Little Dog-Summit

Up the Little Dog ridgeline

Approaching the Summit peak

Descending saddle between Little Dog and Summit

On Monday of GMS week I led a group of 11 climbers up Little Dog (elevation: 8,610 feet ) and Summit (elevation: 8,770 feet) peaks just north of Marias Pass in the park.
The peaks offer remarkable views of the southern end of the park (the wilderness part of the park dominated by the St. Nicholas spire), and we enjoyed spotting lots of wildlife. At one point of the hike we could see six moose in Three Bears Lake and bighorn sheep and mountain goats mingling with each other on the same high slope.
The climb began by taking the Autumn Creek trail to the west from Marias Pass and climbing a good, but steep south ridge to the top, skirting and negotiating a series of spires.We dropped to the saddle between the peaks, losing about 800 feet, and then climbed up the ridgeline to the top of Summit, moving to the south face of the mountain when we encountered high cliffs. Mark Hertenstein led us down the mountain with a long diagonal drop across the scree to a grassy slope in line, but above Three Bears Lake.