My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

There are so many things that I am not.....I've mentioned in the past that I'm not an archeologist, and not a geologist.....and I am also not a historian.....





So, much like Buffalo, Montana, I don't know a thing about Utica, Montana either.....





Some blogs are informative in that they'll tell a bit of history of the places that they've visited.....I don't think you'll ever find that here.....the best I have to offer is to suggest a Google search.....





I suspect that we spent a good hour here.....walking with the dogs.....then walking alone.....reading the numerous informative signs that lined the main street that ran it's way south through town.....





My interests.....my loves.....are outside of the towns. It's the places where you'll find the old, weathered buildings.....



And the forests that lead me to the mountains.....

 

[Foy]

Thanks for checking about the rock hammers, but I'm happy to say I still have the last hardrock rock hammer/pick that I earned a $ with before 1984, so I'm good.
Given the typical lag between your days afield and when you post, plus the spectacular cloudless skies in your pics, we may have been in the Little Belts on the same day. Our day was Sunday, Sept 22, the day before our 46th wedding anniversary. I'd bought my wife a ring with Yogo sapphires as an anniversary gift in Bozeman a few days before so we set out from White Sulphur Springs to visit Sapphire Village and Yogo Gulch, those being the only two places on Earth where Yogo sapphires are mined. We had a great time in the Little Belts and will spend more time camping there in July 2025.
You might have noticed lack of flowing water in the South Fork of Judith River if you headed back into the Little Belts from Utica, through Sapphire Village. There's a decent flow further upstream, but the river flows over a wide outcrop band of the good old Madison Limestone as it approaches the outer rim of the Little Belts. There, the extensive karst cave/cavern plumbing system found almose everywhere in the Madison swallows it up as it flows downstream. The good news is that the Madison spits it back out around Sapphire Village. All entirely typical of the Central Montana "Island Ranges", including the Big Snowies, where our paths crossed in 2022 as we visited the Crystal Cascades from the trailhead at Crystal Lake before descending all the way from the Cascades down to the paved road enroute back to the campground. Bold water flow at the Cascades which disappears entirely a mile or so downstream. The remainder of the canyon is as dry as toast.
Bravo, and encore!
Foy

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy.....we passed through Utica, Montana on October 8. Clear, blue skies have been the norm around here this year. I don't remember it ever being so dry. Last night we finally got our first dusting of snow in the valley. Soon enough we'll be back on the road looking for warmer climes.....



We drove out of Utica, Montana along Pigeye  Road.....driving southwest.....now headed back to explore more of the Big Belt Mountains.....





The Judith River follows the meanders of the roadway, or maybe better said, the roadway follows the meanders of the Judith River.....





The variations of the fall colors along the river were absolutely stunning.....




As I was driving down Pigeye Road, along the meanders of the Judith River, I recalled a conversation that I'd had with a fella in the Teton Valley several weeks prior.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

This guy.....he was commenting on the lack of colors in the fall foliage in Montana.....he said that he was leaving soon to view the fall foliage in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan.....cause that's where fall really happens.....



Now, I'd say that it's true that everything is yellow (& green of course) in the Teton Valley during the fall.....that'd be difficult to debate otherwise. But here I wondered.....had this guy ever wandered along the roads that meander along the meanders of the Judith River in the fall.....





I suspect not.....we stopped often along this stretch of road.....not just for the exercise and not to just stretch the legs.....I wanted to take in the colors.....to remember this experience.....this beauty.....




It was all too soon that we left those wonderful fall colors along the Judith River behind.....and we drove back into the Little Belt Mountains and the Lewis & Clark National Forest.....



Once again we were teased with the thoughts of interacting with a bear.....



The scenery changed drastically as we slowly.....began to gain elevation.....



The South Fork of the Judith River now became a part of our landscape.....not quite as stunning as what we had viewed earlier in the day.....

 

[the deputy]

Funny, just had a similar discussion with my wife yesterday, UP vs Alaska. Was trying to convince her to go west, even offering to buy a Sprinter van if that's what it took to travel with the dogs. Anyhow. She loves the UP, and rightly so, and me too...being my home state and having an inherent pride or patriotism to it. But, during our discussion, told her...on a scale of 1 to 10...the UP is a 2, maybe a 4/5 in the fall, or right along the Pictured Rocks coastline, or when you factoring in that you can hike without the notion of being eaten or tore to smithereens by a grizzly ...but Alaska is a 10.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

the deputy.....it's all good.....so much good.....and so little time.....



