroaring parking area, off the Grand Loop road, so please drive slowly or you will miss the entrance. When I arrived there were a couple of horse trailers at the parking lot, which I assume were for backpackers. The moment I was ready to start the hike, a trail maintenance crew arrived. This is the part that I have decided to to keep to myself because it is beyond scary …………….. the park service needs to do a better job of posting trail closures and the reason why. The presence of that crew could have been a potential fatal coincidence. Ok, enough of that.
The first mile of the trail is going downhill to reach the canyon below. One of the cool parts of the hike is the bridge crossing the Yellowstone River. For casual tourists, this is about one mile from the trailhead and worth going to. Before that, the trail can connect to another trail that goes all around Garnett Hill.
Once you cross the bridge you are done going downhill and will pretty soon reach a fork for either Hellroaring (left) or Buffalo Plateau (right). I took the right and the trail is well marked at this point. I took more video than pictures this time at Yellowstone, this one I think was just past the fork when the trail is about to start going up. I take a monocular with me, so it is fun to explore the distant area; my theory is that I will waste my time looking at 99 rocks in the distance, but the 100th will NOT be a rock.
There was not a soul on that trail all day long, not a single person. Not people, but bison that decided that pushing humans off the trail was fun, like this fellow below:
You are going to reach another fork, this time for Coyote Creek and Buffalo Plateau. Stay right. The image below is taken past the fork looking back, so those green hills is where the trailhead is.
Now, this may sound backwards but ………………….. once you go right at the fork you will notice two “trails”: one that is perfectly flat and straight and another that goes among the brush and is not straight. Well, the straight one is not real, I took it and then I started noticing on my GPS that I was deviating from the trail. If you take the straight one you will go East towards the open plateau, which is not that bad since I think off trail exploration of this area is cool and safe (you can see critters coming at you from a distance).
Once you get on the right trail, elevation is gained and the views looking back at the start of the trail are amazing.
This is a closer look at the lake you saw from the video above. That would be a nice place to explore.
And this is me complaining that why there are no people here:
Keep an eye for stuff pays off, look at this bison skull:
I had to leave a trail a couple of times since bison were close to it, but the time I was there the rut has taken place already and they were pretty chill, as long as I gave them space. Please give them space, there is no place to run to for cover if a bison charges you there. Obviously, this image was taken with a zoom lense.
I think at about mile 5 (or 4?) you have reached a forested area and left the open plateau. I pick September because I can count on the beautiful colors of the leaves.
The two videos below are from the start of the forested area:
Even though you are going up, the elevation angle is so small that it takes no effort to hike that area. I am a sucker for odd looking things and that colorful bush and the tree behind it caught my attention.
Now, going into the forested area is where my attention was at full since the trees will conceal bears, so that was a slow and careful hike. I think I hiked about two miles in that area and decided to turn around. I had ‘plans’ for the return hike. There is campsite further north and that is something interesting to keep in mind in the future.
Always keep an eye for dots in the distance, this time all the dots were bison.
You will exposed to the sun most of the hike, so wear protection. I think if I do this hike again, I will reach the forested area, turn around and on the way back then go East off trail and explore of the rest of the plateau. Another area of interest was that lake that I mentioned above. On the way back, I thought about it, but there were bison at the lake at that point and I did not want to bother them. I have seen Stan Mills videos of his off trail hikes and this is an area where he has hiked off trail.
What about Coyote Creek trail ? It sounds appealing but looks like you will be following the creek on a canyon and lose all the wide views. To me, Yellowstone is all about the wide areas; that is why hikes around the Yellowstone river or other canyon/creek hikes does not appeal to me.
Hellroaring is another alternative and I took that fork when I was on the way back. I just dont like creeks when I can hike in wide open places. I hiked to that “lake” (it is a pond) that is in under the “Hellroaring” text in the topo map. To the left you can go to where the creek feeds into the Yellowstone River. And that is where I have decided to stop telling my scary story.
Remember that the last mile is uphill, so keep some energy saved. At least it is under tree cover so the sun will not hit you that much. I have read that early in the day you can hear and see wolves in the Coyote Creek area.
Enjoy …