John Goering
Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2014
- Messages
- 484
My wife and I did this "over-nighter" last weekend. Access to the upper reaches of the South Boulder River is via Cardwell on Interstate 90 via about 5 miles of Montana Highway 359. County/FS Road 107 exits MT 359 at the South Boulder River bridge and proceeds past the old mining town of Mammoth and eventually terminates at the trail head for Sailor and Brannan Lakes, the last 3 to 4 miles of it being Jeep trail. Total length of Road 107 is something close to 30 miles. The trail head for Louise (trail 7168) and Lost Cabin (trail 7150) Lakes is about 3 miles below that terminus. Approximately 1 mile of the access road below the Louise/Lost Cabin trail head is a bit rough and I would not recommend a normal car for that stretch.
South Boulder drainage/Middle Mountain from below Mammoth
It has been about 15 years since we were last here and in the interim, the good folks at the US Forest Service spent a huge amount of money building an all new trail that isn't near as scenic as the old one. Both the new and old trails resemble a snake with a severe GI track problem. The old trail remains in good condition with only a few trees down so we made this trip a small loop-up on the new trail and down on the old one.
The weather was cold and windy Saturday on our way in and the wind Saturday night tested the tent purchase on the substrate. Sunday morning was just cold and clear but it warmed up quickly for a pleasant day.
Bismark Reservoir at the trail head. This was an intake impoundment for an 18" wire wrapped wood pipe that dropped about 140' elevation and powered the equipment at the Bismark Mine. Some of the wood structure remains.
Mount Jackson (left) and Lakeshore Mountain.
I'm not sure what the motivation was for the trail "reconstruction" since the last time we were here 15 years ago, but it's close to wheelchair accessible now and perhaps that will be good for me in a few more years but it was probably a gross waste of money.
The token pika shot. This guy (or gal?) was still stashing elk thistle leaves.
Middle Mountain (10353') Sunday am.
Sunday Breakfast. The bowls are Sojo freeze dried dog food. Ours is the Mountain House breakfast griddle.
While my wife was throwing line at the cuts, I headed up the bowl on the upper end of Louise Lake.
The line throwing. It was successful and there are some really nice Yellowstone cutthroats in Louise Lake.
After taking the new interstate trail in, we found the old trail out. Interestingly, there were a lot of 2" Yellowstone cuts here but saw none in the lake. We suspect that since the only potential spawning area in the lake is the outlet and as cuts are spring spawners, all the fry get washed down the creek with too many falls for any return.
The old trail comes out about a third of a mile downstream from the new one and rather than hike back out to the road and thence back to the trail head, we bushwacked up the south side of the South Boulder River (here decidedly more a creek). It was steep and dense but we found a lot of remnants of the Bismark pipeline.
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South Boulder drainage/Middle Mountain from below Mammoth
It has been about 15 years since we were last here and in the interim, the good folks at the US Forest Service spent a huge amount of money building an all new trail that isn't near as scenic as the old one. Both the new and old trails resemble a snake with a severe GI track problem. The old trail remains in good condition with only a few trees down so we made this trip a small loop-up on the new trail and down on the old one.
The weather was cold and windy Saturday on our way in and the wind Saturday night tested the tent purchase on the substrate. Sunday morning was just cold and clear but it warmed up quickly for a pleasant day.
Bismark Reservoir at the trail head. This was an intake impoundment for an 18" wire wrapped wood pipe that dropped about 140' elevation and powered the equipment at the Bismark Mine. Some of the wood structure remains.
Mount Jackson (left) and Lakeshore Mountain.
I'm not sure what the motivation was for the trail "reconstruction" since the last time we were here 15 years ago, but it's close to wheelchair accessible now and perhaps that will be good for me in a few more years but it was probably a gross waste of money.
The token pika shot. This guy (or gal?) was still stashing elk thistle leaves.
Middle Mountain (10353') Sunday am.
Sunday Breakfast. The bowls are Sojo freeze dried dog food. Ours is the Mountain House breakfast griddle.
While my wife was throwing line at the cuts, I headed up the bowl on the upper end of Louise Lake.
The line throwing. It was successful and there are some really nice Yellowstone cutthroats in Louise Lake.
After taking the new interstate trail in, we found the old trail out. Interestingly, there were a lot of 2" Yellowstone cuts here but saw none in the lake. We suspect that since the only potential spawning area in the lake is the outlet and as cuts are spring spawners, all the fry get washed down the creek with too many falls for any return.
The old trail comes out about a third of a mile downstream from the new one and rather than hike back out to the road and thence back to the trail head, we bushwacked up the south side of the South Boulder River (here decidedly more a creek). It was steep and dense but we found a lot of remnants of the Bismark pipeline.
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