hiking in the less know Pelican Valley in Yellowstone NP

Pelican Valley is not that well known and on top of that it has hiking restrictions because this is a bear management area. You can only hike in the area between 9am and 7pm during certain times of the year. Also, you are recommended to hike in groups …. obviously, I hiked it alone. As you can imagine, I was super alert. I have done this hike four times, it can be done as an (1) in and out hike all the way to the Pelican Springs cabin or (2) a lollipop loop that takes you across the valley (see below). I am going to combine pics and videos from all trips, so this is going to be a long blog.

This is a dangerous area, full of all the critters thatn you can think of: a resident wolf pack, bison all over the place, black bears, grizzly bears, ducks, hawks, bald eagles, etc etc etc

The first part of the hike is thru a forest and that was spooky each time I entered it. I preferred to have people enter the area the same time as me, I can’t explain why it felt scary. On one occasion I ran into two black bears one after the other and they just ran away; I don’t feel scared when I run into black bears.

This dude is a major problem since they are super noisy and will startle you if you don’t see them in time.

The forested area is dense so there are just a few spots where you can see far into the forest and see if there are critters nearby.

Well, the forest ends and then you start getting views of the valley, You can see the forest in the pic below.

There is also a restriction to stay on the trail for the first two miles. I couldn’t see why, but I did see a what it looked like a dormant thermal area close to the trail, so I am guessing that was the reason. Don’t bother exploring the thermal area, it is just dead dirt with no thermal flow at all. This view is on the way back, the thermal area is to the right when you reach those trees:

Now, to the west (off trail) there are the Sulphur Hills that you can see smoking:

The trail eventually does an L turn and now it is running parallel to the valley once it goes past the small thermal area. There is a side trail to Turbid trail (I have not done that). You can see from the topo below that the trail is going to hug the creek for a while:

On those trees near the thermal area I saw some hawks resting

I saw some people staying put too long at an elevated area past a mostly dried side creek so I knew something was up; just before I got to them I found the bear that was down in the valley, about less than 1/2 a mile from us. It was moving away from the trail, so there was no concern. I followed the bear with the binoculars for a few minutes, it was a black bear in the valley, but on the other side of Pelican Creek.

This is what the trail looks like, it hugs the hill that is forested to the right, so just like Hayden Valley you are not hiking in the middle of it (until later).

There were bison all over the place, but the critters that are cool are the ducks on the creek to the left:

You can see parts of the creek in the video below.

Now, 99% of the people will reach a point and turn around, that is the ruins of a bridge over Pelican Creek. The bridge is not really necessary, you can easily cross the creek, if the bison allow it:

The fun part starts after continuing the hike since now the trail gives you some elevation over the valley and it gives you great views.

Somehow this is an area that I have always run into bison pushing me off the trail.

Look at this view ……….

So I reached this area where I was overlooking a couple of bison trying to cross another creek. I wanted to get pics of them crossing the creek, but the lazy bastards took their sweet time. The one you see below did not move from that position for the 15 minutes I was there waiting.

The valley is immense, I was very careful using the binoculars scanning the forest to my right and the valley to my left. I was at that point the only person on the trail. I was the ONLY person on that trail the whole day.

Every person I ran into was between the trailhead and the creek bridge and I was way past that area. That was becoming a pattern on these hikes in Yellowstone, if people decide to get in the trails, they will do for just a couple of miles. I don’t get the impression that Yellowstone is a hikers park (although it is full of hiking trails), maybe because most visitors are regular tourists, or maybe all these warnings about bears spook them ……………. or maybe because you can see a lot of wildlife from the road.

The further you go you get closer views of Pelican Cone. There is a trail to the top, but that would really make this a very long day hike.

I love the movement of the creek and the bison dotting the landscape.

Eventually you will reach the Pelican Springs cabin. To the right the trail continues as a backpacking route that takes you to the Lamar River.

At this point you take the connector trail and this trail is very lightly traveled so I had to use my sunglasses to be able to see the trail. There is no real way to get lost since you are just crossing to the other side of the valley, but better to stay on the trail than waste time to find it.

You will eventually hit the trail on the other side of the valley. There are more trails to follow other creeks with interesting thermal areas to explore:

I took this video when I was literally in the middle of the valley:

Now on the other side you need to pay attention to the forest to your right, this is something I saw on the trail, very fresh:

To give you some reference, this video shows the “main” trail from the other side of the valley:

Just imagine being able to hike in the middle of Lamar or Hayden valleys; well, you can do that here. I have done the lollipop twice and will keep doing it.

Now, like I mentioned, this trail is dangerous and this is what I ran into next to the trail. The area was closed about 3 months before due to this dude being eaten:

I keep mentioning bears. On this occasion on the way back I ran into these bear tracks going IN THE SAME DIRECTION I WAS GOING and to top it off there were not there 2 hours earlier:

Something nice happened two miles from the trailhead. After sitting on an elevated point for a few minutes watching a bald eagle flying around I ran into this woman. She asked about wildlife and we started talking. She works with Xanterra and takes her time off to find a spot in the park and have dinner watching the valleys. So we start talking about the wildlife and not being afraid of it. She mentioned an idiot that came without a facemask to the gift shop (idiot!!!!). She is now moving to Xanterra in Death Valley for the next six months, quite a change of scenery. That day I ran into these wolf tracks:

We ended up talking for 90 minutes and then we started hiking back to the trailhead. Very nice lady. Very nice day of hiking.

One last pic of fall colors: