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- May 31, 2015
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July 26-28, 2024
Now that we're solidly in shoulder season, it's time for me to get going on my trip reports from this past summer. In truth, I should have done them earlier, but here we are!
Jessica and I have been married for ten years now. Due to a fairly busy early summer, combined with my then lack of vacation time at my new job, we opted for a nice weekend trip for our anniversary, to a favorite area of mine with some of our good friends.
We left in the mid afternoon Friday. Jessica and I arrived first and got our site claimed and camp set up, which immediately wiped out my anxiety. I've never not gotten a spot where we were, but you never know when a place is going to get blown. We then went and met the others at the Happy Hour Bar on Hebgen Lake. Interesting decor in there. We got food to go, since we had three dogs in the group. We had hoped to eat at a picnic area on the shore of the lake, but a big thunderstorm, complete with hail, came through and nixed that plan. We ended up eating in the cars as the storm petered out. Oh well.
We got back to the camp site and there were no more storms, fortunately. We had rhubarb cake in the dutch oven for dessert and spent the evening around the fire.
We got started fairly leisurely the next morning since our camp site was very close to the trailhead. There were multiple horse trailers from one guide company at the trailhead, along with a lot of other vehicles, so we figured we would see a lot of people. It ended up being not nearly as busy as we anticipated.
On our way.
Happy hikers
It was quite hot and dry out that morning. And some smoke started blowing in early on. Ugh.
All smiles at lunch though. This was a great stop after about 4 miles of hot, smoky, dry walking.
Sara brushed up against some plant that caused her hand to start swelling. We're not sure what it was, but some Dr. Bronner's and a wash in the creek kept it from getting worse, and it subsided after that. Haven't had to deal with anything like that before.
We got higher up and walked through this area where an avalanche or microburst must have happened. The trees behind me were also smashed down pointing the same direction.
We encountered a group of 8 or so people from Georgia, hiking down with only a few packs between them. They had been up in the basin for multiple nights on a guided trip with a pack team. Must have been luxurious. They were very enthusiastic and happy to be out there. Nice people.
We also encountered a pair of trail runners/day hikers on their way down. They were making good time.
Walter behaving himself as some hardy day hikers/trail runners came through. 20-22 miles and 3500 feet up if I remember right. More than I'd like to day hike.
Looking toward the head of the drainage we ascended.
Smoky. Did not feel good on the lungs, and it also just seemed to make everyone more tired than they would've been otherwise.
Ascending.
At the top. People were pretty gassed by this point, so the basin was a welcome sight.
As we dropped into the basin, we encountered the mule team that had carried all the stuff for the people from Georgia. They asked us to go just a bit off the trail downhill to keep from aggravating the mules. I wasn't thrilled by the request, but I'd rather not be on the wrong side of a cranky mule, so we obliged. They were pleasant people to talk with and asked us if we knew where the smoke was coming from.
Once we were in the basin, we ended up doing a little circuit looking for a good lake to camp at. The first couple of them both had one tent at them. We kept on, figuring there were enough lakes for every group to have their own.
Penny headed to the first lake we checked out.
We decided to head back up a steep hill to the more open part of the basin, and we found a nice spot in the whitebark pines, above a little lake.
Walter above the lake we camped near. I love how much healthy whitebark pine there is in this area.
A storm was moving in as we got the tents set up. It started to sprinkle, then it got windy, then it the thunder got really close. Jessica had gotten me a new 3+ person tent for backpacking with the dogs, and it turns out that it can hold 5 adults and 3 dogs fairly comfortably for just hanging out. We took shelter and waited maybe 45 minutes for the storm to blow over. There were some very close lightning strikes. Maybe also some positive lightning, but it's hard to tell if it was that or just strikes that were close to us.
Everyone in the tent. Dogs were in there too haha.
The lightning moved off, and the rain slowed a lot, so we got out of the tent. It was hard to tell if it had moved the smoke out or what since it was overcast and maybe slightly foggy. It at least didn't smell as smoky.
