OUR PREFERRED SETTING - II PINTLER MTNS.

http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/wildView?WID=10

The Pintler Mtns., which are 120-180KM SE of Missoula, rise to heights of 3000-3320m, and contain large elevated plateaus and lakes at elevations in excess of 2400m. 

As we explained previously in our Mission Mtns. post, although the Pintler Mtns. are 300-500m higher, because they are slightly further south and east, sheltered from weather systems moving in from the southwest and west, they receive less than half the annual precipitation. And hence, there are no permanent significant snowfields or glaciers on them. This also makes them a little more accessible though, even into the winter in parts, and with a much larger extent of terrain over 2000m than in the Mission Mtns., provides an unbeatable 4-season refugia for us. 

Above is the northern half of the range and it's wilderness area that protects it, while below is the southern half. 

When we moved down to Missoula last March, I needed to find a place like this for us that was fairly accessible, to provide relief from the hot summer conditions, as well as reliable snow for nordic skiing in winter. 

Just by looking at our Montana Gazetteer map book, I decided to give the Storm Lake Rd. a try last March, for some classic skiing. What a fortuitous discovery. Storm Lake is the highest real lake in Montana, at 2500m., it is about 1km long, and 500m wide. Access is very easy in summer, 15km dirt road from the main MT-1 highway just past Georgetown Lake, gently sloping up from 1900m to the Storm Lake at 2500m. In winter, the dry powder snow makes for outstanding skiing on it, although it does tend to be quite windy and much colder at the lake, at that elevation, so bring your extra layers. You'll get heated up skiing upslope to the lake, then watch out! 

Last March, the Central Rockies of Montana had a snowpack of 130-180 percent of average, which made for even more fantastic conditions. Once up to Storm Lake though, you have to be very careful, there are avalanche chutes on the steep slope above the western shore, and so we stick to the east shoreline trail. 

In fact, this incredible drift behind Storm Lake that Kluane was swimming in front of in early July was still left over from a release sometime during the previous winter. It required quite a precarious traverse on our pack trip that 04 July weekend up to Storm Lake Pass (only 6K in from Storm Lake, and which was still snowed in at 2940m). We actually had to set up camp below the pass and use that as a base to explore further into the wilderness, Goat Flat, and Seymour Lake. Goat Flat is an interesting high plateau, just about 9K from Storm Lake, up and over the pass, and along a nice cliff-side trail. It probably is the largest 3000-3150m high expanse in MT west of the Continental Divide. Reminds me of the higher elevations (around 1000m) in the Alaska Interior! 

You can see how large the snow drifts still were in early July there on the lip of Goat Flat by looking at our assistant editor Kluane, there is a precipitous 200m drop to Upper Seymour Lake, beneath it. 

The alpine terrain and scenery here is outstanding in June/July with the tundra wildflowers and snowfields in abundance. As well as mosquitoes, very much like Alaska also at this time! But not quite as bad as the AK interior, I never did have to resort to a headnet. At these high exposed elevations, it is often quite windy, and showers and thunderstorms develop rapidly in June-September, something to consider. We had to retreat to our camp beneath Storm Lake Pass on our July pack trip when some thunderstorms developed, but I was expecting this, and had planned accordingly. At these high elevations, this area is a sure way to beat the summer heat; when it reaches 34-38C down in the lower valleys such as Missoula at only 1000m, it will still only be 23-26C up here. 

One other factor to consider is this. Even though global warming is changing weather patterns in the mid-latitudes, and summers in the Central Rockies are warming significantly, at these higher elevations, low pressure systems in late August and September can still deliver temporary snowfalls, which just last a day or two. 

In fact, this past August the NWS numerical weather prediction models, GFS and NAM-12, both forecast a system cold enough to produce snow at the 2500m Storm Lake level on the 21st. Naturally we had to rush up there and enjoy it, as the hottest weather of the summer had just been occurring in Missoula, with daily high temperatures of 32-37C for a few weeks. 

Our intrepid associate editor Mattie had to make the most of it, though the Subalpine Larch and Subalpine Fir didn't seem quite as happy. But that's the price paid for living at these elevations in Montana. 

