Recap from Backpacking in Yellowstone!
Back in January a passing thought occurred to me: “I wonder if I’ll ever backpack again. Do I want to backpack again?”.
It had been more than a decade since I’d taken on such an adventure.
I thought to myself, “If I do this, it has to be with a guide because I don’t have the expertise to do this without someone who has the necessary skills.”
(My past experience was with a group a friends, where my friend Jim had the backcountry experience, skills and knowledge).
Facebook read my mind and put an ad in my newsfeed for a company that runs tours in Yellowstone that I ended up booking my trip with. (It’s eerie how Facebook does that because I don’t think I said anything about this out loud).
Ever since I was a kid I’d built up Yellowstone in my head as a place that was so wild and rugged, just stepping outside your car could include a wildlife encounter with predators like bears (not that other parks don’t have these things, but this is just what I’d specifically built up in my head with Yellowstone from an early age).
Not only was I skipping the typical drive and check things out option the majority of visitors do, I was signing up to go into the remote backcountry…for five days and four nights!
Even though I’d built up certain things in my head as a kid, I didn’t enter this trip scared.
I was ready and excited with a small dose of nerves around hoping my conditioning was solid enough for the trip and the typical nerves that come with taking on something that has elements that can be a bit out of your comfort zone.
One thing that helped me properly frame the downside of backpacking was thinking about something my friend Jim said when we were setting off on a backpacking trip in Big Bend all those years ago.
He said, “Backpacking is really about your threshold for discomfort”.
At the time, I laughed it off as a “Jimism” adding it to the repertoire of funny comments he has a habit of saying. But my friend Crystal and I learned back then that the statement couldn’t be truer.
Knowing the reality of that statement helps you understand where your desires truly lie for being out there. And by expecting some level of discomfort, you’re not taken out when it occurs (within reason, of course).
To me, this sets you up mentally for the slog when it becomes one.
It sets you up for the camp sleep as you begin your nightly rotation of sleeping on one side before turning to your back and then to other side just to do it all again until morning comes (this might just be me!).
It sets you up for the the hip belt of your pack rubbing your hip or blisters forming on your feet and to go without some of the everyday comforts you’re used to.
In knowing there’s a certain level of discomfort that’s simply apart of the process, it sets you up to truly define why you want to be out there. To answer the question: Is this worth it?
For me, the answer continues to be YES.
It’s worth it to see sunrises, sunsets, grand vistas, backcountry lakes and geo thermal activity in remote areas of the park…
…to feel the excitement of spotting unexpected wildlife (like river otters, elk, bald eagles, osprey…and a bear!)…
…to bond with those who are in the experience with you…
…and to feel the sense of accomplishment for having completed the trip and all that it entailed. 
When I say we were in remote areas of the park, I mean REMOTE…
The first two days and nights we were out there we saw two, at most, three people, none of whom camped near us.
According to stats shared by our guide, we were in an area that only about one percent of Yellowstone’s visitors see and explore.
The most people we saw occurred on the backside of our trip where we spent two days at Heart Lake, a beautiful remote backcountry lake (if you want to kayak or canoe in the lake, you have to hike it in nearly 9 miles…we passed a group of four carrying a canoe on our way out!).
We passed a couple our first evening at Heart Lake when we checked out some nearby geo thermal activity, a solo trail runner and a group of five guys when we headed up Mt. Sheridan the following day and a few more people on our final hike out as we neared the trailhead we exited from.
This was very different from day hiking in Glacier National Park, where crowds abound on the most popular trails!
We crossed the Snake River twice on foot as well as a few smaller creeks (no bridges for backcountry hikes!), where the initial crossing happened moments after leaving the trailhead (we started out in water shoes).
We hiked through open meadows and forested paths, where each hike led to beautiful campsites.
We saw evidence of bear activity in the areas we hiked through via claw marks on tree trunks, scat and other tell-tell signs, but, in the five days we were out there, we only saw one bear that we would have easily missed had our guide not caught the movement of a brown speck halfway up a mountain in the distance.
Even though there was a great distance between us and the bear, it definitely heard and saw us as we watched it through binoculars and our own eyes for few minutes. It ultimately loped off and disappeared from view. (Our guide got some great pics with his telephoto lens that I included in the pos. Oh and it was a black bear despite being brown). 
On night one, we camped near a river making its way through a meadow, where a mountain on the side opposite of our camp, perfectly reflected itself in the water during the morning light. Our camp was nestled in a wooded area offering much desired shade from having hiked through the heat of the day to get there. 
Three marmots made their home near the river’s edge and let themselves be seen as we explored the shoreline that evening. 
We also explored some nearby geo thermal activity…Yellowstone is FULL of geo thermal activity throughout the park since it sits on top of a dormant volcano (making it home to more hot springs and geysers than any place on earth!). Seeing it in the backcountry all to yourself is kind of mind-blowing (and all the risk is on you to know to stay away from the boiling water or surrounding shelf like areas that could cave in because there are no signs offering warnings).