Walter assessing the situation.
Dogs trying to get the hookup from Jessica.
Dinner time by the lake. The cheap backpacking chairs from Amazon are very popular with this group. Big thanks to my friend Gavin for introducing me to them.
Camp, looking uphill. The slope wasn't ideal, but it wasn't terrible.
Camp, looking downhill.
More dinner shots because I really liked the backdrop.
Dogs doing dog stuff.
Nice little reflection. Hard to imagine that I went to that summit a few years ago. Especially given how worn out I was by the hike in.
Chet and Kenny went down to a larger lake to do some fishing. They had great success with the spinner. Walter and I followed them to watch, but I had to keep Walter by me because he thought they were casting things into the water for him to chase.
Little cascade leading down from the lake we were by.
Fishing.
Bouts of low cloud moved through every 20 minutes or so for a while. No rain though. It was very eerie and cool.
We had a nice sunset.
It was a quiet night with no storms, fortunately. The new tent was palatial for the two of us and two dogs.
The mosquitos decided to join us in the morning for breakfast. We ate and packed up, then headed on our way out.
From a knoll above our campsite, looking down toward where the trailhead is. The trail does not go up this drainage though.
Roll out
Back into the forest.
I don't recall seeing more than one group on our way out. The walking was much better with a little less smoke. Or maybe that was just because we were headed down. We also found a leash that we had misplaced on the way up, so that was nice. When we were about two miles from the trailhead, we came across a young bull moose at the edge of a meadow. We stopped and watched him for a bit from maybe 25 yards away, but he got annoyed by us after a bit. So he turned and took a couple steps toward us. We decided then we would get moving immediately, and all parties were satisfied.
We got lunch at the Sugar High in Ennis. I hadn't been there before, but I've been another time since then. Be sure to go if you manage to be in town during their very limited hours.
It was a great, if late, beginning to the 2024 backpacking season for me. One of my favorite spots, and I was happy to take such a great group up there.
Now that we're solidly in shoulder season, it's time for me to get going on my trip reports from this past summer. In truth, I should have done them earlier, but here we are!
Jessica and I have been married for ten years now. Due to a fairly busy early summer, combined with my then lack of vacation time at my new job, we opted for a nice weekend trip for our anniversary, to a favorite area of mine with some of our good friends.
We left in the mid afternoon Friday. Jessica and I arrived first and got our site claimed and camp set up, which immediately wiped out my anxiety. I've never not gotten a spot where we were, but you never know when a place is going to get blown. We then went and met the others at the Happy Hour Bar on Hebgen Lake. Interesting decor in there. We got food to go, since we had three dogs in the group. We had hoped to eat at a picnic area on the shore of the lake, but a big thunderstorm, complete with hail, came through and nixed that plan. We ended up eating in the cars as the storm petered out. Oh well.
We got back to the camp site and there were no more storms, fortunately. We had rhubarb cake in the dutch oven for dessert and spent the evening around the fire.
We got started fairly leisurely the next morning since our camp site was very close to the trailhead. There were multiple horse trailers from one guide company at the trailhead, along with a lot of other vehicles, so we figured we would see a lot of people. It ended up being not nearly as busy as we anticipated.
On our way.
Happy hikers
It was quite hot and dry out that morning. And some smoke started blowing in early on. Ugh.
All smiles at lunch though. This was a great stop after about 4 miles of hot, smoky, dry walking.
Sara brushed up against some plant that caused her hand to start swelling. We're not sure what it was, but some Dr. Bronner's and a wash in the creek kept it from getting worse, and it subsided after that. Haven't had to deal with anything like that before.
We got higher up and walked through this area where an avalanche or microburst must have happened. The trees behind me were also smashed down pointing the same direction.
We encountered a group of 8 or so people from Georgia, hiking down with only a few packs between them. They had been up in the basin for multiple nights on a guided trip with a pack team. Must have been luxurious. They were very enthusiastic and happy to be out there. Nice people.