Fall colours still come early to the high country here, 2200m and above. The Central Rockies of MT and southern BC/AB are the only areas in the World to be blessed with little Subalpine Larch trees. A cousin of the much larger Western Larch, which grow in the lower elevations. These are one of the few deciduous conifers, and turn a nice yellow/orange by early to mid-September. 

As Mattie demonstrates. Here at 3050m on Goat Flat, they are at the highest elevation of their natural range, and hence are quite small. 

And when you are up on Goat Flat in early September, as here, a little of the early season snowfalls will hold on on shaded slopes, whilst the nice colours of the Subalpine Larch highlight many of the lower slopes and ridges. 

Another nice area of the Pintlers lies to the south and west, centered around 3200m Warren Peak. It's a longer, rougher road to get in to the main trailhead area, Carpp Lakes. These nice little subalpine lakes start at around 2100m elevation just 6km from the trailhead, and another 3km further in, is beautiful little Upper Carpp Lake, at the foot of Warren Peak. 

Needless to say, the entire CRP staff greatly enjoys retreating to this cool high-elevation paradise during the hot months of July and August. 

The evening sunset colour on the sheer rock face of Warren Peak is spectacular, and just as rewarding at sunrise. Unfortunately, this area is not as accessible in winter as the area around Storm Lake (though I would not go further up to Storm Lake Pass and Goat Flat either, too great of avalanche danger). The road in to the Carpp Lakes trailhead area is not maintained, so it would be a long 25K ski in, before even trying to hike or snowshoe any further (the trails further would be too narrow to ski on). But, into October or early November, before the heavy snows set in, the fall colours in this area are also outstanding. Combined with the deep blue Montana high elevation sky, it makes for beautiful trekking and camping, after very crisp frosty mornings which can start out as cold as -10 to -15C. 

Just a few short KM further from the Upper Carpp Lake, at 2400m right at the base of Warren Peak, is 2700m Warren Pass. In this area, you get great views of all the higher Pintler peaks, and can clamber up the slopes of 3200m Warren Peak. 

Though it is very steep and rocky, and we may not make a summit attempt. It's extremely exposed and windy and you would need perfect high pressure ridging type weather. On the other side of Warren Peak, along the west slopes, there are trails to other lakes. A beautiful 25K round trip hike from the Carpp Lakes trailhead will get you to 2500m elevation Tamarack Lake, which is just slightly smaller than Storm Lake. 

This little lake in a cirque at the base of Warren Peak is a majestic spot, and sees very few visitors. It would be dangerous in winter though, if it were more accessible, with the steep cirque walls on three sides, avalanche danger would be extreme at times. As you can see, it looks very much like Upper Carpp Lake just over a few ridges on the north side of Warren Peak, although it is about 150m higher. 

We feel very fortunate to have these beautiful areas accessible to us within 90 min. drives from Missoula, followed by a few hours of skiing or hiking. As we'll discuss in later posts, the effects of global warming are making themselves known throughout the Central Rockies, and we see them here. For example, vast stands of Whitebark Pine and Subalpine Larch die-offs near tree-line from bug kills (due to warmer winters not killing as many of the pests off). Wildfire activity has also increased at the lower elevations, and it will only be a matter of time before this moves up into the higher elevations as well. But even with all that, the Pintler Mountains are a Montana treasure that are relatively undiscovered. We rarely ever saw more than a few people on all our outings here over the past 9 months, and sometimes, none! And all of the CRP staff were thus free to travel and enjoy the full benefits of this peaceful wilderness. Cheers. 

OUR PREFERRED SETTING(S) I - MISSION MTNS.

(Heart Lake, Mission Mtns., MT October 2014)

There is no doubt that our assistant editor Mattie and research assistant Kluane miss S-Central Alaska, where we lived up until last March. And I loved it too, and also miss the longer winters with reliable snow, and not too hot of summers, though they could often be too wet. And sometimes very stormy above only 1000m. (Hidden Lk., elev. 1200m, Chugach Mtns., 08/13). 

But I missed being closer to family, and a very good job came open here in Missoula, a place I've always loved. It's not perfect, no place is, too hot for us in July/Aug, and not reliable enough snow close at hand for easily accessible nordic skiing in winter. 

