My Journey

Riversdad

Active member
Black Butte (6,119') certainly was not a difficult climb although we did face a few challenges. First off, climbing in Grizzly country is a bit challenging cause you're constantly on the watch. The picture below shows a portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.....and it is within this area that this entire trip took place. The dark green area indicates the Total Grizzly Bear Occupied Area. The individual black bears indicate sightings of Grizzly Bears that have wandered beyond their normal range. The brown line indicates Interstate 90 and Black Butte lies just south (below) Interstate 90 (the brown line).....

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Our other challenge, while not significant, was picking our route to the summit. This was yet another mountain that had no trails.....complete bushwacking.....

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We hiked up the road maybe a bit more than a mile, then headed straight up the western slope of the mountain.....

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We had to stay clear of a north south running rock band along the saddle.....

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And then made our way to the actual summit.....

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I had packed myself a lunch (which of course I had to share with my best friends) and brought along a bag of dog treats. We sat in the rocks, kicked back, and enjoyed our meal as well as the fantastic views.....

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Before leaving, of course, I needed to get my pictures of the dogs on the summit.....it's probably a tradition by now.....

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"It's not what we have in life, but who we have in our lives that matters".....

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You and your friends are certainly living the good life. Thanks for taking us along and giving me ideas for places to take my furry family.
 

ITTOG

Well-known member
Beautiful pictures and life. I always enjoy the summit pic's.

I have a backpacking trip in bear country coming up soon. The national park does not allow bear spray. Crazy. I guess I will need to take my pistol? That probably isn't allowed either. Do they notify the bears that attacking humans are not allowed?
 

fisher205

Explorer
Beautiful pictures and life. I always enjoy the summit pic's.

I have a backpacking trip in bear country coming up soon. The national park does not allow bear spray. Crazy. I guess I will need to take my pistol? That probably isn't allowed either. Do they notify the bears that attacking humans are not allowed?
What National Park doesn't allow bear spray? Carry it all the time in Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
 
Riversdad.....more to come ! It's my pleasure.....

fisher205.....I wondered the same thing.....

ITTOG.....I too love the summit pics. I have quite the collection. Regarding black bears (for what it's worth), I wouldn't stress over black bears. You can pet them safely.....you just have to be gentle. It's them Grizzlies that will eat you. Good luck and stay safe and post a trip report with lots of pictures (please !).....



We spent another night along that random forest service road, then we awoke early and got back onto the road. We returned to Big Timber, Montana, took Interstate 90 east, left the interstate at Columbus, Montana, and then drove south, back into the Absaroka Mountain Range.....

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Somewhere south of Fishtail, Montana we left the paved road behind, then drove along some of the worst washboard Forest Service Roads that I've ever driven on.....

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I actually considered turning around.....aborting our newly laid out plans. But we were headed for a place named Mystic  Lake.....we just had to go on.....and so it was that we suffered onward.....

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There were actually three sensational lakes in a row.....feeding off the same mountain stream.....the first two.....Emerald Lake & West Rosebud Lake were easily accessible by the Forest Service Road. But the third.....the lake that we wanted to visit.....was only accessible by foot.....

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It was the name that I saw on the map that caught my eye the night before.....was this the "truly majestic place" that we were looking for ? Well, initially it didn't look that way. I mean everything was spectacular here except for there was this huge white pipe & rail line running off the mountainside.....

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How bad could it be ? Apparently Mystic Lake had a manmade dam built at it's lower end.....I couldn't help wonder how much damage man had done.....

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We hit the trail with the most optimistic hopes in our hearts.....the hike in was amazing.....but honestly I just struggled with ignoring that massive white pipe running along the mountainside.....the trail, it paralleled the creek that flowed downward from Mystic Lake.....

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Eventually the trail climbed higher, departing the creek, yet still pretty much paralleling it.....

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The views from up high were breathtaking.....I looked at the surrounding mountains and thought that I wanted to climb everyone of them.....

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Arjan.....well put.....sometimes it's a better fit than others. This lake seemed to be too remote for these manmade "improvements"......at least that's how I see it.....

fisher205.....just one more reason to stay out of bars.....




At the highest point in the trail.....maybe two or three hundred feet above Mystic Lake.....

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.....we saw this absolutely majical scene.....to our left were the towering rock cliffs.....

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Down below we could hear the roar of the water as it tumbled across the rocks in the stream.....

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.....and from that vantage point, we looked straight ahead.....and we possibly "witnessed something truly majestic".....I guess everyone that sees this can judge for themselves.....

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We continued down the trail and got our first views of the dam that was constructed in 1924.....hmmmm.....I thought it almost had this artistic look about it......somehow it didn't seem to ruin the views.....

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The trail continued along the left side of the lake.....along that beach that was covered in small peebles.....

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We continued on hiking along the shoreline.....along the left side of the lake. The dogs, of course, jumped right in.....I didnt.....

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I suspect we walked a mile or so up the shoreline before deciding to turn around.....

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I gave thought to hiking up a side trail which appeared to go into the rocky cliffs but the day was no longer young.....so we turned back after hiking it for less than a mile or so.....

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We backtracked down the main trail, returned to the rig, and on our way out we decided to visit both Emerald Lake & West Rosebud Lake.....

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That evening we pulled off to the side of that horrible washboard Forest Service road and spent a quite night in the wilderness......where it too could be described as pure bliss.....

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