Bikes 2019

I have been riding bikes a lot more this year and having a blast.  I have been drawn to new gravel rides, since there are so many excellent rides within an hour drive of Missoula.  This post is intended to be an ongoing log of interesting rides, as much as for my memory as for others.  Since I am not well connected to the biking community, each new ride is like discovering a gem (or a lump of coal, depending on the quality of the ride).  It is astounding how well connected the road network is here, making for seeming endless opportunities for loop rides.  I am predictably overwhelmed with ideas for new gravel road rides, and really, really enjoying the process.  For fitness, I pretty much never do workouts on a bike, so everything was done at an easy to moderate pace.  It has been interesting, however, to be able to bike much longer in comfort, having built up endurance in a few key muscle groups through consistent miles on the bike.  For health, I have been consistent with glute strengthening for several years now, and my knee is a lot better.  It hasn't hampered my riding this summer.  It will sometimes hurt for up to a day after longer rides, but most days it is 100% solid. For partners, I get lazy in the summer and just do rides by myself.  For gear, I should probably buy an actual gravel bike and higher performance all-day-comfortable shoes.

Fall road rides:  This fall was challenging for gravel biking, with early, persistent low elevation snow.  So I did several road rides to maintain fitness for ski season.  I am sure these are all pretty standard fare for road bikers.  One observation:  It is pretty cool in my opinion to have a safe bike trail all the way to Hamilton.  A huge thanks to everyone who made that happen.  The biggest ride was a century ride, which I did in just under 7 hours.  I rode the classic(?) Frenchtown/Ninemile Ranger Station/Petty/Graves/Highway 12 loop, and extended it out to just past Florence on the Bitterroot bike path to make it 100 miles.  It was a great day, long enough to be mentally challenging, and I bonked and got super tired by the end.  Other good fall rides were: a Frenchtown, Big Flat, Blue Mountain, Miller creek to the end of the pavement, Linda Vista loop (62 miles, 4.25 hours), 1-way Bitterroot trail and Old Darby road to Darby (60 miles, 4 hours), Town classics: Sawmill trailhead, Butler creek to the end of the pavement, Grant creek to the end of the pavement (45 miles, 3 hours), and a 102-mile Bitterroot bike path ride to Hamilton that was discouragingly taxing (6 hour 40 minutes).  I had a goal to do the century ride at 15 miles per hour, but ended up having to push well above my aerobic threshold and generally fight to get it done.  Ah well, it was a nice morning effort, and I shouldn't complain.

Scenes from a fall century ride.

Petty Creek, Martin Point (South lookout) and Tank/Upper Albert Creek/Albert Lothrop loop:  I took the last fall day of perfect weather off work and went biking.  I didn't want to mess with snow and ice, so more ambitious plans were shelved for a few new rides below snow line.  In the morning, I did an out and back to Martin point, parking at the river off the Cyr exit and riding up Sawmill gulch and the road to the old lookout.  Martin Point is a nice, straightforward outing with an outstanding view, and would make a decent long run. 2.5ish hours.  The afternoon loop off of Southside road was another excellent 3ish our ride.  The larch were out in full force, blanketing the roads with golden needles, and I didn't want the day to end.

Martin Point

Larch needle cast blanketing the Albert Lothrop road.

San Rafael Swell:  We did a family trip to the San Rafael Swell.  It was a hiking trip, but we also brought bikes.  I was able to chase dark on the classic Over the top ride in Pocatello on the way down, a few pavement rides back from day hikes in the Swell, and a nice evening circumnavigation of Temple mountain from our camp.  The best parts of the trip were on foot, though.  Over the course of the week, we hiked 11 slot canyons including several very nice family hikes and an afternoon of playing in Goblins. Leah and I were able to do a big day of canyon scrambling (Up Ding, out Behind the Reef road, down Cistern, cross country to Ramp, up Ramp which was right at our technical limits, back on Behind the Reef road, down Dang), and I did a running and canyon scrambling loop in obscure canyons below Temple Mountain from camp.

Sapphires, Ambrose to Burnt Fork:  I spent the morning after a tremendous Octoberfest party exploring in the Sapphires.  I rode from Ben and Haley's front yard to the top of Ambrose creek, did a short out and back to Cinnamon Saddle, then bounced along the rocky and snowy connecting road to Sawmill saddle.  I got lost in the foothills trying to find the house, and left Leah waiting for an extra hour.  Sorry Leah.  The views from the Sapphire crest were outstanding, but otherwise the roads were rough enough, and the connecting roads in the valley were akward enough that I thought this loop was just OK.

