Summer shorter outings, 2018

A summary of interesting mid length outings from the not skiing season.

Grave Creek bike loop:  I finally ran out of excuses and did the big-for-me 80-mile bike loop on a cold Sunday afternoon.  I skipped the Southside road, so my route was kind of a soft person's version of the long standing Montana Hell ride race course.  It is a super nice route, long, logical, fast, interesting, and pretty safe for road biking. My route was as follows:  Mullan Road to Frenchtown, Frontage road past Ninemile Ranger Station to Petty Creek, up and over the pass to Grave creek and the Jack, then down Highway 12 to Lolo and home on the new bike path.  There was a touch of ice on the highways, and the dirt road pass was snowpacked and slippery, but otherwise it was in nice shape, and was a great way to spend a cold, clear shoulder season day.  I took it relatively easy, but still my lower back and other biking muscles got pretty hammered.  I also got super chilled dropping into the inversion along Highway 12, and had to stop to don every stich of clothing in my pack.  Aside from that, it was a spendid outing, and I was overjoyed that my knee held up perfectly. About 5.5 hours at a responsible pace.

Sentinel x 4:  I did very few proper long runs this summer, but did manage to do Sentinal x 4 on a rainy Sunday the day after racing the Elk ramble.  I did a fun up M, down/up Smokejumper, down/up N. ridge of S. Sentinel to Evans, down/up Pengelly and back down the ridge on Sentinel in about 3.50.  Pretty tired at the end, but a great way to move around on Missoula's most cherished running mountain.

Rattlesnake traverse:  Leah and I squeezed on last mountain day on the much loved Rattlesnake traverse.  We left in a cold mist, but fortunately it never rained, and we ended up spending the morning dancing in the snow as clouds blew in and out.  The afternoon was sunny and beautiful.  New snow along the ridge didn't slow things down much with the exception of getting off Sanders, but we slowly slip slid our way down beargrass before punching it up Murphy.  It was a great day spent with my favorite.  We did the first half at a good pace, but slowed down a lot in the last half and did it in about nine hours. A big thanks to Leah's parents for picking us up at Snowbowl.

Leah dancing through golden larch at Sunrise on the way out to Stuart peak.

Leah closing in on Mosquito peak.

Murphy peak from Snowbowl, fast;  I did this the day of the Trump rally and probably should have protested instead.  What a despicable human.  In any case, did it in 2.16.  I botched the route and climbed all the way to the top of Lavelle, so it should be doable at least 5 minutes faster.  I climbed kind of slow, but had a great, hard return run.  It is not the most strategic to do long time trials like this for training, but it was really fun.

Lolo Creek biking:  After another cold fall morning, I rallied and was surprised to find blue sky in Lolo creek.  I did the longstanding classic Howard Creek/Wagon Mountain/Grave creek loop, but also went another few miles up the Wagon mountain road and looped down into Fish creek before returning to the Howard/Fish saddle.  It was a pretty awesome bike ride with full fall colors and surprisingly not-too-muddy roads.  It was once again really nice to have the legs cooperate for the five hours I was out on the bike.

Mud spattered and happy climbing out of Fish creek.
Howard and Oriole creeks done and headed for the Wagon mountain road.

Swartz creek biking loop and Miller Mountain:  The sun came out after an impressively rainy early fall morning, and Jeffrey and I headed to Clinton to bike.  We went up the North fork of Swartz creek, and bumped out to Miller Mountain.  I had trouble keeping up with Jeffrey on the climb, but he was patient.  The view from the top of Miller was new to me, and really spectacular.  We rode down the main/South fork, which made for a great loop.

Big St. Joe:  With my dad graciously watching Sam, Leah and I had another great day in the mountains with Jeffrey.  We ended up doing Big St. Joe as an out and back.  After a quick climb up Little St. Joe fueled by dispirited political discourse, we made the slow trek out to Big St. Joe.  I did a poor job routefinding, spending way too much time on the north side of the scrappy ridge before the peak, then picking a slightly too technical route through the mixed cliff bands to gain the summit ridge.  On the descent, we took the Southeast gully, and passed the long scrappy gendarmes low on the South.  This was a much better route, and one I will probably use in the future.  We drove all the way to the trailhead, and although it felt a little glutenous, it was quite nice to start a few thousand feet above the valley.

Leah and Jeffrey on the scrappy ridge between little and Big.

Lolo Peak loop:  Leah and I spent a joyous mid week day together in the mountains.  Lolo peak is open after being closed for post fire trail work most of the summer.  We did the normal Lantern ridge/Lolo Peak/Carlton ridge loop from Mill creek.  It was extremely enjoyable to spend a crisp fall day with Leah.  We had time to to out to the main South summit, and made our way back through the Reid lake basin before returning on the scorched Carlton ridge trail.  The larch were popping up high.  It took us about six hours at a moderate climbing pace with a lot of breaks.

Leah nearing the summit of Lolo peak.

Detour into the Reid lake basin.

Little St. Joe fast:  See fast running page.  I had a good go at Little St. Joe fast.  2.30.16.  Such a good outing.