We also encountered a pair of trail runners/day hikers on their way down. They were making good time.
Walter behaving himself as some hardy day hikers/trail runners came through. 20-22 miles and 3500 feet up if I remember right. More than I'd like to day hike.
Looking toward the head of the drainage we ascended.
Smoky. Did not feel good on the lungs, and it also just seemed to make everyone more tired than they would've been otherwise.
Ascending.
At the top. People were pretty gassed by this point, so the basin was a welcome sight.
As we dropped into the basin, we encountered the mule team that had carried all the stuff for the people from Georgia. They asked us to go just a bit off the trail downhill to keep from aggravating the mules. I wasn't thrilled by the request, but I'd rather not be on the wrong side of a cranky mule, so we obliged. They were pleasant people to talk with and asked us if we knew where the smoke was coming from.
Once we were in the basin, we ended up doing a little circuit looking for a good lake to camp at. The first couple of them both had one tent at them. We kept on, figuring there were enough lakes for every group to have their own.
Penny headed to the first lake we checked out.
We decided to head back up a steep hill to the more open part of the basin, and we found a nice spot in the whitebark pines, above a little lake.
Walter above the lake we camped near. I love how much healthy whitebark pine there is in this area.
A storm was moving in as we got the tents set up. It started to sprinkle, then it got windy, then it the thunder got really close. Jessica had gotten me a new 3+ person tent for backpacking with the dogs, and it turns out that it can hold 5 adults and 3 dogs fairly comfortably for just hanging out. We took shelter and waited maybe 45 minutes for the storm to blow over. There were some very close lightning strikes. Maybe also some positive lightning, but it's hard to tell if it was that or just strikes that were close to us.
Everyone in the tent. Dogs were in there too haha.
The lightning moved off, and the rain slowed a lot, so we got out of the tent. It was hard to tell if it had moved the smoke out or what since it was overcast and maybe slightly foggy. It at least didn't smell as smoky.
Walter assessing the situation.
Dogs trying to get the hookup from Jessica.
Dinner time by the lake. The cheap backpacking chairs from Amazon are very popular with this group. Big thanks to my friend Gavin for introducing me to them.
Camp, looking uphill. The slope wasn't ideal, but it wasn't terrible.
Camp, looking downhill.
More dinner shots because I really liked the backdrop.
Dogs doing dog stuff.
Nice little reflection. Hard to imagine that I went to that summit a few years ago. Especially given how worn out I was by the hike in.
Chet and Kenny went down to a larger lake to do some fishing. They had great success with the spinner. Walter and I followed them to watch, but I had to keep Walter by me because he thought they were casting things into the water for him to chase.
Little cascade leading down from the lake we were by.
Fishing.
Bouts of low cloud moved through every 20 minutes or so for a while. No rain though. It was very eerie and cool.
We had a nice sunset.
It was a quiet night with no storms, fortunately. The new tent was palatial for the two of us and two dogs.
The mosquitos decided to join us in the morning for breakfast. We ate and packed up, then headed on our way out.
From a knoll above our campsite, looking down toward where the trailhead is. The trail does not go up this drainage though.
Roll out
Back into the forest.
I don't recall seeing more than one group on our way out. The walking was much better with a little less smoke. Or maybe that was just because we were headed down. We also found a leash that we had misplaced on the way up, so that was nice. When we were about two miles from the trailhead, we came across a young bull moose at the edge of a meadow. We stopped and watched him for a bit from maybe 25 yards away, but he got annoyed by us after a bit. So he turned and took a couple steps toward us. We decided then we would get moving immediately, and all parties were satisfied.
We got lunch at the Sugar High in Ennis. I hadn't been there before, but I've been another time since then. Be sure to go if you manage to be in town during their very limited hours.
It was a great, if late, beginning to the 2024 backpacking season for me. One of my favorite spots, and I was happy to take such a great group up there.
