Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Terrace Mountain Loop

Since the security checks for work still haven't cleared, me and my fellow interns Maeve, Chris, and Erica (and Jess' boyfriend, Manuel) decided to go on a hike. I looked through my Yellowstone hiking book and thought that the Terrace Mountain loop seemed like a good early season hike. At 6.2 miles, it isn't too long, and despite its name, it doesn't climb a mountain. Rather, it skirts all the way around it. 

The first two miles went through a flat meadowy area surrounded by mountains. This part of the hike was pretty easy and really beautiful. We began at the Glen Creek trailhead and followed the Fawn Pass Trail. 

Fawn Pass Trail 


After two miles, we came to a junction with the Snow Pass trail, which we turned onto. The first half of this section of the trail was pretty flat as well, but it did begin to descend after about a mile. Shortly after turning onto this trail, we discovered part of an elk skeleton a few feet from the path.

Snow Pass Trail

The elk skeleton we found along the trail

The Snow Pass trail began descending into a pretty forest, which we followed for about another mile. In this area, we saw several elk, but they were moving too quickly for me to snap a picture.



We soon came to a junction with the Howard Eaton trail, which my Dad and I hiked a small portion of on Saturday. In this area, we discovered a small boulder field where several marmots lived and we watched them play for a while. 


Marmot



This last leg of the trail started to climb pretty steeply into an area called the Hoodoos, which is a large white boulder field. It was incredibly beautiful.

The Hoodoos up ahead

The Hoodoos

From there, we ascended to a cliff face and them descended into the woods and back to the trailhead where we began. The hike took us a total of 3.5 hours and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day weather wise - it was sunny and in the 60's with a nice breeze. I guess if I couldn't work today, this was a great way to spend the morning. Tonight I am going to a meeting about the softball league here to see about getting onto a team. Wish me luck!


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4 comments:

  1. Rooney would be at home with his marmot friends!

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  2. Great photos. I need to get back out there!

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  3. Roonski is a little marmot! they were standing on their hind legs just like him!

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  4. thanks, dad - and yes, you do! there is way too much to do here!

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