Kristie and I hiked up to Boulder Point back on Saturday November 22nd. We were excited to get out together for some outdoor therapy and to give the grandmas some time with Olin all to themselves. It was about 35F and spitting snow as we proceeded up West Fork Road and there was a trace of fresh snow which kept in shaded places as it had been gently snowing at the trail head overnight. The hike up was composed of ~2800 vertical feet of climbing over ~2.25 miles of trail. The snow became light but steady after climbing up a few hundred vertical feet past the weather station and the brief ridge bench. Following the trail wasn't a problem as we were following one person and a dog whose tracks were yet to be obscured by snow. As we hiked the snow depth increased to several inches at ~7000 ft where we ran into a pretty substantial blow down which blocked the trail. Our track makers opted to beat trail straight uphill in an apparent effort to find the next switchback. After losing faith in our track makers' route, negotiating snow covered boulder fields we opted to follow the ridge for the last portion of the climb to the lookout. The lookout was braving the gently blowing cloud wisps and snow and was looking very cozy with its storm flaps open and wood smoke plumes peppering the air. Our track makers turned out to be Jack Wade and his dog Dozier who welcomed us with a hot stove and water for the dogs. After a good chat and some stove warmth we left for the descent. Upon leaving the lookout we noted the ~6 inches of snow depth with 2-3 of those inches from the current system. We descended to the car in 48 minutes and enjoyed the muscle aches from our efforts over the next few days.
2 comments:
I remember going to the lookout in the spring. It's a pretty steep hike!
Can anyone go inside? Do you have to book it? Is it almost ready for skiing? How's the road to the trailhead?
So many questions! No booking required and it's open to anyone as a reward for making it up the trail. It has been maintained by a Bitteroot mountaineer group. Hopefully it will stay that way. There's a FS restoration project going on: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/bitterroot/fire/photo_gallery/2008/BoulderPointREstoration/pages/IMG_1508_1024x768_jpg.htm
so it makes me wonder if they're going to start renting it out through the Recreation.gov site. That would be a bummer.
There was about 6 inches of snow at the lookout so not enough to ski. The road to the trailhead was in great shape save for a few runnels from heavy rain.
Hopefully
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