So, to make up for that, we consistently seek out the high country in Montana, above 1800m generally, to recreate in when we have the chance. And can already foresee when the time comes to retire, living in a place like West Yellowstone or Philipsburg MT. Or Alta, WY, Leadville, CO, etc... First choice on all our lists I think would be Banff or Jasper, AB, or Smithers, BC, but that would be much more difficult for a US citizen. I like the blend of colder winters, but slightly warmer, drier summers there, as well as that the forests also are a blend of boreal and mid-latitude species in those latitudes where the Central and Northern Rockies merge. 

Our first favorite area locally where we feel completely at ease, and love spending time in, is the small Mission Mtn. range, just 80km north of Missoula. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Mountains

This little range is the closest replica we have to the terrain and biomes that Glacier NP has, to our north. But which is closed to our staff, your editor excluded. I'll still pay a few visits there, but it is just not as enjoyable unless Mattie and Kluane can accompany. 

The Mission Mtns. receive almost as much precipitation as Glacier NP, and much more than the 300-500m higher Pintler Mtns., 120km SE of Missoula. Which means the Missions, though they are lower, have small glaciers (albeit melting fast!) on the higher peaks, whilst the Pintlers have none. And more lush conifers, with even the cool, moisture-loving Mountain Hemlock in attendance in favoured areas above 1500m. 

This diagram explains the situation, the Missions, which are oriented N-S at 47-48N latitude, are more open to receiving strong upslope precipitation from the SW-W-NW. Whilst the Pintler's further south Latitude of 45.5-46N east-west position makes them downslope of many different ranges in the Western US. And hence, are much drier. Only half as moist as the Missions, as you can see from the image below of Western US annual precipitation. As well, even at just the little bit of 2deg latitude further north position of the Missions, the jet stream and attendant weather systems are usually stronger, and more moist. This is especially the case in the warm season, May-Sept., which is why the Mountain Hemlocks are found here, as well as along the Bitterroot Divide to the west, but not in the Pintlers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuga_mertensiana

There are very few trails into the higher, glaciated portion of the Mission Mountains from the east, that aren't on the Flathead Indian Res., but the best by far for varied access takes you to a series of beautiful lakes.

This is the trail that starts at the end of Kraft Creek Rd., to Glacier/Turquoise Lakes, and Crescent/Heart Lakes. 

By far our favourite of the lot is the gem called Turquoise Lake, for obvious reasons! It is only a 12K moderate hike from the trailhead at 1500m, up/over a pass at 2100m, down to the lake at 1961m. At this elevation, in the Missions, the lake is fed directly from melting snowfields and glaciers on the surrounding 2500-2950m peaks. And gets a huge volume of snow each winter. Our snowpacks were a little late in getting established here in the Central Rockies this fall, due to a very warm Oct., this image above was from the end of the month, when only above about 2500m was there more than 30cm snow depth. But by now, it is easily that at the trailhead, and probably 1.5m at the lake. due to several very moist and cool weather systems in November. In fact, avalanche danger would definitely be a factor at this time, to try and access Turquoise Lk., not to mention the fact that you'd probably have to ski in on Kraft Crk. road a fair distance before even getting to the trailhead, and then would either have to back-country (not tour) ski or snowshoe up the trail. So we probably won't be back here until next June, unfortunately. Though we are toying with the idea of at least skiing in to the trailhead sometime this winter or early spring. And perhaps to the lower, Glacier Lake, which is just 3 flat km in. 

This was from one of our four outings in this area, in this case, late September. Just down from the 2100m pass, two smaller crystalline turquoise lakes are nestled off to the west of the trail. The geology is also quite interesting in this area, with purple, green, and orange rocks, which also occur in some areas of Glacier NP. There are grizzly bears and a fairly high density of black bears, but in our four outings, including two two-night pack trips, we never say any, or even any scat. 

The rest of the full suite of Central Rockies wildlife can also be found here though, including these mountain goats which were on the rocks one morning behind our camp right at the east outlet of Turquoise Lake. Fall colour, as in the rest of the high country in the Central Rockies, starts early here, in mid-September, when our fairly rare Subalpine Larch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larix_lyallii begin turning first. These are found in the Missions only from 1900m, up to treeline at 2500m. 

