My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now the purpose of that evening hike was to figure out how far the actual trailhead was from our camp (there is little reliable information available on this hike)....we walked along a 4 wheel drive road making a few creek crossings, maybe 6 in total.....I spotted several cave entrances in the rock walls above that lined the canyon.....I thought right then that we might have to check these guys out on another day.....







Further along our hike, the canyon opened up to wonderful meadows with broad views of the mountain range.....



I thought we were alone here but we were not..... after a few miles of hiking we encountered a truck with a pop up camper on the back.....that's actually not a typical sight for me to see way back in the forest like this.....as odd as that may seem to be true.....





I chatted with the campers hoping for better information on our planned climb but they weren't climbers.....they simply were here to enjoy their solitude so we said our farewells.....eventually we did find that trailhead.....it looked to be good.....



And now rain clouds from the western skies began to pass over.....the mountain range gave us little notice of the impending storms.....



We hustled back to the camper and spent a nice evening along that babbling brook.....



Intermittent storms passed by throughout the night.....what a wonderful place it was.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

It appeared from my recon the previous evening that this would be another long miles day in the Big Snowy Mountains so I decided to risk taking the Jeep up the 4 wheel drive trail to the trailhead, reducing our hike total 4 to 5 miles.....



The early morning dew covered the thick grasses at the lower elevations.....soaked my leather boots.....



.....but as we entered the pine forests the dew was nonexistent.....



I was constantly on the look out for the black bears of the Big Snowy Mountains but this would be yet more day without a black bear sighting.....we hiked 16 plus miles that day and saw nothing.....other than deer every now and then.....





The trail was nearly nonexistent for much of this hike.....I found that the key here was to follow the barbed wire fence upwards.....



These boulders dislodged from the mountain side were enormous.....maybe the size of semis.....



A spring fed lake was a welcomed find for my best buddy.....





.....and a trail marker and a faint trail zig zagging up the mountain side was a welcomed sign for the both of us.....although one of us of course had no idea how welcomed it was.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now the views to the south from the mountain side were magnificent.....I'm not certain how far we could see that day.....



And finally we reached Knife Blade Ridge.....and yes, this mountain ridgeline has its own name.....and it seemed like it went on forever.....this stone cairn we encountered marked the new trail that traversed the ridgeline....



Now we hiked along the ridgeline.....views were now in every direction.....





Our goal for the day was to summit Greathouse Peak (8,681') which we eventually achieved.....



We found a stone cairn which appeared to mark the summit.....



And we also found.....several hundred feet away..... the remains of stone benches.....





And on beyond we could see something in the distance so we continued to hike to see what we could see.....turned out to be a metal vault with solar panels.....no idea what for.....



We spent the afternoon exploring the ridgeline.....relaxing on the summit and having a late lunch......we loved it up there on that ridgeline.....but more clouds were building in the distance.....we made haste and made our way home.....

 

[nathane]

Beautiful

 

[Foy]

Looks like the Madison is truly a caprock horizon on Knife Blade Ridge. One pic appears to show the light gray Madison over top of the tan-weathering Jefferson Formation, a coarse-grained dolomite of Devonian age which has its own erosion surface at its top, representing a gap in the depositional record called an unconformity. The Jefferson appears to be more of a slope former as contrasted to the cliff former which the Madison so much is.

Taking a day off of the roads/creeks/trails in Philipsburg today. Glorious weather for a bit of (old high mileage) truck maintenance and an afternoon nap!

Foy

 

[longhorn1]

Great pictures. Those views looked amazing.

 

[ITTOG]

I don't mind spiders but that one with all the baby's was a bit creepy.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

 

[ghostdancer]

One afternoon I decided to unhitch the Jeep and have a look at the Missouri River.....the river was only 9 miles north of our camp.....

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Exploring just a small bit of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument was next.....

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The Jeep seems to always start after a good rest and it had been quite awhile since we last used it. So long as I don't turn it off, we'd be fine is my thinking.....

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We checked out the boat launch and the campground which were right off the highway and next to the bridge. I felt bad for those campers that were paying $12 per night for a spot where the wind didn't blow. It was hot in that valley.....but maybe they run generators and a/c units all day.....who knows.....

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Always grateful for more information.....

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We took the dirt road on the south side of the river and drove west.....

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I couldn't t help but think of Lewis & Clark when I first saw this river.....

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The dirt road climbed high above the river banks.....

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.....which afforded us some amazing views that stretched for miles to the east and miles to the west.....

