This was a wild hike. 18 miles in the Yellowstone backcountry with no clear trail after the first hour. Few people hike this trail, and it is the most dangerous in the park. Park services has to rescue more people from this trail than any other place in Yellowstone. It required a map and point to point navigation, using these posts, which were sometimes half a mile or more apart, as the markers for 18 miles. Getting lost would be easy to say the least, and we did on multiple occasions but managed to realize it before we wandered too far. It took from dawn til dusk and we didn't see a soul all day, other than a coyote, but we finally made it to the end of the trail just after the sun went behind the mountains. The only thing left was to ford the river. We took off our boots and dipped our sore feet in the ice cold water. With all of our gear overhead we waded across the river. We knocked out the last mile and made it back to the care at twilight. It was by far the most challenging wilderness experiences I've taken on and definitely my most memorable hike.