Fawn Pass Trail and A Few Days in Gallatin National Forest

After our build in West Yellowstone we continued traveling north, camping and hiking in Gallatin National Forest for a few days. On our way we stopped to look at a beautiful meadow on Highway 91 only to find out that it was the trailhead for Fawn Pass. We only hiked a few miles of the trail, but quite enjoyed the lush, green meadow, forested hills, and creeks.

The next hike was a random selection as well; without phone service or a national forest map we chose a trailhead marked from the highway. Hellroaring Creek turned out to be quite pretty. Though the first few miles are mostly heavily forested we were able to catch glimpses of the mountains to the east before cresting the ridge and dropping down to the creek below. From there we walked a couple miles along the water course until the ground became really muddy. At that point we had fulfilled our hiking quota for the day anyway and decided to forgo the mud and head back. We did make a quick stop to explore hiking prospects around Castle Mountain on the way back to camp however.

Our last hike before we pushed north again was Lava Lake in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. The trail is only about 3 miles one way but climbs steadily up through the forest until breaking out in the lake basin.