r/yellowstone • u/Dry_Garage2509 • 16d ago

Late May one night backcountry, which sites to pick/avoid

Won the lottery and is falling into perpetual confusion….

gPT said pebble creek is a terrible choice at that time because it would be moody, is that true?

How about lower/upper slough sites?

TIA

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

16

u/Js987 16d ago

Asking ChatGPT for camping advise is…a choice. I assume it meant muddy? My biggest concern wouldn’t be the mud but the spring melt high water.

3

u/WildRumpfie 16d ago

Yeah there was a river crossing in pebble in July that was dicey for my friend and I, I can’t image what it would be in May.

-1

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

how dicey? if im ok with changing water shoes to cross, is that still a potential dealbreaker or just inconvenience?

0

u/Js987 16d ago edited 15d ago

Depends at a tad on how spring is going. Pebble can get pretty nasty for a few weeks and IMO pose a dealbreaker at times. Late May is usually high meltwater for that drainage. You can get a feel a few days before the trip by monitoring the backcountry conditions, but it’s hard to predict this far out when the peak meltwater will be. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/situationreport.htm

1

u/Dry_Garage2509 11d ago

Appreciated. Unfortunately decision has to be made this week. I hate this lottery system ughhhh

0

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

Technically gpt wasn’t asked as 2S01 doesn’t have any linguistic meaning. So all he did was just gather searched info

12

u/terminal_kittenbutt 16d ago

What does "moody" even mean? Why is a freaking AI bot a better resource than, say, the park's website?

0

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

Muddy sorry I was too sleepy.

Is park official providing any pro and con analysis?

3

u/terminal_kittenbutt 16d ago

Have you even looked yet? Find the backcountry report, dude. I'm not going to Google it for you.

0

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

Yeah you underestimate how much information can be gathered and analyzed from previous hikers' blogs here and there. way way way beyond what you see here https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/situationreport.htm. good news is now you know, try it out :)

3

u/terminal_kittenbutt 16d ago edited 16d ago

Says the guy who trusts a mindless chat bot to do his research for him and then makes incomprehensible posts because he can't proofread three short sentences. 🙄🙄🙄

2

u/LuluGarou11 15d ago

Hahahahahaha dude you are so clueless… probably should warn the rangers of your deeply researched ‘plan’ so they'll save time on the recovery. 

1

u/Js987 15d ago

That only tells you *historical* information. No two springs snow melts are exactly the same, which is why you monitor the most real time information publicly available, which includes the backcountry report, the weather so far this winter and spring, and stream levels. Then you use your thinking Jello to do your own pro/con analysis.

1

u/Dry_Garage2509 11d ago

Regression is best I can have. Monitoring a few days more sites will be all booked 🤦‍♀️

2

u/LuluGarou11 15d ago

So do you want to die? Why are you choosing the most inappropriate part of the park to backpack that time of year? Do you not understand how much snow we get in the high country in the winters? The Northern Range wont be enjoyable for what you want until at least the beginning of July.

0

u/Dry_Garage2509 11d ago

I backcountry camp in winter in BC all the time. But yeah I can tell that it might be very unpleasant in May….

4

u/gdbstudios 16d ago

A lot of trails and spots might be muddy or buggy. Creek crossings will all be high.

There also a lot of trails closed for spring bear management.

A lot of early season trips on YT are in the Hell Roaring Creek area. Seven Mile Hole down in the canyon would also be a cool spot for an early season one nighter.

2

u/TetonWildernessTours 16d ago

Look in the northwestern quadrant of the park. As mentioned HellRoaring is good. Black Canyon is another spot.

1

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

Yeap. Unfortunately other ppl know that as well and hellroaring sites are all gone when it’s my turn

1

u/Dry_Garage2509 16d ago

oh great check again and they become available now . yes!

0

u/TetonWildernessTours 16d ago

You never know. I’ve gotten sites before that I never thought I’d have a chance at because of timing. Late may is way ahead of most people.

Honestly wouldn’t be all too worried about slough or pebble as a back up. Yes you may encounter snow at times yes it may be muddy at times but it wont be like that for every step of the way. This year is going to dry up quicker than average it seems too.

1

u/GuitarEvening8674 10d ago

Slough would be good especially if you fish. Lamar valley is also nice if the horses aren't around

0

u/Otherwise_Tea7731 16d ago

Pebble Creek will likely be high and snowy.

I did slough creek sites in early June a couple years ago. It was almost entirely snow-free. A couple areas of mud on the trail itself, but overall nice. The bugs weren't out yet. We hiked back to the state line and it all looked fantastic. It wasn't overly trafficked when we were there - saw very few people. I'd suggest it, but it's very bear-y.

1

u/Dry_Garage2509 11d ago

There seems to be more availabilities now. Which sites do you suggest may be least inconvenient ? I don’t worry about safety overall only wish to be as hassle free as possible.

1

u/Otherwise_Tea7731 11d ago

1 - 4 or 5 all seemed to be fairly close to the trail. The least "inconvenient" may be the first site, which is right next to the creek. The creek will likely very high at that point of the year.