Russell Lake Trail; Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness; Cooke City, Montana
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Summit Cheeseburger - Buck Hill, North Dakota
Mom and Dad chillin' by the grill at the "trailhead".
June 25th, 2010 - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
My parents were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary with a camping trip to Medora, North Dakota. They asked me a few months in advance if I'd like to drive out to see them since it's much much more convenient to drive 400 miles to see them than 1000.
Before leaving I did the mandatory "I'm going on a trip so I'd best look up local summit cheeseburger opportunities" and found Buck Hill and it's location along the scenic drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The opportunity to pack the Weber, some ground beef, cheese, and potato salad into the back of the truck was too juicy to pass up. Mom, Dad, and I grilled burgers at the trailhead and then carried them along with some Cokes up to the Summit, took a photo and then relaxed and enjoyed the view.
My parents were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary with a camping trip to Medora, North Dakota. They asked me a few months in advance if I'd like to drive out to see them since it's much much more convenient to drive 400 miles to see them than 1000.
Before leaving I did the mandatory "I'm going on a trip so I'd best look up local summit cheeseburger opportunities" and found Buck Hill and it's location along the scenic drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The opportunity to pack the Weber, some ground beef, cheese, and potato salad into the back of the truck was too juicy to pass up. Mom, Dad, and I grilled burgers at the trailhead and then carried them along with some Cokes up to the Summit, took a photo and then relaxed and enjoyed the view.
Sam, Mike and Ann conquering Buck Hill in Theordore Roosevelt National Park
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Bridger Ridge Traverse
*Note - this was originally posted as a trip report on Summit Post. Also, View Trip Photos
Jeff and Sam started at Fairy Lake USFS campground at 07:30 on 2008-08-24 with light packs, lots of food, water, maps and legs ready to be destroyed. We finished, eleven and a half hours later having ascended 5,170ft, descended 7460ft and traveled nineteen miles.
Preparation - Jeff has lived in Bozeman for two years and has had his eye on the route followed during the Bridger Ridge Run just about ever since. Sam has lived in Bozeman for about a month and a half but has had his eye on a Bridger Traverse since the first time he skiied Bridger Bowl in 2005.
In a passing conversation the week prior to the trip Jeff mentioned his 30th birthday was coming up and that he had a desire to do something meaningful, worthwhile and challenging before his twenties passed. Knowing that Sam was someone who thoroughly enjoyed backpacking, hiking and alpine scrambling he put forth the idea to him as well as some other Bozeman locals. Sam responded with a whole-hearted, hell yes I'd like to join you and the response from others was a bit milder.
Sam and Jeff both did some independent research of the traverse using such tools as the excellent Bozeman Area topographic map, Google Earth and the Ridge Run maps located at the Big Sky Wind Drinkers Web site.
The Hike - Waking at 05:30 on Sunday morning a quick breakfast was consumed and the packs finally loaded. Sam brought Clif bars, salami, cheese, baguette, chocolate and four liters of water. Jeff brought sandwiches, M and Ms and nine and a half liters of water (having miscalculated thinking he was only bringing seven and a half). Driving Sam's Subaru to the Fairy Lake trailhead they quickly hit the trail opting to change the Bridger Run route to their own liking by tacking on a summit of Hardscrabble Peak to the already big day of travel planned.
Descending from Hardscrabble the meat of the journey began with a climb of Sacagawea Peak, the high point of the trip at 9,665ft of elevation. A use trail exists along the entirety of the Bridge Range as described in this report but side-steps some of the summits in the range. Opting to bag most of these Sam and Jeff next climbed the few dozen extra feet to the summit of Naya Nuki wherein author Kenneth Thomasma has left a few copies of his novel, Naya Nuki, Shoshone Girl Who Ran, the story of the peak's namesake.
The use trail is excellent for 95% of the route and is the majority of what is traveled in the traverse. The route called for in the Bridger Ridge Run skips a beefy section near Ross Peak which would call for a higher class of scrambling that most are prepared for in a running race. At this point the suggested route is to drop a thousand some odd feet to the National Scenic hiking trail which parallels the Bridger Ridge on the West side. A beautiful trail with excellent tread takes traversers to Ross Pass and then at a well-marked junction (large cairn and two blazes, one paint and one cut) hikers should turn left, head straight uphill on a well-worn use trail back to the summit of the ridge.
The rest of the day was spent hopping rocks, photographing amazing views and calculating mileages and hours. Along the way are great views of many mountain ranges, including the Crazy Mountains, Madison Range, Absaroka Range, Beartooth Range, Gallatin Range, and the Tobacco Root Mountains.
Other named peaks that are ticked off while hiking this traverse are Saddle Peak, Bridger Peak and Baldy Mountain .
Descending from Baldy Mountain to the Bozeman area "M" trail is a knee-pounding affair nearly straight down a few thousand some odd feet. After a grueling day in the sun, hiking on scree and rock it took it's toll on Jeff and Sam’s knees. We met Jeff's wife Shannon at the "M" and finshed at the "M" trailhead to shuttle back to Fairy Lake to fetch Sam's vehicle.