St. Mary to Heavenly Twins:  I did this as a hike with Leah a few years ago, and have been meaning to "run" it ever since with an informal goal of cutting our time in half.  I had planned a longer outing this weekend, but ended up aborting due to weather uncertainty.  Which translated in a very tardy 1:45 pm departure time from the car.  I made it into as much of a loop as possible, taking the unofficial trail to McCalla lake to start things off, then climbing to St. Mary's South ridge.  I then summited Disappointment and fought loose scree on the North side of the peak before scampering up through the majestic alpine basin to the North twin (3.40).  I was really tired at the beginning of the day, but fortunately my energy improved for the duration of the outing.  The traverse to South Twin was quick, as was the return over the South ridge of Disappointment.  I scrambled up the fun South ridge of St. Mary, summiting at sunset.  The run out to the car in the dark was actually quite enjoyable, and I returned right at the 7 hour mark, done at a responsible pace.  I did't cut our time in half, but a fast runner could. I really like this link up.  I would, however, summit Dissapointment on the return trip next time instead of the way out since I think it would make the trip smoother.

Starting up the North Twin from the Disappointment col.
This is one of the most alpine feeling cirques in the Northern Bitterroot. 

Looking out to the twenty minute ridge to South Twin.  I spend most of the first half
on the East side, and the most of the second half on the West side, and the going is reasonably fast.

Early fall colors in upper St Mary creek.

Sunset on the last few steps to the summit of St. Mary.

Missions, ESM,WSM, Lowry:  I maximized a Saturday afternoon by doing this fun link up.  I did it as a last run before the Rut and felt great the whole time.  I went out to Lowry first, descended into upper Sonielem creek, then took high ledges until they intersected low on the East ridge of WSM.  I was surprised at how quickly the link up flowed together.  I also ran down reasonably hard from ESM and did the entire descent in under 45 minutes.  It was a great day and good confidence booster going into the Rut.

Just another day gawking at the West face of Greywolf.

This is the high connecting ramp to the East ridge of WSM.

Just another East Saint Mary from West St. Mary photo.

Trans Teton run:  On our way home from the Tetons, I ran up Cascade creek and out Teton Canyon to within a few miles of Driggs via Table mountain.  I had an extra few hours and tacked on a traverse of the Bivouac peak group, an chossy and untrammeled corner of the range.  It was a little sad to do a Teton trip without venturing into Garnet canyon and touching a single chunk of golden granite, but I had a lot of fun.

Nice views from one of the Bivouac peaks.

Choss bashing along the ridge.  Just as bad, if not worse than it looks.

Nearing Table mountain, looking back at the ridge, chasing rain.

Bear Creek loop + Sphinx:  I ran up the N. fork of Bear creek, summited the Sphinx from the saddle with the Helmet, then took the normal route down during a very extended driving break to Jackson.  It was a splendid morning.

Nice trail climbing out of the North Fork of Bear creek.

The Helmet.

The Sphinx is one of the only mountains I ever climbed with my mother.  I also skied it the day after seeing her for the last time.  It was an emotional outing.  I miss Catherine dearly.

Murphy from Snowbowl:  I rallied from the car at 6 am for this classic close to town mountain scramble.  I have been using an off trail cutoff between the cliffy section of the Beargrass highway and the shack at the top of West Ridge to make the outing faster.  I went up Beargrass, up the cutoff, then out to Murphy.  I bopped to the top of Point 6 on the way back, then took the Second Thought descent.  Right around 3 hours at an aggressive aerobic pace.  Quads were still recovering from the Swans, so took some caution on the downhill.

West Fork Butte to Elk Meadows loop.  Road bike ride in Lolo creek.  The longest outing that seemed reasonable the weekend after the Swan traverse.  Took about 2.5 hours, and was super fun.  I was a little worried about re-aggrevating my quad strain from the Swans, but no problems.  I hope my knee continues to cooperate with biking, so I can do more Lolo creek road loops this fall.

Sky Pilot from Bear Creek.  Jeffrey rallied with me for a very early run to Sky Pilot.  The Bear creek trail is a little rocky and slow, but it is runnable enough.  After a very early morning start, it was rewarding to catch early morning at Bryan lake, cruising by backpackers still in their tents.  The scramble from Packbox pass to the peak is scrappy, but not so bad that it is unenjoyable.  The run out was slow on the rocky trail, but run, and it was nice to get out in time to rendezvous with the family at Como lake. 

On Sky Pilot.

Hidden lake peak:  I had some extra time, so tacked about 2.5 miles of biking up the Glen lake road onto the front of the outing.  Up high, snow made for fast going, but the scrambling from Glen lake point west to Hidden lake peak was pretty slow and Bitterrootey in a bad way.  I have lost my climbing head and spent an embarrasingly long time puzzling a route through the 4th class summit block.  A good but not great outing.  It would be amazing to backpack out to Hidden lake in the fall when the larch are changing.

Looking out to Hidden lake peak and the Sweathouse spires from the summit above Glen lake.

Little St. Joe:  I really like this run.  Ran the road for the first complete switchback up, and the last two switchbacks down.  About 3.10 at a responsible pace.

California, Trinity Alps:  We did a three day trip around the classic Four lakes loop during a family trip.  The back trip itself was great, and provided a great re-set after a busy spring.  I did eke out a 4-hour mountain run the second morning, looping from our camp at Echo lake to Granite peak, then back along the ridgeline to camp.  The trail miles were fun, and the ridgeline was quite enjoyable, with some nicely exposed 4th class climbing on the last peak directly above the lake.

Bass Lake:  I ran up to Bass lake and tacked a few extra miles on in the Larry Creek campground to make a round 18-mile outing as a last training run for the Governer's cup Marathon.  I ran two miles at the end at marathon effort, which was very hard and made me scared for the race.  The entire run took a little over 3 hours.  I really like the Bass lake run, and need to it more often.