Slough Creek is a tributary of the Lamar River

Lamar River

The Lamar River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 40 miles long, in northwestern Wyoming in the United States. The river is located entirely within Yellowstone National Park.-History:...

, approximately 25 mi (40 km) long, in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

History

Slough Creek got its name when an 1867 party of gold prospectors ventured into the valley and described its condition as a slough. The name began appearing on maps as early as 1872. A myth associated with the name involves a U.S. Army enlisted man who was escorting an exploring party in 1873 and got lost in the valley. Trumpeter John P. Slough of Company I, Second Cavalry wrote this in his diary:

We attempted to follow the Hayden trail to ascertain where he had crossed the Yellowstone River below the lake. We lost the trail and my Captain Henry E. Noise [Noyes] and my self started to find it the timber and mountains we became lost and on the second day were found by a detachment under Sergeant Kinnoss, and the creek found upon now bears my name (Slough Creek)

Although many have attempted to attribute the name to Trumpeter Slough based on his diary, the name was given in 1867.

Location

It rises in southern Montana, in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness was created from existing National Forest lands in 1975 and is located in Montana and Wyoming, United States. The wilderness is partly in Gallatin, Custer and Shoshone National Forests and is composed of . The wilderness encompasses two distinct mountain ranges, namely...

 in the Beartooth Mountains

Beartooth Mountains

The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the 900,000 acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, which at 12,807 feet is the highest...

, and flows southwest, into Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

 and into Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. It discharges to the Lamar River

Lamar River

The Lamar River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 40 miles long, in northwestern Wyoming in the United States. The river is located entirely within Yellowstone National Park.-History:...

 near Tower junction within Yellowstone National Park. In turn the Lamar River forms a confluence

Confluence

Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 with the Yellowstone River

Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...

 inside of Yellowstone National Park. Slough Creek is a mildly alkali

Alkali

In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...

 watercourse

Watercourse

A watercourse is any flowing body of water. These include rivers, streams, anabranches, and so forth.-See also:* physical geography* Environmental flow* Waterway* Hydrology* Wadi-External links:...

. The Slough Creek watershed consists of mixed fir forest, sage flats and grassland. These plant communities support considerable faunal diversity, including coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

 and bison

Bison

Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

.

Angling

Slough Creek is one of the most popular fishing areas in Yellowstone Park. The access is relatively easy and the cutthroat fishing is some of the best in the world. The lower meadows of Slough Creek, below the campground, are easily accessible from parking areas between the campground and the Cooke City road. There are rainbows in this lower water as well as cutthroats. The upper meadows of Slough are accessed from a trailhead near the campground. The first meadow is a 45 minute walk from the trailhead. The first meadow is the most popular since it's close and the fishing is excellent. Slough Creek's second meadow is about a 3 hour hike. Cutthroat trout in Slough offer good dry fly fishing with heavy hatches of caddis, pale morning duns, and large Green Drake in July. Terrestrials are prominent in late summer.
In the summer of 2007 an angler reported the first rainbow trout to be caught upstream of the Slough Creek falls. The introduction of Rainbow trout may have an impact on both the native Cutthroat trout as well as other wildlife species who count on the Cutthroat as a food source. The National Park service encourages anglers that can positively identify trout caught upstream from the falls as Rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

 to harvest them.

See also

• Angling in Yellowstone National Park
  Angling in Yellowstone National Park
  Angling in Yellowstone National Park is a major reason many visitors come to the park each year and since it was created in 1872, the park has drawn anglers from around the world to fish its waters. In 2006, over 50,000 park fishing permits were issued to visitors...
  
  
• Fishes of Yellowstone National Park
  Fishes of Yellowstone National Park
  Yellowstone National Park is home to 13 native Fish species and six introduced or non-native species. Angling for trout has been a pastime in the park since its creation and trout species dominate the fish inhabiting the park. When the park was created in 1872, 40% of the park's waters were barren...
  
  
• List of rivers of Montana
• Montana Stream Access Law
  Montana Stream Access Law
  The Montana Stream Access Law says that anglers, floaters and other recreationists in Montana have full use of most natural waterways between the high water marks for fishing and floating, along with swimming and other river or stream-related activities...
  
  
• List of Wyoming rivers