This weekend I had the chance to do a hike I've been wanting to do for years. One I did about a dozen times (in the summers of 1990–92), and once in 2005.
I intended on doing it last summer, but some of you might remember I had two flat tires and a punctured oil pan on that trip and didn't get to do it.
With a higher clearance vehicle and my brother-in-law and three of his kids (12–20 years old), we were able to make the hike.
When we got to our campsite, we discovered that my brother-in-law forgot the tent poles. With some creative ingenuity, an extra set of tree straps and whoopie slings, I was able to help them have something to sleep in while I slept comfortably in my hammock. Nighttime temperatures dropped to 41ºF on a very clear night sky.
We camped Friday night north of Loon Lake in the Winegar Hole Wilderness area of Grand Targhee National Forest just outside the south boundary of Yellowstone.
Saturday morning, we started at the Fish Lake trailhead and hiked to Union Falls and Ouzel Pool in the heart of Yellowstone's Bechler backcountry. Union Falls is a 265-foot waterfall where two rivers combine at the falls. The water was high and there were still patches of snow on a shaded north slope.
Ouzel Pool is a swimming hole in a river that is about 25-feet in diameter and about seven feet deep and is thermally fed upstream. Since it was early in the season, the runoff was swift and made the water colder than it usually is and harder to swim against the current. We took a nice and refreshing swim before making the 8+ mile hike back to the vehicle.
The route we took required us to ford two rivers a total of six times. Water was deep; from mid thigh to about waist high. The trail was much flatter than the other route I have taken and a bit longer, but was a nice change.
We saw one other group of about six the entire 18-mile hike (near the falls).
I will be at the scout camp that is located nearby for a week in August with our unit. I might take the chance to hike it again then.
Unfortunately, my wife had taken our camera on a different trip she was on, and the camera I borrowed from a friend was giving me a card reader error. But, my brother-in-law has pictures and I will post them as soon as I have access to them.
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