Mount Sentinel Summit

Pattee Canyon Recreation Area, Lolo National Forest, Montana

Following a rain and snow filled week in western Montana I decided to stay a bit closer to the house for today's adventure. I also wanted to stay below the snow line and look to see what flowers were blooming. So Mount Sentinel via Hellcat Canyon was my choice. Doesn't look like much but there is a 2,000 foot gain to the top.

Not as many flowers blooming yet as I was expecting for this far into spring. But after a long winter each was nice to look at. A few hundred feet from the top in the last stand of pines I located some Pasque Flowers. One of my favorite flowers so I was happy to find them.

Yoda went with me again this week. He had to get his photo taken on the summit. I wish he would smile more in the pictures.

Looking north into the Rattlesnake Wilderness you can see the snow. Looks like the rivers will be flowing strong for most of the summer.

On the way down the south and west side of the mountain I came across lots of Shooting Stars blooming in a grass filled meadow. They were very spread out but there were lots of them.

Trapper Peak Summit

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

Went with the local mountaineering club for a winter conditions climb of Trapper Peak, the highest point in the Bitterroot Mountains. After a week of rain the day was really nice, with the warmest temps of the year in the Bitterroot valley. Had to stop and park about 3 miles short of the normal approach trailhead due to snowdrifts across the one lane forest road. That added 1,200 vertical feet extra to the climb. So straight up we went to the first ridge where we could get views of the Boulder Creek Valley. Just after i took this it was time to go to snowshoes for the remainder of the trip up.

Working along the ridge I finally got a view of Trapper Peak. It isn't as impressive along the approach as the surrounding mountains, but it is big. From where I took this photo I still have 3,000 feet to gain and many miles to go. Have to work over to the right to gain the ridge. But at least the destination was in sight.

Tree line wasn't distinctive as on other summits, kind of just spread out then they were all gone at 9,000 feet or so. This is a tough slope to live on. Wind was really blowing from 8,000 feet on up to the summit, at least 20 mph with gusts at times much higher.

The last 1,000 feet is pretty steep. This was the only pic I got that really shows it. You can see how the wind is sculpting the snow.

Yoda is running around the mountains with me this year so he had to get his picture taken for the summit shot. The wind had blown the top 4 boulders free of snow. I', standing in snow with my snowshoes on while taking this. Had to have Yoda held so he wouldn't blow away.

Views were great this one is to the west...with a bit of Montana and Idaho stretching into the distance.

and here is one to the north. Trapper Creek is at the bottom of the valley. Lots of mountains around here and most of them are not named. Took several pics then headed down. They all came out really good.

I took a different line down the mountain so I could climb the other lower high point. On the way down it gave a pretty neat view of the summit. I like this picture. After I took it I put the camera away and kept on descending. I was able to play around on the way down as I was one of the first to make it to the summit from our group. Actually the 2 of us that got there first were about 30 mins ahead of the next group so once back in the trees and out of the wind we had a long lunch break.

A great long day in the mountains. In some ways it was easier to do this over snow as there was no scree to contend with. Besides snow covered mountains are always pretty to look at.