Now the road took us to an entirely different landscape.....not only different from what we'd seen from our earlier travels along the Judith River.....but also different from the northern parts of the Little Belt Mountains.....





The river had cut its way through cliffs bands maybe several hundred feet in height.....and the road followed through those same openings through the cliff bands.....it was beautiful.....all that stone.....





The stone here appeared to be very porous.....I constantly thought that I saw caves in those walls.....but I'm not for certain of that. I did see one significant arch way up along a mountain ridge.....




We didn't make any stops on this portion of the road until we came to a highpoint in the road where I spotted this signpost that peaked my interest.....



Once again I found myself amazed that people came here.....long ago.....truly in the middle of nowhere.....to live their lives.....



It just so happened that there was a trailhead here.....so off we went......to see what we could see.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Further down the road we encountered an area that had been developed with homes.....



The homes appeared to be large estate type properties.....absolutely stunning estates I thought.....and a bit further on.....as we climbed higher.....



.....we passed by an airstrip.....



And then there was nothing.....but a road and a forest.....



At a "Y" in the road, we took a right, now looking for a suitable spot to spend the night.....



The road passed through a dense pine forest.....much like what we saw in the northern parts of the Little Belt Mountains.....



.....and it became steeper and steeper.....



Eventually the road broke out of the dense pine forest and we passed a small log cabin.....as we continued to look for that perfect spot to spend a night or two in the Little Belt Mountains.....



We continued on.....climbing higher and higher.....and the higher we climbed, the more excited I became.....I was liking this a lot.....

 

[Foy]

Sweet!
From the "Y" where you'd gone straight, we'd come in from the left. We also stopped and walked around at the picnic table beneath the huge lodgepole pine at or near the Russell Point sign.
Great country, those Little Belts!
Foy

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy.....picnic table ?





We found our Shangri-La once we reached the highest point in the road.....this place turned out to be our little heaven in the Little Belt Mountains.....




The fact that nobody comes here.....well, initially that was what most appealed to me. But soon enough.....it became something so much greater than that. As the evening approached.....and our stomachs were filled.....we set out to explore the highlands of the Little Belt Mountains.....



There was this calmness about here.....a certain feeling of serenity.....there was definitely something special about this place.....



So we walked, and we walked, and we walked some more.....and at some point in our walks, I decided that I wanted time alone here. The poor dogs.....probably hated me for this.....but they were left to protect the camper.....while I then explored alone.....




Everyone knows that I love my dogs immensely.....but when you're truly alone.....no distractions.....that's when you can allow yourself to wander into the other world (so to speak). Even the smallest of things.....the most insignificant things.....can be a truly amazing discovery. Such as the tree stumps shown here.....so simple yet so beautiful.....not a single one alike.....




The mysterious forest that surrounded us.....well, it certainly had a calming effect on me.....and actually.....I think the dogs as well.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

One night we sat on a hillside and watched the arrival of the night sky.....





One dog on my left.....and one dog on my right.....



It truly was bliss.....a moment of tranquility in our lives.....






Dang.....just writing this right now.....brings back some very strong emotions.....for the Little Belt Mountains.....

 

[Arjan]

Totally get what you write.

Breath taking.

Mind cleaning.

Thank You.

 

[the deputy]

Simply put...the best way...sometimes. Total solitude...nothing...distracting from the moments importance.

Being alone with one's self shouldn't have to be inexcusable...it should be a mandatory gift to one's self.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Arjan.....if I were ever to return to France.....I'd be knocking on your door. You're my kind of human being for sure.....

the deputy.....for me, I've thought for quite sometime that alone is the only way to go. That being said, soon enough I'll be journaling about two guys that I met while climbing a mountain.....and their company made for a very nice change of pace and had me rethinking some of my views.....



We drove west now headed down the mountain.....way down the mountain actually. It was odd that temperatures actually dropped in the valley (10 degrees less than the highpoint !).....just the opposite of what we would typically expect to see. As we entered the valley covered in dense.....so, so dense.....filled with pine trees.....something that seemed to be so common in the Little Belt Mountains.....



At the intersection with Highway 89, we drove north.....with a plan to climb two mountains in one day (sounds bold.....it wasn't). I had hoped to climb Big Baldy Mountain (9,175') that day.....but the access road to the trailhead would be too rough for my rig (based on everything that I had read).....so we substituted these peaks instead.....



