Backpacking The Greater Yellowstone: Thorofare Creek/Yellowstone River Headwaters Full Video

This is a 6 day backpacking trip we did in Wyoming this past September. The trip was in both the Washakie and Teton Wilderness, and the Absaroka Mountains, which make up part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This area sits just outside the south east corner of Yellowstone National Park, and is one of the more remote areas in the lower 48 states.We did a loop from the South Fork of the Shoshone River, going up Ishawooa Creek to the pass, down Pass Creek, up Thorofare Creek, into both the north and south fork drainages of the Yellowstone River, over to Marston Pass, down some of the Buffalo Plateau, and then down Bliss Creek to the Shoshone River.

Some of the route was off trail. Some of the trails here don't show up in maps, and often times we used what I call outfitter trails, which are trails maintained by horse packers and hunting guides. There is a good variety of wildlife in this area, including grizzly bears, moose, bighorn sheep, elk, deer, black bears, and wolves. We saw a bunch of grizzly sign, but only one grizzly bear and one black bear. In past experiences I've seen numerous grizzly bears in this area and on exact parts of this route. We passed a wildfire which was kind of exciting. We also went during rifle hunting season for elk, which wasn't a great idea. We had been given wrong information about when rifle season started, otherwise we probably wouldn't have done this trip.