Hayden Valley in YellowstoneNP
There is Lamar Valley and then there is Hayden Valley. You can count on everyone wanting to see the American Serengeti to visit Lamar Valley, but I prefer the immensity of Hayden Valley and the Yellowstone River next to it.
This blog will cover three hikes that I did: (1) the only trail in Hayden, Mary Mountain trail, (2) a short off trail hike along Trout Creek (next where all the wolf watchers park their cars), and (3) a longer hike past Trout Creek, six miles into the valley.
Let’s start with Mary Mountain trail ………….
If you can shuttle, then you can hike the 20 miles all the way to the West. I hike solo, so for that trail it is an in-and-out. I want to get closer to Mary Mountain lake but I always get distracted by the large bison herds in the area and spend time looking at them.
Just before all the places where people park on the road to see views of the Yellowstone river and Hayden Valley, there is a small parking area for the trailhead to Mary Mountain trail. The trail is wet is quite a few areas, there is water runoff from mini creeks and the park service can’t predict their path so there are barely no plank bridges. So get ready to get your feet wet or ready to figure out detours (not that hard).
If you start hiking early, please keep your ears open and constantly scan the forested area to the left. I have heard wolves and actually by scanning that area with my monocular have seen two wolves walking into the forest.
You are guaranteed to run into lone bison for the first couple of miles on the trail and they will block the trail, so you are pushed off it. This time, it became ridiculous; every bison I saw was on the trail and half of them walking so I had to figure out where they were going to avoid them thinking I was following them.
Them you are going to be within sight of Alum creek from then on. I just love the movement of the creek, looks the same as the creek in Pelican Valley.
This is a seldom hiked trail, I run into people for the first couple of miles and no one after that. But if you are into LARGE bison herds, this is the place for you. This last time the herd was next to the trail after you cross Violet Creek (below).
There were so many bison that I decide to stop hiking, found a small hill to get on top of and watched the herd for about 30 minutes:
A couple of bison gave me the evil eye ………
Just hike slowly and you will find fun stuff to look at, like these geese next to a bison:
Or bison taking a nap ………………
Or the fall colors ………………..
And now the off trail hike along Trout Creek ….
Some background: I have read on Backcountry Post an off trail hike that took 20 miles in Hayden Valley. They started at Trout Creek, went all the way to Africa Basin, crossed a few creeks, came back on Mary Mountain trail and finally crossed Crater Hills back to the start.
These days the area around Crater Hills is closed due to wolves dens, so that loop is not possible so I wanted to get a hiking partner and just explore between 4-6 miles of that area.
The interesting thing (see image below from Google Earth) is that you can still clearly see the old wagon tracks that took wagon across Hayden Valley. Yes, you read that right, WAGONS !!!!
As a bonus, if you look on Google Earth you can see paths from grizzly bears to the old trash dumps in the area.
I posted on one of the Yellowstone hiking groups in Facebook asking for a hiking partner and I was super luck that this woman minister from South Dakota answered and volunteered. She is an expert on ANY thermal area in Yellowstone, ANY !!!!!!
So we started at a parking area between Trout and Elk Antler creeks, one of the parking areas for viewing wildlife in Hayden.
I used my GPS to find the wagon tracks and in many areas you can clearly follow them:
From Google Earth you can map the wagon tracks all the way almost to Africa Basin; our plan was just a morning stroll. Below is a reminder that this is Hayden Valley and things get eaten here. Parts of the vertebra were close by, so we were always alert for critters on the horizon, while I was getting cool stories about the thermal areas in the park.
We arrived at a crossing for Trout Creek where we found two guys already going over it and decided to turn around, but went up a hill instead of just turning around. And here is where I saw a large valley that followed Trout Creek to the south:
We went around a bison atop the hill ……….. I can’t believe that I saw that valley since that gave ideas for a longer hike in 2023.
In my mind I was planning a long hike solo into Hayden and trying to decide: do I investigate this valley or try to hike all the way to Africa Basin ??? That will be my dilemma for 2023, which route I dedicate a hike into Hayden. I might post again on Facebook asking for a hiking partner but this time I will make clear I intend to hike 18 miles in the valley.
Further exploration Off trail into hayden valley (scary)
So now it’s time to hike further into Hayden Valley. I liked the short 3 miles-in hike last year that this year’s hike would go further, about six miles in.
Hayden Valley is no joke; in Lamar Valley you can see the whole valley from the road but in Hayden you will lose sight for 2 miles and then it is up to you to figure out things. What I mean is that there will not be a report of a carcass or bears in the valley since no one goes there.
As the last time, I drew a GPS route following the old wagon trail and you can see it in this video, to the right:
Always look for dots in the distance and this was great since I managed to see a herd of elk on a tree line to my right. That area is prime area to watch wolves.
To me its amazing that the old wagon trail tracks are still seen (wait til later for something super cool). In this area you can still be seen from the road.
Just before I reached the first creek crossing at Trout Creek, I started running into bison. These two assholes were blocking the path and I could not figure out if I needed to go left or right. Eventually, they moved so I was able to continue the hike.
I arrived at Trout Creek and I should have been more careful and find a better place to cross it since I stepped on a deep muddy area and I thought “shit, quick sand, I am stuck”, but I was fast enough to stop the other foot from getting stuck and use it to get out. This is the view after crossing the creek:
The path took me to the forested area and I needed to be careful at that point. I was all alone.
Now, after another mile I arrived to the place I wanted to see. On the original blog where I got the idea to hike this area there was a mention of the wagon trail making a path on the side of a hill. Well, this was great that it was so clear after all these years. I mean, how many people have seen this ?
I hiked another mile and decided to turn around:
But, the “fun” was about to start when I reached Trout Creek on the way back.
I found a better place to cross the creek, but these dudes were waiting for me:
You don’t fuck around with these guys, so I hiked to their right and started climbing on small hills until ……………….. my life flashed before my eyes: on one hill I almost collided with a bison’s ass that was resting on top (I found out that the top of these hills had no grass, but dirt, and bison love to rest on dirt). At the same time that I saw the bison, the bison heard me, got up and growled. I immediately turned around and started going back down the hill, hoping that the bison would not follow me. There was no space to hide, it was up to the bison to decide what to do. Lucky for me, the bison decided I was not the effort to trample on.
I spent 30 minutes trying getting back to the return path; I kept running into bisons all over the place and finally I was pushed into the forest since every hill had a bison on top of it.
The valley is immense, on the way back I would leave the path and check stuff out. In the middle of the day it is safer since you will not run into bears or wolves, unless these is a carcass.
To me, Hayden is the real thing, wide open areas, bigger than Lamar, with more opportunities to hike. But this not a place for someone that doesn’t know what do to, no trail, bison all over the place, and you will be alone.