Wraith Falls and Rescue Creek

Today Erica and I hiked the Rescue Creek Trail, an 8.6 mile shuttle that begins on Dunraven Pass and then ends in Gardiner. On the way to the Rescue Creek trailhead, we stopped at the Wraith Falls trail, which is a short half mile total hike to a nice waterfall. The weather was absolutely perfect - bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds and warm but not hot. It only took us about five minutes to walk to the waterfall, which was really pretty. On the way back to the car, we saw a marmot sitting on a rock. As we got closer, the marmot crawled under the rock and then peeked out at us. When we were right next to the rock, it came out from under the rock and started rolling around on the ground and looking up at us. It was really funny and adorable. 

Wraith Falls

After seeing Wraith Falls, we headed to the Blacktail Ponds Trailhead, just another mile down Dunraven Pass. We started out in a green, grassy field and walked for about three quarters of a mile before we merged onto the Rescue Creek Trail. There were two constants on this hike: wildflowers and animal bones.

The Rescue Creek trail went to the left

Pretty wildflowers along the trail

We started seeing amazing white capped mountains in front of us after about three miles. After about four miles, we stopped for lunch at the top of a hill. We had a beautiful view of the Absoroka Mountains from our lunchsite. From there, the trail led into the woods, which were really green and full of flowers. In the woods, we started seeing lots of animal bones scattered about. 

The view from our lunchsite

The first of many bones along the way

Deer Hoof

We emerged from the woods into a meadow with mountains on either side. We walked through the wildflower rich meadow for a mile or so before descending into a canyon. From here, we could see the town of Gardiner, so we thought we were almost finished with our hike. We ended up hiking another 3 miles or so before crossing the wooden bridge over a rushing river which led to the car we had parked there for the shuttle. After a few weeks of cold and rainy weather, this hike was just what I needed. It was wonderful to have such a beautiful day to hike and enjoy. 

Hiking into the canyon

One more for good measure

View Places Hiked in a larger map