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A pack trip coming out of the Absaroka Mountains crossing Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park. |
A pack trip into Yellowstone’s backcountry will enable you to explore the wildest parts of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and is an experience you will remember to the end of your days. The best way to experience the full majesty of Yellowstone Country is by traveling on horseback with pack animals to set up camps in the remote heart of the wilderness. More often than not 75% of your positive experience will be of the character that guides you there, Yellowstone cowboys are known for their mountains skills, colorful personalities, knowledge of natural history, human history, and ability too tell a memorable tall tale.
A Yellowstone pack trip may take you over spectacular passes of between 11,000 and 12,000 feet and through pristine mountain valleys with little human presence. Several of America’s mighty rivers of have their beginnings as tiny springs in Yellowstone’s high country. Each valley has its own distinct character with meadows of lupine in one and craggy cliffs in another. Pack trip adventures provide an opportunity to experience the glorious, untamed landscape that is unchanged since the early explorers found it.
When you hire a seasoned and professional packer and his wranglers you usually get accomplished fishing guides as well, the end result is an amazing wilderness experience and unparalleled backcountry fishing. Pack outfitters place an emphasis on the entire experience: taking in the scenery, viewing wildlife, learning new techniques and catching fish.
Wild Yellowstone cutthroat, rainbows, cutbows, browns, brookies and lake trout all reside within the vast watersheds of the park. Most back country trout average from 12"-20" with larger fish found in certain areas. Dry fly fishing with large attractors and hopper patterns is the usual approach during the summer months. Sight-fishing with dry flies for wild, robust trout is what makes this fishing so special.
Traveling in the Yellowstone Backcountry on horseback is a traditional and exciting way to see the park. Only horses, burros, mules, ponies, and llamas may be used as pack animals. Because horses and mules are large animals with big appetites, they have the potential for causing a noticeable impact on the backcountry.
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Pack string on pack trip coming out of Heart Lake in Yellowstone National Park |
Pack animals selected for a trip in Yellowstone should be well trained, compatible with each other and accustomed to the restraining techniques you plan to use whether they be electric fences, hobbles or pickets. Highlines can be used, but they must be set up and moved often enough so that trees and underlying areas are not damaged. Horses may not be kept overnight at any trailheads or in any of the roadside campgrounds. To camp overnight in the park, you must have a Backcountry Use Permit and use a backcountry campsite that allows horses or stock. None of the sites have corrals, or hitching rails, and tying stock to trees for long periods is not permissible. If you wish to take a daytime ride, call the Backcountry Office for a Day Use Stock Permit.
Campsites and trails may be closed to stock use in the spring and early summer due to wet conditions. Generally, overnight stock use isn't permitted before 01 July. Contact the nearest ranger station or the Backcountry Office for current trail conditions and/or restrictions.
What better way to enjoy the wilds of Yellowstone than to saddle up and head into the mountainous terrain of the peaks and valleys of Yellowstone? Most horses have a graceful and gentle aura, representing the freedom to the wild rugged Absaroka, Gallatin, or Bitterroot mountains of Yellowstone National Park. |
