Multi-day overnight backpacking and canoe trips

What a year for our guided Yellowstone hikes: wildfire, snow, the great bear and much, much more! Really, who is to say what constitutes an actual “highlight”? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and while in these two blogs I focus on wildfire, bears, snow and autumn foliage, perhaps to some of our guests an equally valid highlight might simply be a great view from a high vantage point, or a beautiful sunset. Or perhaps the sighting of a weasel or the primordial calls of sandhill cranes. There is just so much magic out there in the incomparable wilds of the Yellowstone backcountry!

One grizzly gave us a brief but good look in the Hellroaring Creek drainage on our June Northern Yellowstone trek. And on our layover day in the wild Wyoming Absarokas a few miles to the southeast of the park, our entire group of eight watched two grizzlies foraging at treeline all day long on our layover day. The bears were about a mile away, and binoculars were  helpful. But the “best” griz sighting of the season (in terms of the clearest, closest view) was at the last camp of our Central Yellowstone Wild Off-Trail Trek in early September. Camped at a small pond surrounded by grassy wetland and lodgepole pine, shortly after dinner I walked to the edge of the lake to view some ducks, when I spotted a large male grizzly directly across the water. I called over to the two women in the cooking area and we all watched the big bruin circle the lake along its grassy shore, gradually changing direction until he was heading straight toward our camp, still unaware of our presence! At about 70 or 80 yards, that was close enough. “Hey Bear!”, I called out. He stopped immediately, turned his head to see three upright two-legged hominids standing together with aimed pepper sprays, and immediately galloped away, into the adjacent lodgepoles. Adios. That was the last we saw of this big silver-gray griz, but what a sighting it was!

The September Southwest Yellowstone Bechler Waterfall Wonderland trek was another highlight for me, as it produced an early autumn snowstorm and some of the best autumn foliage colors (in the Bechler Canyon) that I’ve ever seen in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem! There is nothing I love more than autumn colors and fall snows in the backcountry.

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Our 2016 guided hiking trips in Yellowstone National Park included some amazing experiences, from wildfires to snowstorms to spectacular views of grizzly bears in their wild habitats. What a year it was!

The summer of 2016 was a dry one throughout most of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, although localized thundershowers did produce wetter conditions in some areas, particularly in the northern part of the region. Consequently, by mid-July the forest fire danger in most of the park was rapidly increasing. As the summer unfolded, lightening struck and ignited blazes in a number of different areas around the region. On two of our Yellowstone backpack treks, Big Wild Adventures guide Beau Fredlund was forced to alter the route in response to natural wildfire. None of our other trips or guides were so inconvenienced. On one trip in Yellowstone’s Gallatin Range, Beau watched as an afternoon thunderstorm passed by, just a few miles down the valley. After dark, he noticed a faint but growing glow coming from that area. It was the last night of the trip, and the new fire was between the group and the trail-head! Rather than wait until morning and hope for the best, Beau made a quick decision to break camp in the dark and lead a moonlight stroll back to the Big Wild van. Although fires rarely grow very hot at night, Beau took no chances, erring on the side of safety in performing his duties as a guide, with safety as the absolute first priority.

Lucky Beau! Because on the Southern Yellowstone Late Summer Magic trek in late August, Beau had his trip re-routed by the Park Service when the agency decided to close the South Entrance road to all non-official traffic. The closure was because of a wildfire south of the park. The fire never actually threatened our group, but the Big Wild van was in the road-closure area. A park ranger intercepted Beau in the field to let him know about it, and happily, the Park Service was very helpful in providing a ride to retrieve our van at the end of the trek.

Lightening-ignited wildfires are a natural feature of the Yellowstone Ecosystem, and are an example of the “untrammeled” (meaning uncontrolled or unregulated) nature of real wilderness. Wilderness travelers must adapt to the wildness, not the other way around. And that’s one of the great things about wilderness adventure: when heading into the wilderness you are heading into the unknown, even in familiar territory. You never know what unexpected adventures await!

