Alp Creek to Sedge Meadow and Beyond

On my day off from working in West Yellowstone I decided to take a longer day trek up beaver creek drainage, and find a new place to explore. A winding dirt road takes you from highway 287 north into the lower Madison range and toward the Lee Metcalf wilderness and Cabin Creek Wildlife and Recreation Management Area. Upon reaching the end of the road in Potamogeton Park, a nice grassy area nestled between the tall peaks, I decided on trail #200 up along Beaver creek and took off. 

Aside from a few areas immediately in the first mile the majority of the hike takes you through some of the most spectacular mountain meadows I have ever seen!  I wouldn't consider this a very strenuous hike, I spent most of the first 3-4 miles casually taking pictures each meadow, one after the other, and found the trail to be mostly flat but with a slightly noticeable climb. I felt safer to know my bear spray was in close reach, because this looked exactly like somewhere you would see a black bear milling through the bushes up ahead. I passed a sign as I entered the Tayor-Hilgard Unit wilderness boundary and continued on.

Around 4 Miles into the hike, I came to a saddle at the top of one of the meadows and saw a small pond down the way (Lightning Lake) and a wooden post was there to mark the path (there are various rock piles and towers along the path that became good trail markers especially later in the hike). 

From this saddle on for the next mile and a half I followed Lightning creek down through a further set of meadows and began to get a glimpse of the igneous rock peak formations to the west across the drainage. After 1-2 miles past Lightning lake (mile 6 more or less) I took a left onto trail #158 to start heading up into the Alp Creek Basin. Until this point the hike had been fairly easy going, taking a slow curvy path through the valleys, but the start of this new trail took a few switchbacks to climb an additional 500ft over the next mile through some deeper wooded areas. Multiple runoff creeks crossed the path where you could look up toward the cliffs (hiker's right) and see their waterfalls in the distance melting down from the glacial snow above.

At around mile 7, I reached my favorite point of the hike: Sedge Meadow. I got the best view of the hike thus far including Pyramid Point and Sentinel Peak to the SE, and alp creek snaked through the left flank of the meadow super slow and atleast 5 feet deep. I met the only other person I saw the whole day at the end of the meadow making a very smokey fire trying to ward off the mosquitoes. 

I had intended on reaching Alp lake at the top of the drainage, so I continued past the meadow, however the trail had disappeared and only the occasional pile of rocks would lead me further up the drainage. At this point the mosquitoes had become a problem and it was already later into the afternoon, so I decided to take a last few pictures and head back before it got too dark.

I cursed at how many mosquitoes had made their swarm over my head and I could continually feel them biting at any inch of me they could! I eventually used mud from the surrounding creeks to coat the exposed skin on my arms, legs, and neck in a natural bug repellent to make it back to my car. Definitely a MUST HAVE for this hike, as well as the hike up toward avalanche lake nearby. Although I had attained countless mosquito bites that made the back of my shoulders feel like bubble wrap, the sights and nature experience made the 15-16 mile trip entirely worth it in the end. A sunset plunge into Hebgen Lake was well deserved. Happy travels!