Yellowstone’s Least-Used Entrance Leads To Waterfalls, Historic Army Outpost

The Bechler River Soldier Station in the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park is one of the park's many backcountry entrances. The historic structures standing there, built by the U.S. Army, have been largely unchanged since 1911.

But there’s more to Yellowstone’s “Cascade Corner” than a few historic buildings. The area accessed through the park's least-used Southwest Entrance is an oasis of blue and green in the vast expanse of Yellowstone so far into the undeveloped wilderness that only the most determined visitors journey to see the pristine wilderness.

“It’s a unique area,” said author and lifelong Yellowstone employee and enthusiast Jeff Henry. “It’s one of the park's most remote areas, in a sense. Very green and stunningly blue.”

Making A Trail

Despite decades and several once-in-a-lifetime experiences in Yellowstone, Henry has only spent a week at Bechler. In July 1988, he was asked to clear the trail leading to the pristine region in the park’s southwest corner.

“I was dispatched to that area because I was good with a chainsaw,” he said. “A lot of trees and logs fall onto hiking trails over the winter, and I was detailed at Bechler to cut open trails in the last week of July.

Henry spent a week clearing trails and completing utilitarian projects at the historic structures at Bechler. He described it as “a great experience” in one of the most unique regions of Yellowstone.

“One evening, my colleague John Edwards and I rode horses from the Bechler area to the Pitchstone Plateau,” he said. “Another day, I cut trail from today's Grassy Lake Road to the Pitchstone Plateau. It was a great experience.”

The week at Bechler was invigorating and relaxing for Henry in a way he didn’t know he needed. As he was heading back to Madison Junction, he saw an enormous column of smoke rising from the northwest corner of Yellowstone.

“It was the first of the major fires that blew up during the famous fire summer of 1988,” he said. “It was far removed from the Bechler area, but I saw it on my way home.”

An Oasis

The Bechler Solider Station was named after Gustavus Bechler, a cartographer selected to join the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. Led by geologist Ferdinand Hayden, it was the first federally funded exploration of northwest Wyoming that led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872.

“Mr. Bechler and I crossed the southern divide tot eh head of the newly-reported river,” Hayden wrote. “We found it to be a large stream, formed, within a short distance, from the abundant flow of numerous large springs bursting from low down in the sides of a high plateau of very porous volcanic sandstones, which we afterward found to extend for several miles southward. In the absence of any prior designation, I have called this Bechler’s River.”

In 1911, the U.S. Army established the Bechler River Solider Station by building a small house, ranger station, and horse barn. The soldiers patrolled the southwest corner for poachers from the station for a while, but the area has been relatively untouched since then.

Bechler is a distinct area within Yellowstone. Because of its geographic location, it has abundant water, which supports a lusher, greener environment than the rest of the park.

“A lot of Yellowstone is really dry, but an awful lot of water flows into the Bechler region,” Henry said. “The prevailing winds come up from the southwest, funneling storms from the Pacific Ocean up the Snake River Plain, which collide with the higher country in the Bechler area and dump prodigious amounts of rain and especially snow.”

There are several waterfalls in the Bechler region. At 260 feet tall, Albright Falls is one of the largest, although the Colonnade Falls, Ouzel Falls, and Iris Falls are also impressive.

Henry said Bechler is also one of the only places where an iconic western flower grows in great quantities.

“Bechler is one of two areas in Yellowstone that I know of where the common camas grows,” he said. “It’s a plant that was very important to the Native Americans but relatively rare in Yellowstone. It has a really tasty bulb root, and the top of the plant is edible too if you eat it before it gets too old and tough.”

With the abundance of water in the area, Bechler Meadows can be covered in the blueish-purple camas blooms. Henry remembered how vividly colorful Bechler was during his weeklong assignment there.

“If you catch it at the right time, Bechler Meadows can be completely blue from the blue camas,” he said. “And that’s Bechler: very green and stunningly blue.”

Cascade Commercialization

Bechler’s abundance of water has been envied since the establishment of Yellowstone. As the nation grappled with the purpose of its national parks, Bechler and southwest Yellowstone were almost lost to aggressive commercial interests.

In the 1902s, Yellowstone Superintendent Horace Albright referred to the Bechler region as “the Cascade Corner” because of its abundant waterfalls. Idaho irrigators and Montana “dammers” wanted to develop that corner for agricultural benefit elsewhere.

“Idaho farmers and irrigation interests wanted to construct dams within Yellowstone,” Henry said, “or take possession of the Bechler region and have it subtracted from Yellowstone as a whole.”

The Idaho Legislature, with ideological support from Montana and Wyoming, wanted the Cascade Corner to be removed from Yellowstone so it could be tapped for its water. Dams were proposed along the Bechler River and an access road along the entire expanse.

The effort gained enough momentum that a special committee was convened to resolve the controversy. The Coordinating Committee on National Parks and Forests was formed in 1925, and it heard arguments and debated the issue for five years.

Ultimately, the committee decided that the Cascade Corner belonged within the protected boundaries of Yellowstone, a decision Henry celebrates.

“Those battles went on for a decade before the park and conservation interests won out and said no to the irrigation interests,” he said. “That was a very fortunate turn of events, at least in my opinion.”

In their decision, the committee said the Bechler region and its natural wonders “are of scenic charm and afford an engaging foreground to natural features of unusual interest. The region, with its setting and surroundings, forms a worthwhile part of Yellowstone Park.”

‘The Least Traveled Entrance’

Yellowstone refers to the Bechler region as the park’s “least traveled entrance” on social media because it is so far from any developed areas inside or outside the park. Nevertheless, the determined will find a way.

The trail to the historic Bechler River Solider Station starts near the Lone Star Geyser trailhead. It is a round-trip journey of around 30 miles into the undeveloped wilderness, where the only amenities at the station are a picnic table and a pit toilet.

“It's possible to do it in a day, but you'd have to be a really good hiker,” Henry said. “You'd have to be in good shape. I certainly know people who could do it, and I could do it in my younger days.”

Ashton, Idaho, is the closest town to Bechler. It’s accessible via the Grassy Lake Road, but it’ll still take a multi-hour ride in a high-clearance vehicle to get there.

Despite its abundant beauty, Bechler remains one of the park’s most pristine and untouched areas. Henry would not recommend it as a day trip because anyone in a rush to get there will not be in a rush to leave.

“It wouldn't be the ideal way to see it because you'd spend all your time hiking,” he said. “You wouldn't have any time to look around when you got down there, and there’s a lot to see.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.