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I seem to be having similar issues with my Jeep. When it’s well rested it will, reluctantly, start. After it’s been running, it’s a crap shoot. We just left the high country in Wyoming and are down in Evanston Wyoming to seek repairs. It’s got a new battery, so I know that’s not it. Alternator is putting out. My next thought is a bad starter.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ghostdancer.....just sent you a PM too. I did some research online and decided to follow the advice. I removed the ground wire from the engine block and cleaned all wires including the ground wire which were attached to the block. I also wire brushed the engine block and rehooked it all back up. The pictures below indicate charging status before cleaning and after. I read that it's rarely the alternator.

Before the cleaning it would barely turn over the engine but now it starts up immediately without any delay.

Good luck.

 

[Arjan]

With Land Rovers, the most common electrical problem is caused by bad earths.

Well done.

 

[blanketslayer]

Enjoying every single one of these posts Jerry!

 

[Sierra Valley]

Man i sure was hoping that you would be going in from the south side! I've been google earthing like mad on the big snowy mtns for a while now even before you went there.

 

[Dougnuts]

Hello Jerry,

I had Costco print out your photo in 16" x 32" acrylic and it came out amazing! It was a great way to finish our recently renovated guest room. I hope our guests find the image as wonderfully relaxing as I do. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.

Take care,
Doug

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

nathane.....you would love it.....

Foy.....it's funny what you think when you see a pile of rocks as opposed to what I think.....I see amazing rock wall potential.....thanks for the good information.....

JD.....thanks and huh.....

ITTOG.....that spider was a lot creepy. Imagine waking up with that crawling on you.....

Arjan.....we have a saying in the United States which goes like this....."even a blind hog finds an acorn occasionally".....I'm hopeful that this is my acorn.....

blanketslayer.....thanks so much.....always appreciate kind words.....

Sierra Valley.....yea, I just wasn't ready to leave that mountain range. I'm glad you're liking it.....

Dougnuts.....is it bragging to say that it looks phenomenal !?! Happy for your family.....

Ghostdancer.....keep us posted.....hope the new starter was the answer.....



On June 25, 2014, fisher205 (Brad) posted (post #384) what may be my most favorite post of over 200 pages, 3,195 posts, here on XP. I took a screenshot of that post and here it is. Brad had invited me to spend a weekend wheeling with his friends in the Big Horn Mountains in northeast Wyoming. Everyone made it across the river easily but me. I had to walk to the shore to get a winch line and Brad took this picture of Montana "driving my Jeep". Damn I miss Montana dog so much.....



I hadn't thought about that day in a very long time but the morning after climbing Greathouse Peak, Tanner and I jumped in the Jeep and headed back to those caves.....



And this next picture here reminded me of that wonderful day wheeling with some new friends.....and with my best friends.....Yukon and Montana.....



We made a few creek crossings, hiked up the side of a mountain to.....you know.....see what we could see.....





It was real pretty up there.....heck, every bit of the Big Snowy Mountains are real pretty. These caves weren't deep but it was an enjoyable way to spend a morning before getting back onto the unknown roads.....





Now the question was here once again.....where do we go now.....





And we decided that we'd like to drive the entire circumference of the Big Snowy Mountains.....maybe even get some more hiking in. But that's actually not an easy thing to do.....there's a rancher here that owns damn near everything and he forbids anyone to touch his land.....get caught on his land, he will prosecute.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now, for me, I just find it astonishing that someone can own so much land, yet deny anyone from setting foot on their land.....how can a simple access easement to our public lands be such a huge big deal.....yet these signs are posting for miles, and miles, and miles.....much like Knife Blade Ridge, they too seem to go on forever.....



The N Bar Ranch is owned by two brothers (Farris & Dan Wilks) out of Texas.....they are billionaires having made their fortune in the fracking business.....



Every mile of the road to the south and west of the Big Snowy Mountains seemed to be fenced and peppered with the No Trespassing signs posted by the N Bar Ranch.....



A little research on the internet and I found that these guys own nearly 300,000 acres surrounding the Big Snowy Mountains and throughout eastern Montana.....



Within their massive land holdings are also large tracts of land owned by the BLM.....





These BLM lands are land locked.....the BLM can only access their lands by air.....it's as if these guys (the Wilks Brothers as they are called locally) own that land as well.....





The internet says that these guys fly into the Lewistown, Montana airport in their 18-passenger Bombardier Global Express corporate jet, then take their helicopter to their ranch (where incidentally they are constructing a 6,000 foot long private runway).....



We stopped in at the BLM office in Lewistown, Montana and we were told to be careful.....do not step foot on their land. There's another mountain we'd like to climb.....access is our issue. So we are left puzzled.....how can someone that has so much, be so selfish with access to our public lands.....we simply want to climb.....