Hellroaring

The day after our Garnet Hill hike we went back and walked part of the Hellroaring Trail. The trail is named for Hellroaring Creek which was named by a prospector during spring runoff.

It's only a mile downhill to the suspension bridge (a 600 foot drop down muddy and snow packed switchbacks). We wondered how they built the suspension bridge over the Yellowstone. Packing in the concrete and steel cables must have been fun.

There were lots of elk north of the river. Elk are the most skittish animals we've encountered in the park. Probably because these elk wander about 8 miles north out of the park in the fall and and get shot at.

Though at the same time there are elk hanging around the buildings in Mammoth. They are fine if you are next to your car in a pullout by the road, that's where you are suppose to be. But people walking on trail is a problem for them.

We sent these packing up the slope. Philosophically you would like your presence not to alter the animals behavior, but that's hard with elk when you are hiking in the backcountry.

Wolves like elk. We thought this wolf was just ahead of us, since tracks were melting out fast. You can also see older and much smaller coyote tracks to the left of the wolf tracks. A coyote weighs about 30 lbs and a wolf 100 lbs.

On the way out we saw grizzly tracks which weren't there on our way in. Exciting to see when the tracks are fresh and going in the same direction as you are.

The bear veered off the trail and appeared to head back down towards the nice meadows down by the Yellowstone and not up the switchbacks. I'm on the switchbacks below looking back at the Hellroaring looking at the bear and enjoying the vista.