hiking the Bunsen Peak trail in Yellowstone NP
Bunsen Peak is a popular hike in Yellowstone NP that can be done by anyone; after all, it is a peak and not a mountain. There is a side trip to some beautiful falls on the other side of the peak and that is not that easy for the casual hiker.
The day before the hike it snowed and that was going to make this hike extra pretty. Of course, no matter how much I delayed it, I was the first person at the trailhead. My original plan was to hike in the Grebe Lake area, but when I got to Norris the road was closed (ice ?) and the rangers were telling people it would take another hour to open the road. I decided that one hour would become two and then backtracked and went to Bunsen.
The trail is very well designed for the masses since the elevation is gained gradually and with little effort. The snow on the ground made the view from the start of the hike beyond beautiful.
and the 180 degree view didn’t disappoint either.
The trail was easy to find on the snow. I did run into coyote tracks, a single coyote.
I not sure what these formations are called, but I have seen mentions of them. I think at this point you are pretty close to the top.
I was trying to let clouds move to get pics of the distant peaks. I think one of those is Electric Peak, probably the one on the right.
I reached the top pretty quick and I was not in a hurry, I was talking it slow. I mean, with all that snow the views from the hike can not be matched.
This is my attempt at a panorama view from the top. You can see Swan Lake on the right.
Once at the top there is a sign book at the “radio station”. Don’t monkey around with the building, there are cameras pointing to it. With the snow it became a bit difficult to find the trail that goes from the front of the mountain to the back (you can always return the way you came), since I wanted to get to the Osprey Falls. I used my GPS to “find” the trail, I bet the people that followed me to the top were grateful I left all those tracks on the snow.
From front to back goes pretty quick and at that point you start going down on switchbacks and the view is obviously different from the way up, not better though.
Osprey Falls …………………… you HAVE to visit them !!!!
OK, so at some point the trail is going to intersect two trails: one that takes you from the back of the peak on a dirt road to the trailhead and the other that takes you to Osprey Falls. The trail is well marked. I ran into a couple that just wanted to go to the falls so they took that dirt road trail to save the elevation of the peak.
The trail is steep and narrow and for some people it can get scary since there are gigantic drops off the trail, but the reward at the end is fantastic.
The couple that I saw at the trail intersection caught up to me a we took pictures of each other at the falls. Now that I have finally found something that gives me appetite on the trail, I sat down and ate for a few minutes.
So the way back is either going back up the peak or taking that dirt road on the back of the mountain. I wanted to visit other areas so I took the easy way out. There is nothing special about the dirt road, it just saves you elevation changes. I did ran into this dude, which did not mind my presence at all.
So now that I have time and was in the Mammoth area, I decided to pay a visit to Lamar Valley. When I arrived, there were a few cars parked and apparently they were on the lookout for a lone wolf in the area (didnt see it). I decided just to walk into the valley, you can go off trail anywhere in Yellowstone (your problem if a thermal kills you).
This is the first creek that I got to, you can see the road on the left:
I then followed the creek to get this cool picture. The valley is obviously full of bison crap.
On this video you can see the Lamar River at the foot of those hills. I am wondering if there is a cool off trail hike if I crossed the river.