Early season fairly flat hikes


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Posted by Ballpark Frank (24.237.83.208) on 10:08:32 05/24/13

In Reply to: suggestions for hikes posted by ursusani

ursusani,

Here are a few possibilities I don't think have been mentioned yet:

1.) Lamar River trail: It's about 3 miles out to Cache Creek. You would have to be comfortable doing the short hill down to the bridge over the river from the Footbridge pullout. It's all open sage country, but the views are spectacular, and it's "critter country".

2.) The Blacktail Plateau Drive should still be closed to vehicles, which means you will have that dirt road all to yourself. Very few people go walking up there, once the snow is gone.

3.) Park at the Indian Creek Campground entrance. On the campground side of the creek, instead of continuing on the paved road toward the campground, go the opposite direction, upstream. There is a trail that will take you past the "Superintendent's Campground" (noticeable due to privy and picnic tables). Eventually, you will be on a power line right-of-way. You can take that all the way to where it intersects Winter Creek, maybe 1.5 to 2 miles out. There is one small hill after you have done 3/4 of the walk, but the rest of the trail is pretty flat.

4.) The Fountain Flat Freight Road is flat as a pancake. You can start at either end, but I prefer the north end, since the south end is more crowded. If you wanted, you could detour west after crossing the Firehole River, by Ojo Caliente Spring, and visit Sentinel Meadows (home to 3 mongo large sinter craters, each with a hot pool on top). Another option is to take the spur trail out to Fairy Falls, which is one very pretty waterfall. If you are adventurous, there is an endless array of off-trail wander possibilities on either side of this road in the Fairy Meadows area and on the opposite side of the road. There are thermal features all over the place.

5.) The first couple miles of the Rescue Creek trail, starting at the North Entrance end, is real flat, once you negotiate the little hill at the beginning. You can go out a mile or two, and turn around when the trail starts ascending the grade by Rattlesnake Butte.

Ballpark



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