Most Diverse Itinerary in Yellowstone!

For veteran Yellowstone hikers, simply put, we will be doing the Beaver Pond Loop (with a bit of a twist between the largest pond and the Elk Plaza). For Yellowstone newcomers, this is a 5 mile walk, mostly on-trail, that showcases more diversity per mile than any other trail in the park!

My inspiration for this particular activity was a road trip on Friday, June 5th, wherein I drove portions of or all of 4 of the 5 entrance roads and most of the Grand Loop, starting at the North Entrance and exiting at the West Entrance. On my route I was struck by the recent emergence of arrowleaf balsamroot (the bright yellow flowers along the bottom of this Meetup's promo photo). It reminded me that I have not yet done these showy wildflowers justice with my camera. After reading the answers to the question Jody is posing to those wishing to join our Meetup, I realized we have a fair number of folks in or near the park that are fairly new to Yellowstone and relatively unfamiliar with the resource. My hope is that this itinerary will motivate several of our veteran Members to join us on Saturday, and lend their experience and knowledge to the education of the newly arrived. For the newcomers, I will introduce myself as a longtime Volunteer-in-Park (VIP) at Rocky Mountain National Park, with just short of 60 years of intermittent experience in Yellowstone National Park. I worked for the park as a seasonal interpretive ranger within the Mammoth Interpretive District, and was the initial project coordinator of the electronic field trip project, "Windows Into Wonderland". I created a Yellowstone-centric tour business and led groups of park visitors for "fun and profit" for many years. I have been leading groups on both warm season backpacking trips and day hikes, and winter ski and snowshoe excursions for almost 40 years. Saturday's walk will be a modestly paced affair, particularly on the somewhat steep ascent of Clematis Gulch at the beginning. I will be celebrating my 77th birthday on Monday, the 15th, and my days of trying to compete with the bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and pronghorn are behind me!

I will submit 2 forms of evidence for my claim that this activity is by far the most diverse formal trail in all of Yellowstone. The first is a list I have developed of all the various wildlife species we have seen on or along this trail over the years, arranged alphabetically: badgers, bald eagles, beaver, too many birds to expend the time and space to detail, bison, black bear, bull snakes, coyotes, 2 deer species, numerous duck species, elk, garter snakes, golden eagles, gray wolves, grouse, numerous hawk species, moose, muskrat, numerous owl species, red fox, and sandhill cranes. While I have not seen a grizzly bear while walking this trail, I know that they frequent the area occasionally, particularly in spring and late fall. I know folks who have seen them. I have seen mountain goats numerous times over the years in the upper reaches of Sepulcher Mountain, which rises above the Beaver Pond Loop. I just have not seen any down as low as we will be on Saturday, but I would bet they have been seen by others over time.

Once I post this Meetup announcement I will add a number of additional photos taken on a rather special navigation of this loop on June 5, 2020, shortly after the park superintendent reopened the north end of the park after the Covid-19 closure. All these images were secured that day, along with the promo photo with its arrowleaf balsamroot.

Our route will likely be a total of 5 miles, most of which will be on-trail. The current NOAA weather forecast for Saturday is "Sunny, with a high near 70". It doesn't get any better than that! You should bring bear spray, and carry it in a position where it is easily accessed, but also not likely to be accidentally triggered when not needed. Use sun protection, including a head covering, sunglasses, and sunscreen. It is still tick season, so spraying your pants legs from the knee down is advisable. Put your usual rain and wind protection in your pack, just to play it safe. We are in the Northern Rockies, and Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor at times. Bring both food/snack refreshment and your liquid of choice. I always advise the use of hiking poles. They come in handy for coping with a variety of challenges. If you have a lightweight camp chair, and room for it in your pack, bring it along. Last, but definitely not least, are the optics. Binoculars are quite useful periodically on this trail, as we break in and out of expansive viewscapes. Cameras, or at least, a well-equipped cell phone will get a well-deserved workout.

We will be traveling through an environment with a diverse history, and at several short breaks or rest stops, I will recount a variety of true adventure stories from the early days of Yellowstone National Park.

One important cautionary note: Your activity leader is out to fill various holes in his Yellowstone Northern Range image inventory, so there will likely be occasional photo stops here and there. Rather than standing around stressing out because you want to "keep moving", why don't you start building your own inventory. All kidding aside, know that this is not going to be a college track team-class training exercise. We will have plenty of other Meetups over the course of the summer and fall which lend themselves to profound calorie burning. This is not one of them! Join us, and see for yourself why the Beaver Pond Loop is widely considered one of the best "nature trails" in Yellowstone, and has a lengthy history of use by ranger/naturalists for visitor education.

Ballpark