Article Contributed on: 8/3/2009 11:18:45 AM
Seven Mile Hole is the only trail that descends from the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone all the way to the river at the bottom. (Uncle Tom's Trail, a series of 300-plus steps and inclines, descends about ¾ of the way down, but it
washed out in a mudslide earlier this summer and there is no timeframe set for its reopening.)
Unlike many of the mountain hikes we've been on so far this year, Seven Mile Hole descends 1,400 feet in 1.5 miles before you have to hike back out. The trail is 11 miles out and back, and is called Seven Mile Hole because it reaches the Yellowstone River seven miles downstream of the Lower Falls, according to a ranger in the Canyon backcountry office.
The path starts at the Glacial Boulder Trailhead (named for a
giant granite boulder dropped by a glacier about 80,000 years ago) and follows the north rim of the canyon, passing several vistas of
Silver Cord Cascade rushing down the South Rim.
After three miles, the descent into the canyon begins, passing an extinct geyser cone and crossing an active thermal field. The trail reaches the raging Yellowstone River at a confluence with another small stream the flows down the canyon wall. When you reach the river, you are actually on the banks, close enough to dip your feet in the frigid waters for as long as you can stand.
While Seven Mile Hole Trail is unique and intriguing in its own right, the highlights of the day had to be seeing both a grizzly and a black bear close up. While we had seen a few bears before this summer (I saw a grizzly up close last year, as well, along the east entrance road), it had always been from afar and in the middle of a "bear jam," a traffic jam caused by people pulling off the shoulder to see what they can see.
As we were entering the park through the east entrance, we noticed a number of cars stopped in the Steamboat Point parking pullout. As we passed, we could see the cameras and binoculars pointed at the hillside to our right, where a
grizzly bear was rooting around.
We pulled off into the parking area and were able to watch him from about 20 yards away for about a half-hour. A ranger who was monitoring the situation said the juvenile male had been returning to the area for a few days and had likely been kicked out of the brood by his mom just this summer and was beginning to establish his territory and find his way in the wild alone.
Now, 20 yards is dangerously close to a grizzly (they can cover that distance in a few lunges), but being right outside your car makes it a reasonable place to stop and watch for a while. While we were there, the bear paid no attention to the small gathering of people, and kept rooting as if no one was around.
Our second bear sighting of the day was more intense. After eating lunch at the bottom of the canyon, we had just started out ascent when we came up and around a curve in the trail and I saw a giant brown behind right in the middle of the trail about 10 yards ahead.
After retreating to a safer distance (while keeping the animal in sight), we could see it was a massive
black bear, likely a male, possibly as big as 500 pounds. While he was more brown than black, the shape of his nose and ears identified him as a black bear (black bears can range in color from completely black to brown to blonde, so color is not a reliable identifier).
As the bear moved along the trail rooting around, we slowly retraced our steps, shouting and calling out as we went.
He continued along our path and we continued trailing him from a distance, watching him. He pretty much ignored us and kept rooting around for food, aside from an occasional glance backward at us to see where we were.
Eventually he wandered off the trail, where he found a clover patch and plopped right down in the middle of it, just like a dog or a cat on a couch. At that point, we were ableto beat a wide berth around him and leave him to his lunch.
The hike back up the canyon was steep and strenuous, but the longest part, as I've come to realize after a few 10-mile-plus hikes, was about the last mile or mile and a half.
Overall, if you can make the climb back out (or are camping at one of the three backcountry sites at the bottom of the canyon), Seven Mile Hole is a unique, unusual trail that passes through a lot of different terrain, from lodgepole forests to a thermal basin to the banks of the Yellowstone River.