What is most striking about Turquoise Lake, are the colours, of it and the surrounding rocks. Almost making for a surrealistic feeling. The trail only goes 12km to the lake, after that, to go any further requires brush-whacking and rock-hopping, though you can get up 150-200m above the north shore on smooth rocks fairly quickly when they are dry and free of ice. 

We'll be spending alot more time in here over the coming years, documenting changes (unfortunately there will be many, as we'll discuss in a future article), and exploring more. One goal next summer is to take the spur trail to Crescent and Heart Lakes, and then brushwhack up to Island Lake, then over a pass, to get to the base of 3006m McDonald Pk., the highest in the range. We didn't quite make it this past October (the first picture at the top of this post is from Heart Lake, where we stopped) due to my still-recovering left leg (from being badly broken two years ago) not favouring the brush-whacking. 

One last image, just to show you that the lower portion of the trail to Turquoise Lake is very beautiful as well. The regular Larch from the trailhead at 1500m up to about 1900m elevation are in their full colour in early-mid October. And the lowest lake, Glacier Lake, which is just a flat 3km inland, is quite striking in its own right. Because it is more easily accessible, it qets quite a bit more visitation. The trail(s) to all these lakes receives moderate usage in high summer, but by mid-September, much less. Such that by late October, we only saw one other party on a weekend day. Cheers. 

UNDER THE ARCH

Before going any further, we need to give a shout out to one of our favourite web-sites, and source of mapping for most of our wilderness outings. http://www.wilderness.net/  You can get great topo maps and wilderness area descriptions on this site for anywhere in the USA, and even Alaska! :). 

Blodgett Canyon is one of more than ten east-west oriented ones that dissect the 2500-3100m highest portion of the Bitterroot Mtn. range, just south of Missoula. Many people, ourselves included, feel that it also has the most stunning rock walls in it's lower reach. 

After returning to Missoula last March, your editor decided to take in as many of these canyons (all of which lie at least partially inside the protected Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area) as possible this past summer. Most of them have maintained trails that start at public trailheads, and head straight in for 10-20km, usually ending up at lakes beneath cirques/headwalls, with only gradual elevation gains for the most part. Today on our 14K hike, we started in at the Blodgett Canyon trailhead the day after a weak Arctic front brought a dusting of snow in this area (though we got 4cm at home in Missoula :) ), and cooler temps. It was about -10C heading in from the trailhead and got progressively cooler as we got further up. I had thought originally it would be nice if we could ski in here, but no such luck, at least for the first 6K in. The trail was melted slush with footprints that flash froze into solid bumpy ice, with just a touch of powder from last night, on it. Even with our Katoolah shoe chains/spikes, we had to be really careful. 

Right from the start though, it made us feel alot warmer just seeing the bright winter sun shining on the north wall of the canyon. This trail stays fairly in the middle the whole way, and was completely shaded. Good thing it does too, we heard several rock-falls, probably coming from the sunny south-facing wall. The combination of melting/re-freezing snow getting into cracks/crevices continually weathers these sheer rock faces into these strange shapes. 

One of the reasons we wanted to return here, after two other hikes last summer, was to see how the ethereal "Stargate" Arch (our term for this strange un-named feature) looks with snow/ice on it. Looking very beautiful today. It can only be seen for about 1.5km between 5.5-7km in from the trailhead, far up on the south wall, at about 1000m above the trail. I had to use 35-60X zoom on my Canon SX40 to get these images of it. 

We assume this bizarre feature formed over the millennia since at least, if not before, the ice ages, through similar weathering processes, as the surrounding rock walls. But can we really be sure? Or is there something more to it? We tried brushwhacking up to it from below last Aug., but didn't get very far, too much bouldering and heavy downed slash. Not good for my still-recovering left leg, which I broke very badly two years prior. 

The only way we can think of to reach it would have to be from the Canyon Creek trailhead, up Romney Ridge, then along it. Or, from a higher starting point about 8K in on the Canyon Creek trail. Either way, it would require a full day to devote just to that, and too dangerous/arduous in winter. 

