BIG
SKY COUNTRY
We
broke camp early the next day. It was a
gorgeous morning, with beautiful clouds.
We enjoyed a colorful sunrise and a few final views of the waterfall
below. We returned to the trail and
headed back east. We made good time
until we found ourselves above Lost Creek.
This was the optimal area to leave the trail and head cross country
towards the Continental Divide. We
descended steeply to Lost Creek. After
hunting around for a few minutes we found a spot where
we could rock hop across. On the far side
we climbed steeply to access a grassy ridge running east towards the
Continental Divide. The ridge climbs fairly gently, and we made good time on the initial
ascent. We enjoyed incredible views in
every direction along the way.
We
stopped at a tarn for water a bit before the Continental Divide. Then we continued up to the Divide
itself. We followed it south and east,
climbing steeply to a grassy unnamed summit.
We had lunch there, and I took a brief side trip to the northeast, to
the edge of the escarpment. There I was
treated to astonishing views of Younts Peak, Thorofare Mountain, and down the
Marston Creek valley.
At
that point we had the toughest part of the day behind us. After lunch we followed the Continental
Divide south, enjoying mostly easy hiking.
The terrain was gently rolling for the most part, and the footing was
good. At times, we found it easier to
avoid talus and scree by walking across snowfields. The navigation was pretty
straightforward, though it was surprisingly easy to drift off of the
Continental Divide. That happened
occasionally, but it didn’t really matter.
We just tried to stay close to it.
The
views were continuous, and the partly cloudy afternoon made for great
photos. One of the more interesting
sights of the day was several chunks of petrified wood right on the Continental
Divide. It was amazing to see, since we
were miles from the nearest tree. We ran
into more of it the next day, too.
Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone National Park is famous for its petrified
wood. I’m guessing the petrified wood we
found had a similar origin.
My
original plan had been to camp near the Divide below Wall Mountain. The goal was to spend the following morning
hiking to Wall Mountain’s summit.
However, we had to sacrifice that side trip when we decided to hike out
a day early. We did look for a possible
campsite in that area anyway, but we didn’t see anything appealing. We continued on, and
before long we spotted a beautiful alpine lake at the head of Bliss Creek far
below. That seemed like a it might be a
good place to camp, so we headed that way.
We descended steeply from the Divide and ended up on a bench about 100’
above the lake. The bench ends in a
sheer cliff. We could have worked our
way around it and down, but the bench itself offered great camping
options. There was a small stream
nearby, and great views of Wall Mountain, the lake, and the Bliss Creek
valley. It ended up being one of the
best campsites of the trip.
While
getting water, I stumbled upon a dead muskrat that had been crushed. How had that happened? And what was it doing up on this bench, high
above the lake? Perhaps it had fallen
from the cliffs above?
I
got up late that night and was treated to a spectacular star show. Even the Milky Way was visible. I attempted a few photos, but that was challenging
with a phone and without a tripod.
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