Male grouse court mates in spring with low-frequency drumming noises they create by rapidly vibrating their wings.

      Viewpoint

      Beyond this junction, views of Mammoth Hot Springs, Bunsen Peak, and the Lava Creek Bridge on the Mammoth–Tower road open up to the east, with Mount Everts (7,842 feet) tilting to your left in the north. Watch and listen here for strutting sage grouse alongside the trail, especially in early spring.

      Birds

      Wildlife

      The slope eases up as it rolls through sagelands and bird-rich meadows accented by stands of aspen that exhibit the telltale blackened, head-high browsing marks on their trunks, left by sustenance-starved ungulates each winter. As the trail flattens out, it parallels, then passes under, some power lines. Ignore the numerous game trails that branch off the main route here. Where the trail swings east and the views really open up, watch for elk, mule deer, and prong-horn grazing in the sagelands below to your right.

      Stream

      After passing several mature stands of heavily browsed aspen and crossing a National Park Service service road (which leads up the hill to a radio tower), the trail descends gently through meadows and spruce–fir forest. You cross a seasonal stream via a bridge before reaching the first of several shallow, cattail-fringed beaver ponds ▸5 after 2.5 miles. Look for evidence of the amphibious, hydrological engineers in the form of gnawed-down logs around the shore. The paddle-tailed rodents lie low during the day and are busiest in the late afternoon. Moose are also occasionally spotted browsing nearby in the willow thickets.

      Wildlife

      The trail undulates and meanders past a couple of small, marshy ponds and crosses four seasonal streams on footbridges over 0.5 mile before arriving at the last and largest of the unnamed ponds. ▸6 Listen for birds as you approach through the trees. The edges of the mixed forest are also a favored haunt of black bears, so make plenty of noise to avoid unpleasant surprises. The trail loops around along the shore, passing a variety of idyllic spots to stop for a picnic lunch. At the outlet, you can admire some of the beavers’ handiwork before carefully crossing over the stream on a simple bridge.

      Historic Interest

      The trail climbs away from the ponds through open grassland and shady forest, back under more power lines, and past the ruins of an old log cabin before entering a wide-open plateau known as Elk Plaza and more rolling sagelands. Here you get an eye-level view of the geologic layers of the ridgelike Mount Everts across the Gardner River Valley to the north (left).

      Geologic Interest

      Beyond the Mammoth Area Trails notice board, a trailhead sign ▸7 announces your return to civilization. Continue straight ahead at the old service road intersection, ▸8 and drop down 100 yards on a narrow, rocky trail to the beginning of the gravel, one-way Old Gardiner Road, ▸9 an early stagecoach route that drops 1,000 feet in 5 miles to the park’s North Entrance station.

      To return to the trailhead parking areas, ▸10 walk behind the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and left out to the main road. Then turn right and head for Liberty Cap.

       MILESTONES

▸1 0.0 Start at Sepulcher Mountain/Beaver Ponds parking areas

▸2 0.1 Sepulcher Mountain/Beaver Ponds trailhead

▸3 0.3 Right at Howard Eaton–Golden Gate Trail junction

▸4 0.7 Right at Beaver Ponds Loop Trail junction

▸5 2.5 First of several beaver ponds

▸6 3.0 Last and largest beaver pond

▸7 5.0 Beaver Ponds/Clematis Creek trailhead

▸8 5.1 Straight through old service road intersection

▸9 5.25 Start of Old Gardiner Road

▸10 5.5 Return to trailhead parking areas

TRAIL 2 NORTHWEST YELLOWSTONE

       Boiling River

       TRAIL USE

      Hike

       LENGTH

      1.0 mile, 1–2 hours, including soaking

       VERTICAL FEET

      Negligible (±300)

       DIFFICULTY

      – 1 2 3 4 5 +

       TRAIL TYPE

      Out-and-back

       SURFACE TYPE

      Dirt

       FEATURES

      Child Friendly

      Handicap Access

      Stream

      Swimming

      Geothermal

       FACILITIES

      Restrooms

      Picnic Tables

      Yellowstone’s premier frontcountry soak is a dynamic series of five-star hot pots formed by the confluence of an icy river and an impressive