After a couple of light days we were ready to get back to why we came here in the first place, hiking and lots of it! This morning our plans were to hike Sevenmile Hole in the Canyon area. I have no idea why they call it Sevenmile Hole, it’s 10 miles round trip. Someone told me that it feels like seven miles coming back up because the hike starts at the canyon rim and goes to the bottom to the banks of the Yellowstone River, passing through a large thermal area along the way.
The trail begins near Inspiration Point on the north rim at the Glacial Boulder trailhead. This was less than a mile from camp. The hike starts off level and follows the rim of the Canyon. The views are great from the trail, but since the morning was very foggy they would have to wait till afternoon for us to see them. In the AM, this was our view:
About halfway down the trail we began to pass by both active and dormant thermal features. We also acquired the company of a doe deer who we kept seeing off and on for the next hour or so.
Near the bottom we found this little waterfall. I thought it was very pretty with the lush vegetation contrasting with the red rock of the canyon walls.
The bottom of the canyon with some additional thermal features:
On the way back up the fog had finally cleared and we had some gorgeous views of the canyon.
After finishing this trail, we went to Canyon Village for ice cream and then to the south rim for our second hike of the day, Uncle Tom’s Trail. This is a lot different of a hike from the previous even though it goes down the same canyon. This trail is heavily used vs. Sevenmile Hole where we only saw three other groups. Uncle Tom’s Trail isn’t really a trail at all. It’s a metal staircase built into the side of the canyon that takes you to a viewpoint very close to the lower falls. It’s only a mile round trip but there are 350 steps in the staircase. Good for a little cardio on the way up!
Madventures CO 