Blodgett Creek was still running fairly high, it'd been mild for several days until late yest. with the snow level as high as 2000m at times (the canyon floor starts at 1200m and slowly ascends).

Our associate editor Mattie didn't partake too much of the frigid water, but our research assistant Kluane did, and at one point we became quite nervous, as if he lost control, could have plunged through icy rapids. 

Kluane tends to roam around quite a bit in on our outings in his duties, and so it was decided he needed to dress up a bit, so that he won't look so much like a strange Sno Beest, but a friendlier, albeit unusual one. And what better way to do so than to re-purpose your editor's old neckties, from when I filled in occasionally on the Alaska Weather show, taped live at the KCAM PBS-TV studios in Anchorage, 2010-11 :). He looks rather swank in them I'd say, but he'll only put them on for longer outings. 

Ice was just starting to form on the ponds in the chill shaded -12C air 6K up the trail, but a little open water was left for some mirroring. Of the much heavier snowpack, further up the canyon. Over the last several days, westerly flow dumped much more snow further in the Bitterroot crest, while areas to the east, toward the Bitterroot Valley were downsloped. Hence the lack of snow even above 2000m on the rocks near the trailhead. You'll see alot of fire scarring on all these Bitterroot Mtn. canyon trails, there have been many large fires in them over the past 20 years, with 2000 being an especially bad year (I worked on a fire near Darby, MT that Aug.). We'll talk more about wildfires and the increasing trends seen with global warming, and what it means for our region in future articles. We just hiked a total of 7K up, about 1km past the bridge over Blodgett Crk., then the snow began getting too deep at this point. It would have been great skiing from this point on, the snow was deeper and not icy underneath, very little foot traffic from here on out. But that would mean having to haul skis/boots in. A good 15-20cm powder dump starting at the trailhead would fix that up though. 

I wish I could have skied in here, could have gotten much further in. But at least on the way out, I got to hug this large 1.5m diameter old-growth Ponderosa Pine. It survived the latest fire in here and sure is beautiful. Also wanted to build up my bona-fides as a true tree-hugging dirt-worshiping white wine/craft beer-guzzling granola guy! Cheers. 

WELCOME TO THE CENTRAL ROCKIES [PROGRESSIVE] !

You might first be asking, why the Central Rockies? When here in the USA, Western Montana is customarily described as being part of the "Northern Rockies". Well, as dedicated "One-Worlder's" (as a very conservative person once tried to use disparagingly to describe us, but we were greatly complimented!), we look at things from a larger perspective. The Rocky Mountains of North America actually extend north from the US state of New Mexico, around 35N latitude, to Northern British Columbia Canada, near 59N. As well, we use the "Système International d’Unités (SI), or International System of Units" (metres/kg/Celsius, etc..) in our articles, since the USA is the only country besides Myanmar (formerly Burma) that still clings to the archaic "Imperial Units" (feet/lbs/Fahrenheit, etc..).  

To properly describe the Rocky Mountains from this perspective, we drew in our rough guidelines, based on climatic regimes, and biome characteristics. That leaves Western Montana, at latitudes 44-49N squarely in the Central Rockies. An example of this being these rare little Subalpine Larch (one of only a few deciduous conifers), which only grow near tree-line here in the Central Rockies. These were in full colour here early last October at the base of 3200m Warren Peak, in the Pintler Mtns., 120km SE of Missoula.

You might remember us before from our previous news-site/blog, The Alaska Progressive Review. http://akprogressive.blogspot.com/

We decided, after moving to Montana last March, where your editor had lived previously from 1990-98, to shift the focus of a new site more toward wilderness and environmental concerns, here in the Central Rockies and elsewhere. And away from a more politically-oriented one, as it tended to burn us out and leave us feeling overwhelmed and uncertain of the future. Now we try and live more in the moment, which is always how Mattie and Kluane have, but more of a struggle for your editor. Don't get us wrong, we still avidly follow the latest sociopolitical/economic news and events, most often through these links (and others) provided to you on the right. And take pride in our previous efforts at the Alaska Progressive Review, some of our most popular and significant articles are provided for you on the right as well. 

Thanks for stopping in!