Conclusions - Having hiked this partial section of the Bridger Range Traverse both Sam and Jeff would like to complete the remaining section from Flathead Pass southward to Hardscrabble.
Worthy of mention is the common thread on various Internet resources that the route is hard to follow and both Sam and Jeff agree that these statements are false. With minimal route-finding skills and keeping one's eyes open anyone with the physical capabilities for big miles and big elevations should have little to no difficulty in completing this traverse.
View Trip Photos
Jeff and Sam started at Fairy Lake USFS campground at 07:30 on 2008-08-24 with light packs, lots of food, water, maps and legs ready to be destroyed. We finished, eleven and a half hours later having ascended 5,170ft, descended 7460ft and traveled nineteen miles.
Preparation - Jeff has lived in Bozeman for two years and has had his eye on the route followed during the Bridger Ridge Run just about ever since. Sam has lived in Bozeman for about a month and a half but has had his eye on a Bridger Traverse since the first time he skiied Bridger Bowl in 2005.
In a passing conversation the week prior to the trip Jeff mentioned his 30th birthday was coming up and that he had a desire to do something meaningful, worthwhile and challenging before his twenties passed. Knowing that Sam was someone who thoroughly enjoyed backpacking, hiking and alpine scrambling he put forth the idea to him as well as some other Bozeman locals. Sam responded with a whole-hearted, hell yes I'd like to join you and the response from others was a bit milder.
Sam and Jeff both did some independent research of the traverse using such tools as the excellent Bozeman Area topographic map, Google Earth and the Ridge Run maps located at the Big Sky Wind Drinkers Web site.
The Hike - Waking at 05:30 on Sunday morning a quick breakfast was consumed and the packs finally loaded. Sam brought Clif bars, salami, cheese, baguette, chocolate and four liters of water. Jeff brought sandwiches, M and Ms and nine and a half liters of water (having miscalculated thinking he was only bringing seven and a half). Driving Sam's Subaru to the Fairy Lake trailhead they quickly hit the trail opting to change the Bridger Run route to their own liking by tacking on a summit of Hardscrabble Peak to the already big day of travel planned.
Descending from Hardscrabble the meat of the journey began with a climb of Sacagawea Peak, the high point of the trip at 9,665ft of elevation. A use trail exists along the entirety of the Bridge Range as described in this report but side-steps some of the summits in the range. Opting to bag most of these Sam and Jeff next climbed the few dozen extra feet to the summit of Naya Nuki wherein author Kenneth Thomasma has left a few copies of his novel, Naya Nuki, Shoshone Girl Who Ran, the story of the peak's namesake.
The use trail is excellent for 95% of the route and is the majority of what is traveled in the traverse. The route called for in the Bridger Ridge Run skips a beefy section near Ross Peak which would call for a higher class of scrambling that most are prepared for in a running race. At this point the suggested route is to drop a thousand some odd feet to the National Scenic hiking trail which parallels the Bridger Ridge on the West side. A beautiful trail with excellent tread takes traversers to Ross Pass and then at a well-marked junction (large cairn and two blazes, one paint and one cut) hikers should turn left, head straight uphill on a well-worn use trail back to the summit of the ridge.
The rest of the day was spent hopping rocks, photographing amazing views and calculating mileages and hours. Along the way are great views of many mountain ranges, including the Crazy Mountains, Madison Range, Absaroka Range, Beartooth Range, Gallatin Range, and the Tobacco Root Mountains.
Other named peaks that are ticked off while hiking this traverse are Saddle Peak, Bridger Peak and Baldy Mountain .
Descending from Baldy Mountain to the Bozeman area "M" trail is a knee-pounding affair nearly straight down a few thousand some odd feet. After a grueling day in the sun, hiking on scree and rock it took it's toll on Jeff and Sam’s knees. We met Jeff's wife Shannon at the "M" and finshed at the "M" trailhead to shuttle back to Fairy Lake to fetch Sam's vehicle.
Conclusions - Having hiked this partial section of the Bridger Range Traverse both Sam and Jeff would like to complete the remaining section from Flathead Pass southward to Hardscrabble.
Worthy of mention is the common thread on various Internet resources that the route is hard to follow and both Sam and Jeff agree that these statements are false. With minimal route-finding skills and keeping one's eyes open anyone with the physical capabilities for big miles and big elevations should have little to no difficulty in completing this traverse.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Superior Hiking Trail - Dayhike to Bean and Bear Lakes
Having put in my forty hours of I was able to leave work at 11:30 on a beautiful, sunny Friday. I went home, put together my pack with the ten essentials, jumped in my Subaru, stopped at my girlfriend's house to pick up Maya dog and headed up the North Shore to Silver Bay, MN and the Superior Hiking Trail. Below you can watch a video blog I produced of the hike. Also feel free to peruse a photo gallery of some of the sights Maya and I saw.
While hiking I kept my camera handy and put together a short video blog for your enjoyment.
While hiking I kept my camera handy and put together a short video blog for your enjoyment.
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