Tobacco Root Mountains, Lady of the Lake/North Meadow Creek

[John Goering]

A few photos from the past Wednesday and Thursday. We day hiked this on the 4th of July, but a much better experience with an over-nighter. For location info, check some of my previous North Meadow Creek thrreads.

My wife and the first use of the new tent (MSR Mutha Hubba NX). It was a good test of the tent-probably a 25 mph wind when we set it up and it kept getting stronger all night. It stayed put. And damn, it's nice to use a tent that has very thoughtfully placed zippers that actually work-even if it does weight 7 oz more than what it replaced.

Lake outlet.

Lake-lots of fish (Yellowstone cuts) but my wife didn't keep any for the frying pan.

Always see a few of these guys there.

Bradley Meadows. Not much green left after a very dry summer.

Upper Twin Lake on the way back to the Jeep. Still a little smoke but a lot less than the last few weeks.

A few Jeep trail photos. I like the backpacking portion of this the best but North Meadow is a very fun Jeep trail. At the outlet of Lower Twin Lake.

Trail shots. You have to like rock and best to have some low gearing for this, not to mention ample ground clearance.

And my biannual North Meadow Creek shot.

It was a good trip despite the wind the first day. The wind was forecast and I did throw in a chainsaw for the way out (it was needed). Bumped bottom twice-left front control arm and the front diff bottom but didn't hurt anything.

 

[JimmyW]

Looks like a great trip! Coincidentally, I went back up the South Fork today and did Curly up the Lake Trail. I think it's a nicer hike than the Creek Trail. The campgrounds were loaded with the opening of bow season and the holiday weekend. No one else drove the extra half mile of bad road to the Lake trail. I'll have to drive up to Sailer if there's good hiking up there. It was a little nippy this morning, at 35 when parked.

I really like my '15 JKUHR. I put Toyo AT2 285x75x17s on, and they're great, though the road to the Curly trail isn't that bad, anyway. I suspect it gets worse after that. Your third Jeep pic looks like it got a little challenging. I pack a portable winch for the rear, just in case Thanks for the post. I attached a pic from the meadow above Curly by the creek, for those who don't get out to this country. No more smoke!!!

 

[John Goering]

Looks like a great trip! Coincidentally, I went back up the South Fork today and did Curly up the Lake Trail. I think it's a nicer hike than the Creek Trail. The campgrounds were loaded with the opening of bow season and the holiday weekend. No one else drove the extra half mile of bad road to the Lake trail. I'll have to drive up to Sailer if there's good hiking up there. It was a little nippy this morning, at 35 when parked.

I really like my '15 JKUHR. I put Toyo AT2 285x75x17s on, and they're great, though the road to the Curly trail isn't that bad, anyway. I suspect it gets worse after that. Your third Jeep pic looks like it got a little challenging. I pack a portable winch for the rear, just in case Thanks for the post. I attached a pic from the meadow above Curly by the creek, for those who don't get out to this country. No more smoke!!!View attachment 34235

Our favorite camp site is only about 150 yds to the right and uphill from your photo, if that is taken from where I think it is. As far as Jeep trails go, that trail isn't much of a challenge all the way to the trailhead below Sailor Lake. Low range and something more than a Subaru and you're good to go.

 

[JimmyW]

Thanks. I just happened to use my brand new Garmin Oregon 450 GPS. Takes pretty good pictures and records the GPS data.

GPSLatitude - N 45 37 31.73 (45.625481)
GPSLongitude - W 112 4 46.61 (112.079614)
GPSAltitude - 2592.26 m
GPSImgDirection - 218.90

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Thanks. I just happened to use my brand new Garmin Oregon 450 GPS. Takes pretty good pictures and records the GPS data.

GPSLatitude - N 45 37 31.73 (45.625481)
GPSLongitude - W 112 4 46.61 (112.079614)
GPSAltitude - 2592.26 m
GPSImgDirection - 218.90

Wow that picture you posted was taken on a GPS? I'm impressed.

Another nice report John.