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For those of you who have been with us as clients over the years, you’ll note on our 2017 trip schedule that we have replaced our September Colorado trip with a new and exciting Yellowstone backpack adventure, the Northern Yellowstone Autumn Splendor trek, from September 18-23, 2017. Not that anything was wrong with our treks in Colorado’s high country, but fewer clients in the shoulder season and considerable travel expense for us made that trek less than economical. But above all, the Yellowstone back-country in early autumn is so wonderful that we really do need to offer more than one such autumn adventure. So here it is, a fairly strenuous walk along a route of Northern Yellowstone that overlaps with our June Northern Yellowstone trip, but also includes some higher terrain that we rarely visit in the spring.

The route is chosen to include groves of quaking aspen that most years are turning glorious gold by the third week of September. Aspen is the only common deciduous tree in the uplands of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where most forests are dominated by conifers, such as spruce, fir, Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine. There will also be brightly colored willows, elk will be bugling and nights will be frosty with typically clear sunny days. But be prepared: September at 7,500 feet can pack a meteorological wallop, so don’t skimp on warm clothing and good rain-gear, just in case Mother Nature cuts loose. Again, this trek will cover some new territory not usually seen on our June Northern Yellowstone trip, so don’t miss it!

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Yes, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly has made an impressive comeback, and backpacking in Yellowstone means an encounter is more likely than at any time in decades. Nonetheless, the population is far from secure. Here’s why.

First, some high nutrition food sources have declined or are vulnerable to decline. For example, cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake have been decimated by non-native invasive lake trout. Whitebark pine nuts have dramatically declined as a food source throughout the ecosystem due to an explosion of native bark beetles (probably due to warming climate) and the exotic white pine blister rust fungus. Both of these pathogens have killed off huge numbers of whitebark pines. In addition, army cutworm moths are a fat-filled food source where great numbers of these insects gather in high elevation talus slopes on the east side of the ecosystem’s mountains. They are still plentiful, but are considered and treated (with pesticides) as an agricultural pest in the Great Plains, from where they migrate. Their future is uncertain. And of course, climate change is the great wild card; nobody knows how the great bear will fare in this unprecedented world of worrisome warming.

All of these threats are enough to give one pause about removing the grizzly from the endangered species list. But to me, the next three reasons are paramount. First, towns and rural areas in and around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are among the fasting growing areas of the country. Subdivisions, new roads, fences, water diversions, power lines and a mushrooming problem of mechanized off-road travel — from four-wheel machines and dirt bikes to mountain bikes — are encroaching into grizzly habitat at an alarming rate. And as population grows, so does traffic and the number of inevitable vehicular collisions with wildlife, including bears. Poaching and fatal encounters with overzealous, armed humans are another inevitable mortality factor due to regional population growth. Even though backpacking in Yellowstone’s backcountry — and horse-packing for that matter — have not increased much in recent decades, ecosystem-wide human activity is exploding, and grizzly habitat is becoming more of an island — an island under siege — than ever before.

Second, the GYE griz population is a classic “island population”, contained within a “habitat island” (the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) with essentially no connectivity to other grizzly populations. Highways, including Interstate 90, plus ranches, fences, reservoirs, towns, mines and more, currently segregate Yellowstone grizzlies from their nearest kin 150 miles to the north in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. And a Clinton Administration plan to reintroduce bears into the slightly closer Greater Salmon-Selway Wilderness Complex in central Idaho was squelched when Bush and Cheney took over the government in 2001. As conservation biologists warn, and as I explained in the previous installment of this series, isolated populations are vulnerable populations, unless they are very large. The Yellowstone grizzly population has come back from about 120 to maybe 800-900 bears, yes, but that’s still a small vulnerable isolated group of animals in a rapidly changing world.

Third, if grizzly bears are de-listed from “Threatened” status under the Endangered Species Act, they will be hunted.  Like other wildlife species, grizzlies will be under state wildlife management jurisdiction and that means hunting licenses will be sold. Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are already formulating hunting plans for grizzly bears. The last thing the Yellowstone grizzly needs is increased human-caused mortality. It needs protection. And connectivity to other griz populations. And it needs the respect that humans can but often do not demonstrate when they debate whether to make it possible to coexist with wild creatures that need lots of wild habitat. That is the crux of the matter. We still have a chance to protect the bear and its habitat and to provide and restore connectivity to other grizzly populations. The choice is ours. If we cannot do it right in the Greater Yellowstone, then where?

