Glen Creek Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The Glen Creek Trail begins on the west side of the Mammoth to Norris Road, just south of Rustic Falls. You’ll need to park in the Bunsen Peak parking area and head a few yards south along the highway across Glen Creek to reach the trailhead.

Glen Creek is a lovely trail itself, but most use it to reach other more impressive sights, including Fawn Pass, Sportsman Lake, Electric Peak, and Sepulcher Mountain. The trail traverses the northern end of Swan Lake Flat, a beautiful open meadow set against the Gallatin Mountains. Along the way it passes trailheads for the Howard Eaton Trail (on the right at the .2-mile mark), the Fawn Pass Trail (on the left at 2.2 miles) and the Snow Pass Trail (on right at 2.4 miles). This first section of the trail was once used by wagons traveling between Mammoth and Norris via Snow Pass, before the current route through the Golden Gate was built in the 1880s.

From the Snow Pass Trail junction the trail continues along Glen Creek as it enters a ravine and begins a 700-foot climb over the next 4 miles. At 3.1 miles the Sepulcher Mountain Trail junction is passed on the right. Watch for moose in this area. In July and August, tall yellow goldenrod abound. Indians use these flowers to make yellow dye or to clean wounds and sores. The trail continues to follow Glen Creek upstream passing a spur trail to Cache Lake at the 5.2-mile mark (on the right) and ending at a junction with the Sportsman Lake Trail and the Electric Peak-Southeast Ridge Trail.

Thanks to guidebook author, Tom Carter, for sharing this trail description. To learn more about visiting Yellowstone, check out his book, Day Hiking Yellowstone.

Look for buffalo, elk, and bear in the open meadows of Swan Lake Flat. Further up, along Glen Creek is good moose habitat.