Looking out to the Bitterroot from Cinnamon Saddle.

Tarkio to Superior and back:  Big-for-me gravel ride in my old stomping grounds.  I parked along the Frontage road near Tarkio and bounced my way toward Superior.  You kind of have to just look at map to follow, but I went up Nemote, down Deep creek to the first junction, up Eddy, down Second, up Second and down into First Creek, then up First, traversed through Lozo, then down East Johnson creek. I had a bit of extra time and took the road to Superior before whipping the bike around and returning to the car.  70 miles, 7,000 vert, 7 hours.  I think this area is an under utilized play ground for gravel bikers.  Pretty much all of the roads along the Frontage road out of Superior are smooth enough and fast for biking, stay relatively snow free in late fall and early summer, and can be made into loops.

Fall colors near Superior.

University:  I have ridden University four times this year, both with the Deer creek sneak and simply up and down the road from Pattee.  Super nice grind to the top, and can be done in about as much time as an Overlook loop in the Rattlesnake.

Blue Mountain:  I have ridden Blue mountain twice on the road, and once down the Deadman trail, and run to the summit once. I like how it is just long enough to feel like a proper outing.  I wish the upper road was in better shape, because it is too rocky for my taste on a cyclocross bike.

Holloman saddle loop:  Rode this one on a very blustery day in early June when the lower elevation forests were bursting with green.  After battling a strong headwind to Clinton, the rest of the ride went quickly.  Also rode it with Jeffrey and Justin on an even more blustery day in late September.  Would love to know if there is a consensus name for this classic gravel loop. 4.25 hours

Ch-Paa-Qn door to door, including Edith peak road loop:  I rallied in the dark on a day with forecast heavy afternoon rain.  The ride out to Huson was serene, and with time to spare, I took my time grinding up the Edith peak road to the Ch-Paa-Qn trailhead.  Jeffrey met me there, and we ran the peak together.  He is in strong running form, tapering for his first 100 miler.  A whipping tailwind made the bike home easier than expected, and I returned home tired but not nearly as smashed as anticipated.  A simple Sixmile, Edith peak road, Ch-Paa-Qn, Edith peak road to Ninemile ranger station loop from the Huson exit in I-90 would be a very high quality 2.5 - 4 hour ride.

Nearing the Ch-Paa-Qn trailhead

Moody day on Ch-Paa-Qn

Lolo creek: East Fork Lolo, Lolo Pass, Granite ridge trail, Fish creek divide:  Good exploratory ride.  I took the wrong fork in Lost park creek (in future, take the West fork).  Also, the Granite ridge trail was just OK.  In the future, I think it would be more fun to stick to roads and come down Granite creek.

Chasing storm clouds down the Granite ridge trail.

Lolo creek: Wagon Mountain, Howard, West Fork Butte, Skookum Butte, Elk Meadows road: I had been meaning to do this Lolo creek classic for a long time.  It was every bit as good as I had hoped.  I had an extra few hours and clunked up Skookum Butte on foot.  100k, good and tired at the end of the day.

About 50 miles in, on the way out to Skookum Butte.

Crescent - Pyramid quick ramble

Crescent peak.

I squeezed the Crescent to Pyramid traverse in the Swans between day care drop off and pick up on a perfect early fall day.  Early season snow was lingering in the highest peaks, but the Swans were just low enough to be snow free, which, coupled with crisp fall temperatures, made for quick and delightful conditions.  After a mad drive to the trailhead, I took the Crescent lake trail to the first lake and got things rolling by climbing the South face of Crescent.  I made reasonable time descending the ascent route, running short sections of scree in between slower sections.  I tried following the trail above the first lake most of the way up to the divide before making a short traversing climb to the base of the Northeast ridge of West Marshall.  The Northeast ridge is pretty short, and it went quickly.

On Crescent, looking to Marshall and Pyramid.  Gloomy skies.

Enjoyable climbing to Marshall.

Pyramid and Devil's basin from Marshall.

After traversing Marshall's summit ridge, I tried descending as far as I could down the South ridge, but it ended up cliffing out, and I had to do some shenanigans to get off the peak.  Nothing too bad, but certainly not the ideal route.  Eventually I made it to the intermittent climber's trail in Devil's basin, which I took for a few minutes before making the logical ledge traverse onto the North ridge of Pyramid peak.  From the ridge, it was a quick hike to the summit.  After a somewhat gloomy morning, the sun came out, setting the stage for a mellow egress back to the car.  The return was much quicker than expected.  I descended the open Southwest face to the trail, then took the horse outfitter trail back to the road, popping out just a few hundred yards from the car.