These pics are from geo thermal activity near Heart Lake…
The next morning we took advantage of some hot springs created from a tributary of water flowing from the geo thermal area into the main river. The picture of us looks a little like we’re on an amusement park log ride because we’re sitting single file in what looks like an open river, but that’s because we were sitting right on the line between the hot water flowing in and the cold water of the main river. It was a great opportunity to rinse the body, relax the muscles and share in conversation that bonds a group on trips like these.
Night two’s campsite offered another wooded area to nestle our tents and the main camp in (for bear safety tents are set up 70 yards from the main cooking area…and all toiletries and food are kept in the main cooking area where they’re hung up at night).
We caught some rain that evening so it called for an even earlier bedtime than normal (like eight something instead of 9:00, lol).
The next morning offered a brilliant sunrise that rose over the forested trees bordering the meadow near our campsite and an interesting layering of fog over a nearby pond.
Day three led to our final two night stay in Heart Lake, where Mt. Sheridan loomed in the distance, waiting to be tacked on day four! 
Our campsite at Heart Lake was probably my favorite because it offered direct access to the shoreline of the lake…something we definitely took advantage of by enjoying breakfast while waiting for the fog to lift…
…evening sunsets where a huge, chunky, vibrant rainbow appeared for at least 15 minutes (with intermittent lighting striking in the background)… 
…an afternoon of bonding after coming down from Mt. Sheridan, which was when I saw my second bald eagle (I’d never seen bald eagles before this trip!) and a spectacular sunset on our final evening.
We also saw lots of waterfowl (that’s my catch all word for not knowing or remembering the various types of birds/ducks we saw!). 
Even though camping at Heart Lake was my favorite spot, night one gave me a pretty big scare when, at 2:45am, I heard an animal hit the left side of my tent and scurry off!
It sounded at least mid-sized so, of course, I immediately thought “Bear!”.
I quickly ran through everything that was in my tent in my mind hoping I didn’t have anything in there that shouldn’t be (I didn’t), then I reasoned with myself that “it” ran off, so I should be okay and I went back to sleep.
The hike up Mt. Sheridan on day four was the perfect physical and mental challenge for me, where the views were oh so rewarding!
Mt. Sheridan gains 3000 feet in elevation in 3.9 miles going from 7,000 feet in altitude to 10,000.
It was mentally challenging in as much as I had to decide it was doable early in the hike (or prior to beginning the hike) so I wasn’t struggling against thoughts of “Can I make this or not?”.
Just deciding you can clears these type of thoughts. (This goes for anything you’re taking on).
Then it simply became about moving at my body’s pace knowing I had the strength and stamina to get to the top (even if I didn’t have the cardio to move at the same speed as our guide and the fastest participant on our trip).
Sometimes things like this can be a mental game if you get overwhelmed by not going at the same pace as others in the group. In deciding the hike was doable for me, I simply “hiked my own hike” as my friend Rob (another participant on the trip) says.
The view from atop Mt. Sheridan looked back down on Heart Lake, where we started from the shoreline, and on the opposite side, the view looked out into a vista of rippling mountain tops that included The Grand Tetons!
The next morning we hiked out and returned to civilization after being completely unplugged from it for five days.
It’s an unusual, but good feeling, to be so immersed in the remote backcountry of Yellowstone that you hardly think about the life you left until its reveals itself at the trail’s exit in the form of parked vehicles.
I’m thrilled to have done a backpacking trip after over a decade of not having done one…and to have done it in such an iconic place as Yellowstone National Park. My younger self would be so impressed, lol.
If you find yourself considering a backpacking trip (or another endeavor that pushes your comfort zone), I think my friend Jim’s statement (“backpacking is really about your threshold for discomfort”) will serve you well in both deciding if the trip is for you and mentally preparing you to have the best experience knowing some level of discomfort is going to occur.
Because I had his statement in mind when choosing to go on this particular trip, any discomfort that occurred was simply background as I remembered it was part of what allowed me to experience all the things I desired from being in the backcountry.
I also think his statement can be applied to anything worth pursuing as “discomfort” can cover anything that’s considered “hard or uncomfortable” including emotional things like failure, rejection and other psychological fears that come with putting yourself out there for something you desire to pursue.
Understanding your threshold for discomfort in relation to what you desire, really puts the spotlight on assessing how true your desire is for the things you say you want to pursue.
When your reasonably understand your threshold for discomfort (i.e., the discomfort involved in the pursuit) and your desire is still strong, you won’t be taken out by the discomfort.
You’ll expect it as par for the course and, instead of focusing in on it when it arises, you’ll focus on why you desire what you desire….you’ll focus on the positives of what the pursuit offers instead of the discomfort that’s trying to get a foothold in your awareness and take over.
Cheers to pursuing the desires of our hearts despite the discomfort that’s bound to arise in the pursuit!
Shanna
P.S. Many of the pics were used with permission from Matt Hergert, guide and owner of Nomadic by Nature, the company I booked the trip with. The rest of the pics are mine.
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