Sunday, July 29, 2007

Desolation Wilderness - Lake Aloha via Rockbound Pass

What started out as a loop hike over Mt. Price was modified when I realized that Dora was going to have problems getting up the large granite slopes called the "slabs of insanity" (not my name). 20 miles. 4577' vertical feet up and down. 5 lakes.



Beauty Lake.



Trail over Rockbound Pass. This is what Sierra trails should look like. Lots of granite.



Lake Doris.



The trail to Mosquito Pass.



First view of Lake Aloha.



Lake Aloha.



Camp.



Looking up at the "Slabs of Insanity". The original plan was to follow these slabs up and over the ridge (click on the pic to get a closer look). Next time no dog.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Home through Crater Lake NP.

We drove home from Missoula through Washington and Oregon with a stop in Bend. Bend is a great town and I want to move there. Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying the place and didn't get any pictures. Here is the last pic of the trip, from Crater Lake National Park outside Bend.

Canyon Creek, Lake, Falls, and Peak.

The eventual reward.



But first...hiking up through the dense forest of Canyon Creek. It is pretty nice in here--mossy, cool, quiet.







The very steep section around Canyon Falls.



Past Canyon Lake and up the granite slabs to Wyant Lake. (Canyon Lake in the background.)



At Wyant Lake with tomorrow's goal--Canyon Peak--in the background.

30th Birthday in the Bitterroots.

Woke up at 5am so that I could try to make the summit, get down, pack up camp, hike out to the car, drive to Missoula, and have a proper birthday celebration.

Sunrise from the top of the saddle above Wyant Lake.





Looking south over the Bitterroot Range at sunrise. That is some impressive wilderness back there.





A look up the southeast ridge to Canyon Peak. My route basically followed this ridge all the way up until right before the summit where I had to cut left (through the lighter colored granite) under the summit in order to ascend the less sketchy southwest ridge to the very top.





A couple more views back to Wyant and Canyon lakes.





You can get a good idea of what the ridge was like from these two shots. Very knife-edge in places.



The route comes up from the low spot in the ridge behind me.



High Lake and Blodgett Canyon from the summit ridge.



The last 100 feet or so to the summit was almost too sketchy without a rope or a partner. Once on the summit, I was pretty preoccupied about getting back down and so I didn't spend much time up there taking pictures. Here are two summit shots and a video.







Looking back up at Canyon Peak after descending.



Kristen had been chased out of camp by the mosquitoes. She left me a note.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Campsite on the Salmon River





Goldbug Hot Springs

Add these to the list... What a great day we spent at Goldbug. The hike up is hot and steep, the way it should be. What is so great about these springs is that they have a great view, have hot and cold springs, are spacious, and have a great name.

The hike up. Makes you wonder if the destination is going to be worth the trouble.



The first signs of life.



Ah...the springs. The pools basically get cooler as you move downstream. There is a very hot stream and a cool one and they both mingle at different spots making for a large variety of temps. On a hot day you can just jump back and forth between the cold stream and the hot pools.



So very nice.





Yes, that is a hot waterfall.