I still think that this outing is a gem in both winter and summer.  It takes a logical route over the three iconic Seeley Lake peaks.  It is light on adversity, with trails to get above any bushwacking, and technically easy yet engaging routefinding all along the way.  It would be fun to try to do this outing fast.  I think sub-4 is realistic.  6,000 vertical feet, done in 4 hours, 40 minutes.  By faint memory splits were:  Trail flattens out before traversing to the lake, 1 hour; Crescent, 2.15; Marshall 3.25; Pyramid 3:35; car: 4.40

What I think is the most expedient route, not including the trail.

  

Three Joe to Sweeney scramble

High spirits on the way to Big St. Joe.

With early snow in adjacent ranges, I spent perhaps my last long summer alpine scrambling day alone, working out a new Bitterroot ridge loop.  To my surprise, it was just clean enough to be a highly recommended outing.  I started the day out with a dark and frosty bike shuttle from the Sweeney trailhead to Bass creek.  After a trailhead stash of the bike and a backpack full of puffy clothes and ski gloves, I started up the familiar push to Little St. Joe. It is a big climb, but I kept the pace easy, and it went by quickly enough.  I followed what I think is the fastest route to Big St. Joe, staying on the ridge until it becomes gendarmed just past the Pinball Wizard gully, bypassing all of the gendarmes on the South side, then climbing the peak up the Southeast face.  A quickish descent put me at the next saddle, and a slightly off route climb had me on the summit of Stormy Joe.  I was a little bit ahead of schedule, and eager to explore new terrain.  I was uncertain how difficult the North ridge would be.  I descended near the crest until it became too cliffy, then weaved a 4th class descent on the West side around cliffs and across two gullies.  From there, it was relatively smooth sailing over the unnamed peaks at the head of the South Fork of Sweeney peak.  The South Fork ridge was my favorite part of the day.  I very much enjoyed moving with at a relaxed, even effort through wild and clean (by Bitterroot standards) terrain.

Upper Bass creek.

Glad to be done with the North Ridge of Stormy Joe.

Typical terrain along the head of the South fork.

I did another few bypasses, including a major detour to the East around the craggy North ridge of West Pyramid Butte (including a water break), and a major detour to the South off the ridge to a tarn where the Sweeney and Lolo ridges intersect.  The last push to Sweeney went quickly.  I was tired, but in all the right ways, and it was a delight to spend a perfect fall evening in the high Bitterroot.  The egress was familiar. Bop down the well-cairned Sweeney peak climber trail, then run down the very enjoyable Sweeney creek trail back to the car. 

Coming back up out of the major bypass to the East
and looking back at West Pyramid Butte.

High spirits somewhere in Sweeney creek.

Starting the final descent from Sweeney peak.

Thoughts and numbers: Somewhere around 12,000 vertical feet, done in about 12 hours trailhead to trailhead, not including the 1-hour bike shuttle.  Great day. Recommended.  The traverse is not as iconic as some of the Bitterroot classic ridge outings (i.e. High Five, Chaffin headwaters, and St. Mary's to Heavenly Twins), but it is a little more user friendly.  Bail options are limited in the South Fork of Sweeney creek.  An alternate exit to Lolo peak would also be a great outing, but the shuttle would be much longer.

Random note: While my day was kind of long and tiring, it was the same day that several Missoula local friends were testing their mettle at the Run Rabbit Run and IMTUF 100-mile races.  Going into the night, I was happy to tuck into a warm cozy bed while they were out testing their physical and mental limits.  Respect!

Tumbledown ridge rambling

Upper Tumbledown creek.

Leah and I were able to get out together for a day of running and scrambling during a perfect Labor day trip to the Taylor Fork drainage in the Southern Madisons.  Aside from an abundant population of grumpy grizzlies, I absolutely love this corner of Montana.  We were up at a reasonably early hour, and left a frosty trailhead at 8 am.  The goal was to get on the ridge crest at the Northern edge of the drainage, take it to Koch peak, and cruise the rim of the drainage until we ran out of time.  It was a beautiful morning, and the climb to peak 10,829 was pretty painless aside from a bone chillingly cold ford of Taylor Fork.  It was pretty cool to climb a new peak and get a better look at the wild Indian and No man ridges.  The descent and subsequent climb to the Notch on Koch were fast and fun.

Leah approaching.  Not warmed up yet.

Leah heading for the North ridge of Koch.