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After the Park Service closed the now infamous Yellowstone garbage dumps (where bears fed as a public spectacle) during the early ’70’s, the Yellowstone grizzly population plummeted. That’s because the agency failed to heed the warnings of bear researchers John and Frank Craighead to wean the bears off the garbage gradually. Instead, the “cold turkey” approach  utilized by the Feds resulted in lots of bears raiding camps, injuring people and getting into trouble in a frenzied search for new food items. As a result, way too many of these “problem bears” were “removed” from the population, which is a euphemistic way of saying that they were intentionally killed by the Park Service.

By the mid-1970’s the grizzly was plummeting toward extinction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and the total population was down to not much over 100 bears, with very few breeding females. One of the basic precepts of conservation biology is that small isolated populations are likely to “wink out”; that is they become extinct due to various potential pitfalls such as drought, disease, loss of food sources, hunting, too few breeding females, or genetic problems such as inbreeding (bigger populations, especially if  connected by suitable habitat to other populations of their species, can better withstand such events). So by the mid-1970’s, the Yellowstone grizzly was in grave jeopardy. While backpacking in Yellowstone during this time period, it was a rare event indeed to encounter an Ursus arctos horribilis in the wild.

Fortunately, at the end of 1973 Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act, and in 1975 the grizzly bear was listed as a “Threatened” species in the lower 48 states. That was just in the nick of time! The listing ended grizzly hunting in Wyoming and Montana and placed full legal protections on these animals. Throughout the ecosystem, garbage and other human food sources were bear-proofed. Educational efforts taught folks how to safely behave in bear country including the use of bear spray. Restrictions were placed upon resource extraction schemes in grizzly habitat on federal lands. And the big bruins re-learned how to thrive on natural foods.

Gradually, grizzly numbers began to grow. Fewer bears were getting into trouble and being killed by humans. Natural food sources were plentiful and by the early 2000’s grizzlies were spreading into areas of the Greater Yellowstone where they hadn’t been seen in decades. Our clients are now much more likely to see grizzly bears while backpacking in Yellowstone than at any time since Big Wild Adventures has been in the guided backpacking business. Although nobody knows precisely how many grizzlies inhabit the GYE, the best estimates are roughly 700 to maybe 1,000. That’s a far cry from the population bottleneck of the early ’70’s. There is no doubt that the grizzly has made a great comeback. The endangered Species Act has worked. So grizzlies are recovered, right? Time to remove them from Endangered Species Act protections, correct?

Well, think again! In the third and final post of this series, we will look at some compelling reasons to keep the Yellowstone grizzly fully protected under the Endangered Species Act. Stay tuned!

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Big Wild Adventures has been organizing and leading multi-day guided Yellowstone backpacking treks since 1979! Needless to say, viewing wildlife in its natural wilderness habitat is one of the primary attractions for most of our clients. And when you mention Yellowstone wildlife, most folks immediately think of the grizzly bear. That’s because of the great bears’ majesty. It is also due to the danger factor, which is real but generally exaggerated, and is addressed on our Bears in the Big Wild web page. Nowadays, what concerns us at Big Wild Adventures is the federal government’s plan to remove the grizzly bear in the lower 48 states from the endangered species list. It is currently listed as a “Threatened” species.

Let me be clear: for the immediate future there is little chance that the grizzly bear will disappear from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. So seeing one — or more — of these magnificent animals will remain a real possibility and attraction on any of our guided Yellowstone hiking tours. Grizzlies are also found in our other guiding areas in the Greater Yellowstone region, including the Grand Tetons and the Gros Ventre Wilderness, plus the Wind River, Beartooth and Absaroka mountain ranges. To the north, our clients might see a griz while backpacking in Montana on our Rocky Mountain Front trek in the vast Bob Marshall Wilderness.

So grizzlies are abundant enough for now in these limited remaining enclaves of wild habitat. But their long-term future remains in doubt. In the next blog we will take a look at the big bears’ recent history in the Yellowstone Ecosystem and finally, in the third installment of this series, we will look at some compelling reasons to maintain the “Threatened” status for the great bear in the lower 48 states.

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In the previous blog I discussed in general terms some of the campfire protocols for our guided Yellowstone Backpacking trips. On our Wyoming backpacking trips or our New Mexico or Montana backpacking adventures in national forest Wilderness areas, the government rules are a bit looser, but we at Big Wild Adventures are still firmly committed to “leave no trace” backpacking and that includes specific techniques that we use with regard to campfires. We will cover these specifics in a future blog. For now, though, here are a few words about collecting firewood.

