Garnet Hill

Today Jake, Steve, Charlotte, and I hiked the Garnet Hill loop trail. The trailhead is located at Tower Junction, in the Northeastern section of the park. When we arrived at the trailhead, we noticed very dark clouds not so far away and could hear thunder in the distance. We decided to hike anyway, and turn around if the weather got dangerous.  

Garnet Hill Trailhead

Threatening sky

The first few miles of the trail were in an open, fairly flat, meadow, with green grass and shrub brush all over.  We hiked through the meadow and enjoyed the views of mountains, including Garnet Hill, in the distance.

After hiking a few miles, we descended into a forested area. We came out of the forest into a meadow alongside the Yellowstone River. On the other side of the meadow was Garnet Hill. We walked between the river and the hill for close to a mile before we began switchbacking onto Garnet Hill. The hike was not a summit hike, so the trail soon leveled out. We stopped for lunch under a shady tree (by this time, the storm clouds had dissipated and it was sunny and quite hot).

Entering the woods

After our break, we walked through a beautiful area with rocky cliffs on either side before heading back into a green meadowy area. We continued hiking through this terrain until we reached the road that we had started on and headed back to the car.