Towering more than 5,500' over the town of Gardiner, Electric Peak (10,969') is the high point of the Gallatin Range and one of the most iconic peaks in Yellowstone National Park. The standard approach to this peak is via the Sportsman Lake Trail, accessed from Glen Creek Trailhead in Yellowstone. This is a phenomenal half-day run that covers a wide variety of terrain. From open, rolling trail through sagebrush meadows and old-growth spruce-fir woodlands, to the windswept ridgeline and airy final scramble, this route constantly changes underfoot.
Route: Runners can start from either Snow Pass trailhead or Glen Creek trailhead (Fawn Pass trail), which offer roughly equidistant access to the Sportsman Lake Trail. I personally prefer the Snow Pass Trail, which climbs up on nice trail through a beautiful forest of big douglas firs. This is the route that is shown on the GPS track and whose stats are used above. However, the Snow Pass access has about 900' more climbing round-trip than the Glen Creek access, and runners going for speed might want to consider the Glen Creek start.
Both access points converge at the start of Sportsman Lake Trail ~2mi in. From here, the trail gently rolls through open sagebrush and grass meadows with wooded sections in between until the marked junction for Electric Peak at 6 miles. While these first 6 cruisable miles have only climbed 1,200', the remaining 3 miles to the summit gain about 3,000' and are real calf-killers. From here the trail gets much rougher, but stays easy to follow as it turns to cut straight up the prominent Southeast Ridge of Electric. The trail ends shortly after gaining the summit ridgeline around 10,600', and the final 300' of climbing are a choose-your-own-adventure scramble to the summit that should not exceed 3rd class. Take in the expansive views from the summit and ready your quads for the way down!
