It was a short hike to site 6Y2 on the upper Yellowstone River.
The campsite was an elongated area squeezed between the trail and the river, and there wasn't enough space for both a bear hang and a tentsite.
Even this far upstream, the Yellowtone is deep in many places.
With nowhere to put a tent, I found a knee-deep place to ford the river and made camp on the other side.
The North Buffalo Fire continued to grow, sending up a lot of dense smoke.
In the afternoon I made another off-trail excursion to find the falls on Falcon Creek, about half a mile from site 6Y2.
Heading back to camp under a still-darkening sky.
Ash falling on the tent fly sounded like a light rain.
Smoky.
Overnight a brief rain did fall, dampening the fire for a short time. On the next morning my route took me out of the Thorofare and into the mountains, climbing toward Mariposa Lake.
Near the Continental Divide, looking back along my route at the smoke from the growing North Buffalo Fire.
Three bull elk were grazing in the high country (only two are visible here).
This one sniffed the air . . .
. . . and immediately looked in my direction (This was the ninth day of the trip, so my scent wouldn't have been hard to pick up) . . .
. . . and gave the alarm.
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