Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Mount Wright for conditioning and sheer beauty

Mount Wright still has plenty of snow




Mount Wright, at 8,875 feet elevation, never disappoints.

This is an annual climb I do to test my conditioning.  I think I passed again!

The day started with warmth, no wind and a clear, blue sky.

It ended with a thunderstorm and hail.

There is considerable snow this year, which is a good thing.

However, it did not block the trail and what little I had to walk through was easy.

I climb this for the views of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area and the Front.  The summit ridgeline, which reveals the Bob view takes about 2,700 feet in elevation gain to achieve, but it is really worth it.

Even though the day was cloudy, I could see into Glacier Park, and in the Bob, as far north as Great Northern peak in the Great Bear, and Silvertip, well to the west.

The alpine flowers were also a great treat, the forget-me-nots, Douglasia, stone crop and Jones columbine that spangled the hillsides and crested the ridge to the top.

Below, in the burn, it is still early, the snow has just left.

I expect this hike's wildflower beauty will reach its peak in the next two weeks as the alpine turf greens.

Looking across the Bob toward Pentagon Peak


Jones columbine


Douglasia




For more on this hike, please click on this link:

Mount Wright 6-24-2014 | Garmin Adventures

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks like a great hike! Camille

Anonymous said...

Tom, do you think that Patrol is hikeable yet? My husband and I were hoping to head up there tomorrow! Thank you for all the details and photos in your posts!

Out there with Tom said...

Not from what I've heard from the ranger Samsara Chapman, who tried earlier this week. She thinks the water is too high to cross, and from personal experience, there will be big drifts on top at this time of year

Unknown said...

Tom in an earlier blog posting you walked around on Major Steele Backbone. To go there is it necessary to have a tribal recreation permit? Did you start at Swift Dam trailhead, cross the creek on the bridge, and go up the Indian Road? Or did you just drive on the road that crosses Birch Creek, then heads north, then west along the north shore of Swift Reservoir? Is the permit necessary? Thanks ahead of time. BTW I had Katie as my Junior year English teacher.