Using the word "climb" truly is, once again, a huge stretch.....the first mountain summit was achieved mostly by walking up a gravel access road that led to a fire tower and a ski lift.....



Honestly.....this one was a real let down.....



But we were able to "climb" our first peak of the day.....Porphyry Peak (8,192'). The dogs waited patiently below (as seen in the pictures) as I checked out the views from the lookout tower.....




Nothing sensational to be seen from the lookout tower and actually.....the views were far better from our last campsite.....



From here we walked south along a broad ridgeline on a double track trail, and once again, through a super dense forest.....you literally couldn't see fifty feet into the forest.....



On the way in, on three occasions, we disturbed groups of elk hidden in the forest and let me tell one thing.....when you disturb a group of elk in a dense forest.....well, it's a bit scary cause initially you don't know that it's elk.....and my first thought was "bear !.....finally !.....and it's going to kill me !"



It's quite the relief when you first see the smallest part of an elk.....

Anyhow.....the next summit.....maybe only thirty minutes hiking from the first peak climbed.....was named Mizpah Peak (7,765'). Undoubtedly this mountain had the worst views that one could imagine from its summit (the next picture was taken at the summit).....

 

[ITTOG]

Arjan.....if I were ever to return to France.....I'd be knocking on your door. You're my kind of human being for sure.....

the deputy.....for me, I've thought for quite sometime that alone is the only way to go. That being said, soon enough I'll be journaling about two guys that I met while climbing a mountain.....and their company made for a very nice change of pace and had me rethinking some of my views.....



We drove west now headed down the mountain.....way down the mountain actually. It was odd that temperatures actually dropped in the valley (10 degrees less than the highpoint !).....just the opposite of what we would typically expect to see. As we entered the valley covered in dense.....so, so dense.....filled with pine trees.....something that seemed to be so common in the Little Belt Mountains.....

View attachment 859342

At the intersection with Highway 89, we drove north.....with a plan to climb two mountains in one day (sounds bold.....it wasn't). I had hoped to climb Big Baldy Mountain (9,175') that day.....but the access road to the trailhead would be too rough for my rig (based on everything that I had read).....so we substituted these peaks instead.....

View attachment 859346

Using the word "climb" truly is, once again, a huge stretch.....the first mountain summit was achieved mostly by walking up a gravel access road that led to a fire tower and a ski lift.....

View attachment 859349

Honestly.....this one was a real let down.....

View attachment 859362

But we were able to "climb" our first peak of the day.....Porphyry Peak (8,192'). The dogs waited patiently below (as seen in the pictures) as I checked out the views from the lookout tower.....

View attachment 859363
View attachment 859364

Nothing sensational to be seen from the lookout tower and actually.....the views were far better from our last campsite.....

View attachment 859365

From here we walked south along a broad ridgeline on a double track trail, and once again, through a super dense forest.....you literally couldn't see fifty feet into the forest.....

View attachment 859366

On the way in, on three occasions, we disturbed groups of elk hidden in the forest and let me tell one thing.....when you disturb a group of elk in a dense forest.....well, it's a bit scary cause initially you don't know that it's elk.....and my first thought was "bear !.....finally !.....and it's going to kill me !"

View attachment 859367

It's quite the relief when you first see the smallest part of an elk.....

Anyhow.....the next summit.....maybe only thirty minutes hiking from the first peak climbed.....was named Mizpah Peak (7,765'). Undoubtedly this mountain had the worst views that one could imagine from its summit (the next picture was taken at the summit).....

View attachment 859368

I had a pretty good laugh at "bear !.....finally !.....and it's going to kill me !". I had the same thought on my backpacking trip in the Teton when I accidentally was within five or six feet of a black bear.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

 

[the deputy]

the deputy.....for me, I've thought for quite sometime that alone is the only way to go. That being said, soon enough I'll be journaling about two guys that I met while climbing a mountain.....and their company made for a very nice change of pace and had me rethinking some of my views....

That's why l added...sometimes. Since, in a sense, and this is just my two cents (wanted to get them all in one sentence), we are basically a 'pack mentality species' like just about every other species on the planet. So, interaction is not that uncommon/unusual of an emotion/quality. It's just the 'amount' that differs in some of us.