The notch took us almost an hour, but we found a way through the loose downclimb into the notch, and then found a chossy but doable 4th class exit.  It was smooth sailing from the ridge crest to the summit.  I was afraid of the next steep ridgeline section, so we took the standard descent down the grassy Southeast face to a small lake in the headwaters before pushing back up to the crest. We then forged a marginal line up the West ridge of peak 10,666, and worked out way down the long and surprisingly slippery descent.

Out of the Notch and relieved.

Leah climbing back to the crest in front of Koch peak.

Heading home.

We were definitely out of time, and made quick work of the exit trail.  What a perfect early fall day.  And a fun zone.  I still need to get back and ski some of the unnamed peaks near Koch with a stable spring snowpack.  Aside from a quick up and back trail run to the Cinnamon mountain lookout, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing with family and friends.

Swan traverse - Union peak to Holland lake

Adventures on the Swan crest continue.  I was excited to string together the longest continuous alpine portion of the range, and it seemed reasonable to try to do it in a long day.  So, with a shuttle in place thanks to Leah, I started up from the gate to the Pony lake access road at 4 am.  The pre-dawn hours were enjoyable.  I lost some time wandering in the dark off trail above the lake, but it went smoothly enough, and I was on top of Union peak shortly after sunrise. I successfully bypassed the slow ridge line sections out to the crest with a very loose but still quick bypass to the South, and was on the crest 4.5 hours into the day.

Sunrise on the crest.  Looking back at Pony lake and the shaded West ridge
that I climbed to gain the North ridge of Union peak.

To my dismay, dawn was accompanied by storm clouds and a biting wind.  Everything else was about perfect, so I set my sights down the seeming endless ridge and rolled South.   The untrammeled and immaculate Union to Smith crest segment was quicker than I remembered, and I was successfully able to bypass the more technical descent options off my nemesis peak with a long detour to the East.

On the crest, ready to ridge ramble for a 10 hours or so.

My nemesis peak.  I took the short gully about half way down the East ridge.

I took a quick water break in the headwaters of Little Salmon creek before boosting back up to the crest, then to Smith Creek pass, then to Cooney peak.  I summited 7.5 hours into the day, optimistically hoping that I was a little over half way.  Unfortunately, the biting wind and intermittent rain intensified, and I got pretty cold as I traversed above Albino basin.  Given my already slightly depressed body temperature, I dropped off the ridge and bypassed the most technical ridge sections before Holland.  I regained the crest for an enjoyable romp up Holland's North ridge.  Fortunately, the winds abated slightly, and I finally ticked over to warm enough.  Buck was a blast.

Blustery and cold above the Albino glaciers.

Buck!

As I approached the point North of Woodward, a significant wall of precipitation swept in, and I decided to try to sneak up off the crest in order to weather the rain in relative shelter.  Eventually the ledges petered out, and I had to make a fairly difficult ascending climb up glassy, rain soaked slabs and dihedrals.  I was able to get up safely with a lot of attention to detail, and the whole affair cost me about 20 minutes.  The rest of the day went smoothly.  Woodward was fun, and the traverse to the lookout was fun.  My hip started hurting on the run out, but I jogged it at an easy clip, arriving at the car over an hour behind schedule but well before dark.  I should do a better job figuring out my hip pain injury.  For statistics, done in 15 hours, 43 minutes.  I didn't track vertical, but it was a big day for me, something 12 - 14k range.

Closing in on the lookout and ready to head down to the valley.

Dang, what a big, challenging, awesome day in one of the most under appreciated mountain ranges anywhere.  For those looking for an all day butt kicker, I think this route is a lot better than trying to combine traverses out to the Clearwater group because you stay up high all day. 

Camas crest ridge loop

It has been over a month, but Leah and I spent a late July weekend trading off mountain scramble days in the Bitterroot.  Saturday was my play day, and I biked out from the Coyote Coulee trailhead at a respectable 7 am.  In less than ninety minutes, I cruised past the Camas trailhead and bounced along to the point where the trail turns up Camas creek proper.  After a full snack sunscreen, shoe swap break, I cruised up to Camas lake, and then up to East Camas peak.  It was supposed to be a blistering hot day in the valley, but the morning was pleasant.  The remainder of the traverse went smoothly, and was quite an enjoyable loop.  I made reasonable time on the boulder hop out to West Camas with a ten minute stop to procure water from a slow drip in a ridge top snowbank.

View from East Camas, showing most of the ridge to West Camas and the Fin.

Looking back from the Fin to East and West Camas.

View from West Camas South to the Lost Horse drainage,
Koch, El Capitan and the Shard.

