DESTINATION Bear Creek Trail #5 1 Photoset
2024-07-13 | | -
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| Backpack | 22.80 Miles |
1 AEG |
| | Backpack | 22.80 Miles | 2 Days | | |
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| no partners | | Dot and I picked up where we left off in the Bitterroots back in June. This was the second of three overnight backpacks we completed during this most recent trip to southwestern Montana. I will add the route from my GPS when I get back home and create a more substantive guide page. We are currently staying at a hotel in Hamilton and taking a bit of a zero day today, before relocating to the Stanley area tomorrow for another short backpack.
We got a 7:00 a.m. start on Saturday to a nearly empty parking lot. Pretty quick and easy hiking for the first 5 plus miles, or so. We made a quick stop at the falls I had visited back in 2018 and then at 3 miles there was a wide, but manageable ford, after that it was a couple of miles of forest hiking, some brushy sections of the usual creek side plants and ferns. Some nice views opened up here and there, as we neared the lake and there were a couple of warmer sections of trail, but keeping Dot cool wasn't an issue due to the abundance of water along the way. We reached the lake around 9.4 miles in and then set up a tent in the shade to retreat to when the bugs discovered we had arrived, which did not take long. Three people passed through the area throughout the day, but we had the lake to ourselves for the night.
Just before 7:00 p.m. we took advantage of the long day light hours and hiked up to the stunning and somewhat iconic Bear Creek Pass, which connects the Bear Creek drainage to the popular Big Creek drainage, among other backcountry destinations. The hike up the pass was pretty stunning and offered some excellent scenery that was made slightly nicer by the softer light of the early evening. We got back to camp a little after 8:00 p.m. Dot retreated to the tent and I braved the mosquitos long enough to eat a quick dinner, filter some water and hang our food pack.
This was by far one of the best backcountry destinations I have made it to in the Bitterroots, it doesn't get much better than the area around Bryan Lake and up to Bear Creek Pass, as far as northern Rockies destinations go. An excellent overnight backpack. I am already thinking about backcountry destinations beyond Bear Creek Pass for next summer. |
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