Big Horn Pass Yellowstone Hike

Big Horn Pass

When: 7/18/2020

Who: Ellie and Covey

Wildlife: Elk, Cranes, Osprey (although fellow hikers said they had seen a Moose, Sheep, and Goats. It is also Grizzly Bear Territory so bring bear spray and bells. 

Trail: 20 miles, 8 hr. 

We hiked from the 191 over the pass and ended in Indian Creek Campground. The trail was hard to find at times, especially coming down the Yellowstone side.(maybe less trafficked because of Covid-19?). We brought 6 water bottles and filtered water once. Don't stress about not finding water to filter, because there are plenty of streams along the way. There are two river crossings near the end of the hike (about 3 miles from the end)that felt really good on our feet after hiking 17 or so miles. 

Going Up:

We started the hike at 7:30. The beginning of the hike was beautiful. Nice views of the mountains as you follow the trail along the Gallatin River. First you wrap around the left of Crowfoot, then you hike towards Three Rivers Peak (beautiful views) and end up climbing over the saddle between Bannock Peak and Three Rivers. At the top you have nice views of both peaks as wall as Antler Peak and Quadrant Mountain. Along the way were some great backpacking sites (4-5 miles in). We highly recommend them. They are set up ready to go for fires and high beams for bare storage. The stream would also make great fishing.

Coming Down:

There was a snow bank blocking the main trail coming down from the pass. We used some small sticks and slid down the mountain on our bums. There was a trail to go around, but this was much more fun. We lost the trail on our way down a couple of times beacause it isn't super well tracked. When in doubt follow the stream. After mile 15 it starts to flatten out into sage brush hills. It was around 2pm so we were hot and it felt dragged out. The river crossings were very refreshing on our feet. Ross picked us up in the park at 4:30 (we planned ahead, there is no service on the hike)

Conclusion: 

If you were looking for a beautiful flat hike starting off the 191 and hiking towards Big Horn Pass is a beautiful and runs along side the river for miles. The fishing there would also be fun to try out. 

In conclusion if we hiked in again it might be fun to hike it in the other direction, although it is less of a gradual assent to the saddle. That way somebody could drop us off in the park early and be able to go look for animals. Ross didn't have much luck finding animals at 4:00 PM

We are looking forward to backpacking in to one of the spots mentioned above and then explore on the 191 side.

Map at trail head

It would be fun to do the Fawn Pass loop. It's about 10 miles and ends just down the road from where we started so shuttling cars would be easy.

The begging of the hike follows right along the Gallatin River

You have a great view of Crowfoot all the way in

The trail has a nice balance of forest and meadows, with the river right along side of you. 

Really nice Backpacking site just 4 miles in

My favorite views were as we climbed up the pass looking strait at Three Rivers Peak

The Top! to the left you see Quadrant Mountain

and the side of Bannock Peak. To the right is Antler Peak. Such a great view down into Yellowstone.

On the way down the pass there were some small ponds with Antler Peak behind them. The was down was forest with some meadow and followed the river. 

The first river crossing is after a long walk through the sage brush and has a nice view looking back at Antler Peak on the far left, Bannock Peak, and then Quadrant Mt. on the right. 

Last river crossing

The End
Adventure is Out There!