Yellowstone Backcountry - Buffalo Plateau Trail - Part 1

After waking before dawn (4:30 am) and sneaking out out the Old Faithful Inn, We made the long trip through Yellowstone, past the Grand Tetons, and into Jackson by 8 am. We ate a quick breakfast at McDonalds while the girls watched a DVD about Yellowstone wildlife. We stopeed by the "Leslie" store to see if I could pick up the necklace that Kathi fancied, but it didn't open until 10:00 am. So I took the girls to the airport and got them checked in. Back to JAckson, bought the pendant, and bought bear spray and some caddis flies at Jack Dennis.

Headed north and drove along the Gros Ventre to see the historic structures along the Mormon Row. The buildings with the Tetons in the background were spectacular!



Continued north along the Antelope Flats Road winding in and out of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Very scenic but also very rough going along the gravel pitted road.



Made my way back onto route 191 and picked up a nail in the construciton zone near the sourht entrance of Yellowstone. Pulled over at Grant Village gas station, but no one availabel to patch the tire so I changed it but lost precious time in my Slough Creek rendezvous with Tom and Denise.

Finally made it to Slough Creek at 5:15 pm and left the rental car at the Slough Creek trailhead where we would end our hike. We got our packs together and Denise gave us a ride to the start of our hike, Hellroaring Creek trailhead.



We started out at 6:30 pm for the short couple of downhill miles to Hellroaring Creek site 2H4. We stopped at the bridge crossing the Yellowstone River and admired the view in the setting sun.





We could tell we were in the backcountry because of all the bones we saw lying around. This was not groomed touristy area!





We found the campsite (Fire ring), but there was no sign marking the spot. We hung the packs and food from a tree overhanging Hellroaring Creek, set up the tent in the dark, and went to bed.