Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You can start the
Beaver Ponds Loop Trail
at the same point as the Old Gardiner Road.
A slightly steeper way to begin the loop is at Clematis Creek (it's named for a flowering vine
and pronounced KLEM-a-tus or klem-A-tus). Clematis Creek is located between Liberty Cap
and the U.S. Commissioner's stone house.
Beaver Ponds
Although billed by the Park Service and several hiking books as a 5-mile (8 km) trail, to
complete a loop from any point in Mammoth to Beaver Ponds requires a walk of at least 6
miles (9.5 km). The long-range views, birds, wildflowers, and the ponds themselves are de-
lightfully worth the effort, as are the contrasts that you pass between the high desert and the
moist forest microclimates. Beaver
(Castor canadensis)
are most active from dusk to dawn,
so you're unlikely to see them in daytime, but you can see a dam they've built between the
ponds. Incidentally, a 1996 parkwide aerial survey found about 50 active beaver lodges in the
entire park.
Another trail reached from Clematis Creek is the Howard Eaton Trail to the upper terraces
and beyond, accessed by crossing the creek before the Beaver Ponds Trail becomes steep. This
part of this trail is described on
page 278
.
Historic Fort Yellowstone
To get a feeling for army life here when the U.S. Cavalry was stationed at Fort Yellowstone
from 1886 to 1918, take a ranger-guided tour or a short walk around the historic buildings
described in “The Army Years” booklet available at the visitor center. This was not a
stockaded fort as in Westerns but a permanent army post, of which there were many in
nineteenth-century Montana and Wyoming Territories. Fort Yellowstone has been said to
rival West Point for the quality of its architecture. Signs along the walk tell you about the
