On the Trail

Ward Dominick Leading Pack Train across Upper Lamar

Day Three, Tuesday:

The day will be spent at the Cold Creek Campsite. After two days of riding, everyone will probably be hankering for a break. The Cold Creek Campsite is a layover campsite and is a great place to stay an extra day. Fly-fishing for Yellowstone Cutthroat in this area is always good. Your challenge will be to determine which creek or stream you will want to fish--they are all good. For those that would like to take a serious hike, then you'll want to follow Spencer, Allison, or Stan. Of course, one of your guides will go with the fly fishing group--just to keep everyone honest and to report back to camp the proper size of the biggest catch of the day.

Left-Right Steven James, Spencer Dominick, Alex Cross, Nikki Dominick & Allison Dominick (Little Saddle Mountain Hike Looking back up Mist Creek Drainage)

Yellowstone Park Rangers may at their discretion change our campsite from the Cold Creek Campsite to one of several possible campsites farther down the Lamar even though we apply for a Cold Creek Campsite permit. Depending on the campsite, we may hike up the ridgeline overlooking Timothy Creek to the edge of the Mirror Plateau. In case you are a fisherman and were worried you need not be--the farther downstream we camp, the bigger they get and fishing along the entire Upper Lamar is good.


Day Four, Wednesday:

Petrified Tree Standing on Far Bank and in Middle of Stream

After a great day of hiking and fishing, everyone will be anxious to move to the next campsite. We'll ride down the Upper Lamar until we encounter Miller Creek. Before we do, though, we'll pass alongside of several petrified trees sticking straight up from the cliff walls near the stream. They are magnificent to look at and to photo. As you make the turn up Miller Creek, you'll ride through a major Native American archeological resource area where chipping occurred over 1000s of years. Depending on the next campsite, the Park Rangers designate for us, we may come back and explore the area and go for a swim. Our next campsite will either be Appaloosa Campsite or the Saddle Mountain Campsite (our designation and not the official park designation which is MD4).

Left-Right Barry Colvin, Steve James, Allison Dominick, Gordon Traweek, & Nikki Dominick (Breakfast Coffee--Appaloosa Campsite)

Whichever campsite we stay at, you'll thoroughly enjoy the ride up Miller Creek. One can't help but think of Osborn Russell and Jim Bridger trapping for Beaver or riding through the area. It was somewhere in this vicinity that Osborn Russell in 1836 encountered a group of Sheepeater Indians living in a wicki-up. He found them to be very shy and withdrawn and related his experience in his writing "A Journal of A Trapper."



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