Slough Creek Trail is a 20.2 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming that features a lake and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from May until September. Horses are also able to use this trail.
Yellowstone closes trails annually to reduce encounters between bears and humans during certain times of the year. See here for bear closure info: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/bearclosures.htm Additionally, roads in Yellowstone are closed annually during winter. Before you head out, see Park road closures here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm Yellowstone National Park charges a fee to enter. Fees are $35 per vehicle or $30 per motorcycle. If you are entering on foot, horse, or bike the fee is $20 per person. You can also purchase a park specific annual pass for $70. Slough Creek Trail travels from Slough Creek Campground in Yellowstone National Park to the north boundary of the park. It follows the Slough Creek through mostly broad, open, grassy meadows the whole way. It junctions with the Buffalo Fork Trail at the First Meadow (2 miles) and then at the Bliss Pass Trail (8 miles). Numerous back country sites are available - reserve them ahead of time at a ranger station.
Wyoming Business Council Tourism Office, Frank Norris Jr. Travel Center, I-25 & College Drive , Cheyenne, WY, 82002-0660, Phone: 307-777-7777, Fax: 307-777-6472
Directions from The Northeast Entrance: Travel southwest on Hwy. 212 until you reach turnoff on north side of road for Slough Creek. Trailhead is located near the vault toilet on the road to Slough Creek Campground.
January 17, 2021Beautiful trail in October. Cool enough to need a jacket but warm enough for melting snow. The trail opens up to a Buffalo resting spot with a lake and gorgeous views, perfect for a lunch break. Saw grizzly prints last time we visited.
October 2, 2020Only walked 0.6 miles this time. Most of it was filled with scat
September 24, 2020Beautiful hike - went a bit past first meadow. Only wildlife was a male bison. We were told by many people there is a resident black bear who walks on the trails and is not aggressive. We were told to just walk along the grass to pass him on the trail. There were 3 fly fisherman on the creek. Highly recommend.
September 21, 2020September 21, 2020September 19, 2020September 14, 2020Beautiful trail not too crowded. No wildlife today except horse’s & mules
September 12, 2020September 5, 2020August 22, 2020great hike! Didn't see any wildlife, but was still a great hike. A lot of elevation gain in the first mile then it levels out to a beautiful valley. Not very busy when we got there at 8:30am. Cheers!
August 22, 2020August 21, 2020We did it in the late afternoon, 5pm. The trail is nice, gorgeous views. A bit of hiking though at the beginning and many mosquitos We went to 1st meadow, really beautiful but no wildlife for us unfortunately.
August 20, 2020We hiked slough to buffalo fork to soldiers. Straight up at the beginning but easy grade. When you turn off to cross the slough you have to ford a calf high creek. Path across the slough grassland is non existent, long pants a must as there is plenty of thistle. Take a natural navigation marker and make your own. Had to step aside to allow 4 bull bison to pass along the way. When you get to the end at the campground there is no bridge. Must cross thigh high water. Bring water shoes!
August 20, 2020We did Soldiers trail first, after which we went on the Buffalo creek trail. Nice look of about 5 mile. You have to cross the river twice. At Soldiers trail this is a little more challenging, but doable. The Buffalo creek trail basically does not exist but it is easy to sort of follow, especially with help from the Alltrails map. I was happy we did this loop instead of just the Slough creek trail. That part was actually the most disappointing since it is just a fire road
August 2, 2020The part of the trail we did was Soldiers Trail that hooked into Buffalo Fork and then connected with Slough creek. It goes through a beautiful meadow but you have to ford two rivers.
June 26, 2020September 25, 2019The path from slough to soldiers is non existent. Have to make your own trail in some kinda sketchy areas. Have to cross the river twice ( thigh high water)
September 15, 2019Did a 21 mile out and back day hike on this trail. I hiked far enough north to reach the park boundary. before turning around. Stunning scenery for a mid-September jaunt. Why not 5 stars? The horse manure from copious amount of equine activity created several wallows of muck that I had to tread around. Erosion/ruts from horse wagons are also evident. However, not enough of an issue to deter this hike, just be aware.
August 8, 2019Beautiful expansive meadows with golden and purple wildflowers. This is how I expected Yellowstone to be and more. Lots of open space with no shade so if you go midday bring plenty of hats and sunblock.
August 4, 2019Hiked halfway in with Zoe, Camryn, Aileen, Kim and Travis. Left home at 5:45AM, but delayed by 30 min watching grizzly at headwaters of the Gallatin. Got to Slough creek too late (9AM) to see any wildlife.
July 29, 2019Trail was lightly trafficked in late July. We hiked to the second meadow. Lots of wildflowers in bloom. My favorite was the Indian Paintbrush. The meadows were scattered with fly fisherman much like something you’d see in National Geographic or Field & Stream. Two cowboys on a wagon with restocking supplies passed us on their way to a ranch. I could only imagine what life on a ranch adjacent to Yellowstone would be like (sigh).
July 12, 2019Mid July 2019. Walked up 4.5 miles from the campground with my family of 4. We saw 3 different adult black bears and 3 cubs either on the trail or within 20 feet of the trail. It is beautiful. I was hoping to do some fly fishing for an hour or so while the wife and kids hung out. I Did not realize that the trail is nowhere near the river except for right at the entrance to the first meadow. I had read in many fishing blogs and guidebooks to keep walking and not try to fish the area at the beginning of the meadow. After 4.5 miles and with a view of the trail ahead we realized that the trail wasn’t going anywhere near the river for at least another mile or 2, so we turned around. Pretty disappointed with where the trail is in the meadow vs the river, which would make it more beautiful in my opinion and enable people to fish without going 12 miles round trip to the area where the river and trail are close to one another (trail probably averages close to a mile away from the river in that first meadow). Posting this in hopes It helps someone else avoid our experience vs expectations.
May 27, 2019This might be one of my favorite trails in Yellowstone simply because there aren’t too many people on it. Hike it 5.27.19. We only went to the second meadow as we got a late start. Saw lots of buffalo and elk on the meadows. Lots of waterfowl around the river and flats. Bring a good set of binoculars or a spotting scope and you could sit for hours animal watching.
May 12, 2019Good little trail. well maintained, tons of bison droppings covering the trail. Boys had fun kicking them off the trail. Saw lots of bison, sandhill crane, geese, frogs and bear tracks. We could hear wolves howling as the day wound down but did not see them. Beautiful creek, beautiful trail.
November 28, 2018We didn’t go too far but the river is beautiful! We did not catch any fish here but did see several big ones :)