From West Camas, I bypassed the sharp point at the very head of the drainage (on the East) before regaining the ridge and walking easily to the top of the Fin.  There was also a lot of boulder hopping just South of the crest to Ward, but that section went quickly enough to afford time to walk all the way across the plateau to the exact summit.  I descended the South face of Ward under a blazing sun directly to the middle lakes, ran back down to Camas lake, took a dip, then made the easy run out to the trailhead without difficulty.  The bike back to Coyote Coulee was quick and made for a nice way to round out the day.

Ward South face, with my descent right down the middle.

Thoughts  It was good to finally, finally do this very logical loop. It is a good one.  Biking up the road is not necessary, but it adds to the effort required and helps reduce driving time, which is a little long relative to the length of the outing.  The rest of the weekend was spent lazily camping and picking huckleberries, and shuttling Leah on a similar Camas loop.  She one upped my style by tacking on a full descent off Ward to the Ward/Sawtooth trailhead.

Echo to Hillgard fastpack

Celebrating a fine day near the summit of Dutchman.

Leah and I were able to get out together for a weekend in the high peaks of the Southern Madison range.  By going light, we were able to summit Echo, Dutchman, and Hilgard peaks with overnight packs without too much slogging.  After a casual late morning start, the first day went smoothly.  We easily walked up to Expedition basin, climbed Hilgard and Dutchman, and dropped to a high camp above Dutchman lake.  I over estimated how long the trip would take, and we had extra time to relax and enjoy the evening.  By bringing a few exciting dinner foods and enough warm clothes, we also slept in relative comfort.  The next day we easily summited Hilgard and made the standard egress out the Avalanche creek trail.  The only hiccup of the trip came when Leah unexpectedly sliced her leg on a sharp rock, but we were able to close the wound with a series of band aids and tape, and it didn't derail the trip.  I had a great time.  It was pretty magical to spend a few days in such a beautiful place with such a special person.

Crossing Expedition basin.  Photo: Leah

Leah climbing Echo.

Nice plateau walking on the South side of Echo.

Starting the climb up Dutchman.

Sunset at camp.

Leah enjoying a frosty morning.

Traversing the Lake Eglise basin with Hilgard behind.

Last climb out of the Lake Eglise basin.

Thoughts I think fastpacking an underrated way to explore the mountains.  It is an efficient way to spend a lot of time up high, and the few trips I have done feel like a magical respite from reality.  I have been a little turned off by the gear requirements to get into ultra light backpacking, but it has worked well to just kind of leave everything unnecessary at home.  Will try to keep doing a fastpack trip or two a year.

Pintler rambling, pt 2 West Goat peak

West Goat peak.  Who wouldn't want to ski that?

My last full ski day was spent exploring around West Goat peak.  It is a shame that West Goat peak is about as far as possible from Missoula, but with an early start, I made the long drive around to the Big Hole and was walking by 7 am.  The trail is a bit hard to follow and pretty long, but I had all day, and was still on the high point of the Pintlers just under 5 hours into the day.  The Southeast face was too enticing to pass up, so I skied it and re-climbed to the summit.

Fun skiing on the Southeast face of West Goat peak.

I had a surprising amount of difficulty ascertaining a correct entrance to the West couloir, and with fresh slippery snow overlying loose scree and firm old snow, I also had to traipse around surprisingly gingerly.  But eventually I just started skiing and had a great, 2,000 plus foot run.  To my absolute delight, the first half was powder!  It was also pretty satisfying to ski such a long, quality, West facing run in mid-June.  I was a little behind schedule at this point, and I now had a lot of rapidly warming snow above me, so I kept lunch break brief.  Fortunately, the long push back to the top went more quickly than expected.

The West couloir of West Goat peak, taken from Warren a few days prior. 

Powder in the West couloir!

Looking up a satisfyingly long West couloir post ski and pre re climb.

I had hoped to ski the also spectacular Northeast couloir, but abandoned the plan when I was unable to find a safe entrance.  Stymied but otherwise happy, I bopped up to the summit, skied the Southeast ridge, then climbed East Goat peak for the first time.  I ended the day by skiing a nice run off East Goat's Southeast face.  Back in approach shoes, the bushwack to the trail and jog out were relatively straightforward and brief.

The ski run off East Goat peak provided a nice snow highway toward the car.

Thoughts  I would like to go back and ski the Northeast couloir.  Also, there are a few ridge scrambling days and obvious link ups around West Goat peak that would merit a return in summer.  I didn't track vertical very well, but around 8k vert, done in 10 hours car to car.