I’ve already mentioned that while backpacking in Yellowstone, it is illegal to break dead branches off standing trees. That’s probably a good rule for most anywhere, unless you’re in a situation in which that is the only option for dry wood. Usually, though, you can find plenty of good dry downed dead wood on the ground, or better yet, connected to a dead down tree but up off the ground a bit, with air circulating around it (which sucks out the moisture). Wood without bark is best, and try to minimize wood that has a lot of rot, because rotten wood burns dirty and has way less Btu’s than solid wood. The biggest mistake made by novices, though, is to collect chunks of firewood that are too large. Think small! Big logs make big fires and that can be dangerous. They are messy, too, and tough to douse. They also make it difficult to reclaim a campsite. Moreover, the cook (your guide) cannot generally use chunks of wood that are bigger than about 2-3″ in diameter. That’s because he/she needs to regulate the flame and you can’t do that if the fire is too big! Sure, a few somewhat larger chunks are great for after dinner on a cool evening, but please don’t get carried away. Remember the old saying: “White man build big fire, sit far away; Indian build small fire, sit close“. While backpacking in Wyoming or Montana — or just about anywhere for that matter — when it comes to campfires, think like and Indian!

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Most of our clients really love the warm glow of a wilderness campfire while backpacking in Yellowstone. It’s a great way to begin the day on a chilly mountain morning, and the evening campfire is a great ritual for after dinner relaxation. Of course, Big Wild Adventures runs guided wilderness hiking tours in many areas of the American West, but the rules and regulations for Yellowstone backpack treks are somewhat unique. For one thing, back-country groups are required to camp in designated primitive campsites, and most of them are lovely with great views and good access to water. And when we reserve a camp (which we do prior to the trip), it is ours exclusively, so solitude is pretty much guaranteed. Some of the campsites forbid fires for various reasons, such as they receive relatively heavy use or they are in fairly open terrain with limited forest cover and therefore minimal dead wood. But most of Yellowstone’s back-country campsites do allow fires, unless drought restrictions are in place due to high fire danger.

While backpacking in Yellowstone, a few simple rules and protocols minimize the impact of campfires. First, in Yellowstone all campfires are restricted to designated fire-rings that the Park Service maintains at each camp. No fires outside of the fireplace! Also, it is forbidden to break dead branches off of standing trees. This is a rule that is rather unique to Yellowstone. Collect only firewood that is dead and down. On most of our guided Yellowstone backpacking trips, we use campfires not just for warmth and ambiance, but also for cooking. And the biggest mistake that novices make when collecting dead firewood is to choose chunks of wood that are too large — particularly, too large for efficient use while cooking. As someone who has probably cooked over 4,000 meals for groups on campfires, I really appreciate it when our folks bring me firewood that is properly sized, and dry and with minimal rot! In the next post I’ll describe the specifics of good firewood collecting in more detail. So stay tuned…..

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Our guided Wyoming backpacking trips all have one thing in common: high country. That’s because next to Colorado, Wyoming is the second highest state above sea level. But Wyoming includes much bigger chunks of unbroken wild country than does its neighbor to the south, Colorado. And Wyoming’s high mountain country is as big and wild and spectacular as any landscape in the U.S. south of Alaska. For those of you who’ve experienced our treks, you know that big wilderness is what Big Wild is all about. In Wyoming, outside of our numerous wonderful backpack trips in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park, we also explore the sprawling lake-filled highlands of the craggy Wind River Range, the wild peaks, forests and tundra of the Absarokas, the gorgeous Gros Ventre range, and of course the incomparable Grand Tetons. All of these are big and wild places, especially the Winds and Absarokas, which are largely protected as designated Wilderness in unbroken tracts of well over a million acres (Winds) and over 2 million acres for the southern portion of the Absaroka range, where we run our treks. But the Gros Ventres and Tetons are big and wild, too, and include some of the most beautiful mountain country on Earth. The Winds, Absarokas and especially the Gros Ventres teem with wildlife, and and summer wildflowers in the spectacular Tetons are second to none. Wyoming backpacking in big wilderness with Big Wild Adventures is an experience that our clients never forget!

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