[at-l] Trip report

[hudsom@us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

Ok, here's a very abbreviated report of the hike in the Beartooths....

The first loop we did was from the Lake Fork of the Rock Creek trail head,
in over Sundance Pass, back down to the road, and a circle back over the
Silver Run Plateau to the trailhead (this is the eastern section south of
Red Lodge). Maybe going over an 11,000 foot pass the day after flying out
wasn't such a bright idea, but hey, I was just following <g>. Other than a
brief period of breathlessness leaving the road, and a slight headache up
towards the pass I managed really well. It's not something that I would
plan, but it's nice to know that I can do it. I ended up shooting an entire
roll of film just on the way up to the pass, amazing scenery <g>. The
second camp was in a cirque off the Silver Run Plateau at the Silver Run
Lakes. Nice thunderstorm that night, but I got to see a weasel run through
about 10 feet away while we were cooking dinner <g>. (that's the third
weasel I've run into, one on the AT at Wildcat up in the Whites, and
another just south of Copper Mountain on the Colorado Trail. Definitely
trail magic). The last day we went up over the Plateau, very high and
scenic, lots of elk sign but no elk visible... signs of snow from last
nights storm on the higher elevations, so maybe they were taking shelter
lower down the mountain. Saw one large bull moose; from the road, on the
way back to the car...

The second loop was from the Lakes trailhead, up past Becker, Golden,
Jasper, and Cloverleaf Lakes. Off on high, above treeline, unofficial
trails. The section down past the Cloverleaf lakes is among the hardest six
miles I ever hiked. There wasn't any one part that seemed so bad, but at
the end of the day we were all wiped out. And that's not even mentioning
the thunderstorm on the high pass <g>. {"That which doesn't kill you makes
you stronger"}. From there we swung down and camped south of Copeland Lake,
and the next day swung up past Granite Lake and then camped near Native
Lake. The next day we managed to miss a trail junction and followed and
absolutely gorgeous trail through a high alpine meadow, the views of Pilot
and Index peaks just stopped you in your tracks... and while hiking through
the meadow we came across a VERY fresh pile of scat and mama and baby griz
tracks...
Fortunately on the way to the trailhead we met up with two women who had
their truck there, and they agreed to take us back to our van.

The third loop was out of Box Canyon south of Big Timber. Not so high as
some of the other hiking, We did a nice stretch up into the peaks the first
day. In one half mile of trail we saw deer, elk, moose, fox, cat, and griz
tracks <g>. The next day the weather changed to cold and rainy... I don't
know how many miles we did but I thought I was done with death marches...
we ended up down along the Stillwater. Dawn came with more rain, and we
decided it was time to bail out. Got a motel room in Big Timber, a hot
shower, and a start on drying things out. To verify our decision to bail
out there was snow on the high peaks the next morning, at least what we
could see of them through the clouds.

Oh yeah, between the second and third legs we drove through Yellowstone...
which is where we saw all our wildlife. VERY touristy, but a good trip.

skeeter