Packer Meadow Loop

Clearwater National Forest, Idaho and Lolo National Forest, Montana

With everyone back to work today it seemed a good day to head off and play in the snow at pass level. Took the skinny skies out for the first trip of the winter and found muscles that I have not used in a long time. Started on the Packer Meadow Loop and then took detours back and forth across the MT/ID border for several miles in untracked snow. When i wanted to get back onto the loop I had to make a challenging drop down to the trail. Only pictures I took today were of the ski tips about to go over the edge. After about a 50 foot steep section it was much more gradual. Still don't know how I stayed up but I did. Don't think I could do it twice in a row though.

When in the tracks from this past weekend near the beginning and end of the trip the snow was fast. Next trip on skies should be my 30+ year old skies. I just want to get on them one more time before they wind up on the wall as decorations.

Bass Creek Ice Waterfall

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana

Ice fog in the Missoula Valley and northwards led me southward to explore the north side of the Bass Creek valley. I wanted to check on the waterfall that comes down from Little St Joe to Bass Creek to see if it was a winter icefall and then to see if I could find a route to the top of the ridge. The route turned out to be really icy and my better judgement made me turn back prior to reaching the ridge.

I did make it to the icefall and worked my way directly below it and along the side. What you can't tell from the picture is the scale of all this ice. The ice in this photo is over 120 feet tall and the base was easily 8 feet thick. I felt dwarfed by it. It also got me to thinking that if it collapsed while I was standing there it wouldn't be such a good place to be.

The valley bottom had lots of animal tracks as there were no human tracks but the ones I was leaving.  This critter had a nice consistent path with evenly spaced tracks that went on for quite some distance. No human tracks but mine once past 3 miles up the valley.

In January I will go to Bass lake and spend the night and try for a winter summit of Smokey Joe. Somehow I think I will have the head of the valley all to myself.

Lolo Pass Recreation Area and Glade Creek

Clearwater National Forest, Idaho

Christmas morning welcomed us with plenty of snow and the first blue skies in over week. Presents were all opened so Geri Lynn and I thought we would spend time together in the mountains. We had a blast but were not the only ones with this idea. The parking area was full as snowshoers and X-country skiers were out in force. Looked like some were trying out Christmas presents just opened earlier today from how shiny their gear was.

The snow on the top layer was light with lots of crystallization. It let you sink in some as we traveled on it but with the abundant sunshine it really sparkled. Really pretty conditions to be out in the mountains. Couldn't get a picture that did justice to the beauty of it…this one taken by Geri Lynn came the closest.

Once we got to the high point of the ridge the view was just wonderful. The peak barely showing in the distance is calling to me to go climb it. That is once I figure out just which of the Bitterroot peaks it is.

After working our way down into the valley we were at Glade creek, where Lewis and Clark stayed both while going west, and on the way back east. They didn't get to see it with all the snowlike we did. As you can see we have lots of snow already and months more for it to build deeper. Lots of things we could have done on Christmas day, but I think this one was about the best.

Lolo Pass Recreation Area

Clearwater National Forest, Idaho

With temps at pass level balmy in the upper 20's it was time to strap on the snowshoes and head for Lolo Pass. Geri Lynn agreed to go along so we were off. Tried out the newly designed 3 mile snowshoe loop just on the Idaho side of the state line and then did some other exploring. About 36 inches of consolidated snow in the area, would be deeper if so much wasn't stuck on the trees! Sky was overcast and fog was moving in and out as well. Unfortunately the conditions washed out most of the photos.

Along the upper ridge line the trees have taken a beating from the snow and ice of the past 2 weeks. Seeing the weird shapes that grow on the trees is almost as much fun as getting up onto the ridges. One Larch tree we passed had a 6 inch wedge shape of ice stuck to it for the entire length of the tree, and the tree was well over a 100 feet tall. That picture didn't turn out but I like this little tree that was just hanging in there all by itself.

One last shot from when the fog cleared up. It was almost sunset when I took this one and it really shows what the whole hike was like when we were out of the fog. Lots of fun, will have to go back in the same area next week and climb the first mountain on the Idaho side of the border, not just ridge hop along looking into the valleys.

Blackfoot River Corridor

Lolo National Forest

Holidays and frigid weather have limited time in the high country. Today I waited till temps reached a balmy 0 degrees before I headed out to see what the cold has done to the Blackfoot river. Unfortunately the higher up the river corridor I went, the colder it got. Hard to imagine I was on this stretch of river in an inflatable kayak the last week of September. While I thought it was cold then…now way I would get in that water today.

To see the whole lower river section I hopscotched all the access points from where the Clearwater joins the Blackfoot till it empties into the Flathead. Even though I was dressed warm, after just a few minuets of scrambling along the riverbank I could feel the cold creeping into me. The sun couldn't make a dent in the ice building up in the tributaries although it did feel good when it was shining on me.

Snow line is pretty well defined along the valley. Tomorrow a new system is expected that should lower it even more. None of what is on the ground is going to melt anytime soon as it will be another week tun till temps are expected at or above freezing.