Avalanche Peak

Avalanche Peak was the only strenous trail we did in Yellowstone, all the other hikes were short and easy. Avalanche Peak is at the south east corner of the park, you can climb up to get views of Lake Yellowstone. The trail is steep right from the start, but it really isn't so bad. Just remember that you are starting a 8000 feet of elevation, so it seems harder than it is. If you can make the first half mile, you will get your second wind and the trail doesn't get any steeper than the initial climbing.

I asked the trailhead sign if it would mind posing with Melanie, and it graciously said okay, so I got this fine photo.

The trees in the park suffer from an infestation of beetles. I don't know if its because the beetles are a species from overseas (and thus the trees have no natural defenses) or because global warming has increased the elevation that the beetles can thrive at, but whatever the reason, plenty of Yellowstone trees are dying due to beetles. You can see healthy green trees and dead trees in some of these photos. The first half of the hike is underneath trees, so it is well shaded.

At the top of Avalanche Peak, we took some victory photos! This is Melanie, with Lake Yellowstone behind her.

Some victory photos facing the opposition direction (the camera is facing east in these pictures. Avalanche Peak is 10,500 feet high, certainly that is worthy of several victory photos.

This view is looking down on the trail that we climbed. I guess the trail is hard to distinguish in this photo, but you can see a lot of beetle-killed trees.

I tried taking a series of photos from the crest, facing in each direction. This is the view looking north toward Hayden Valley.

This is the view to the north east.

Looking east, which is outside of the Yellowstone Park boundary. It appeared some trail went off along that ridge, but we didn't explore further.

Lake Yellowstone is directly to the west. The sky was overcast that day, and rain seemed imminent, but it didn't not rain on us in Yellowstone.

To the south west you can see the "arms" of Lake Yellowstone. In the far distance, those snow capped peaks are the Tetons!

This is the view looking south.

I took this picture after we had climbed down from the mountain and had driven half way around Lake Yellowstone. The mountain in the center of this photo is Avalanche Peak - we conquered that summit. Yeah!