Collar Peak in Judiths, Rogers Pass flowers

Katie in the Douglasia alpine flowers above Rogers Pass

The unusual spires on the flank of Judith Peak in the Judith Mountains

Fairly typical trail on the way to Collar Peak

Katie atop Collar Peak

Katie post-holing one of the drifts along the trail

Collar Peak in Judiths stats

We caught our lockdown hikes this week between rain and snow events in the mountains, getting out only twice.
I returned to Rogers Pass and the Continental Divide Trail to show Katie the great alpine floral display, and on a bluebird Thursday traveled to the Lewistown area to climb Collar Peak in the Judith Mountain Range.
We went up the Cadotte side of Rogers Pass and got quite a show of pink Douglasia flowers that lit up the CDT.  In several weeks that pink will be replaced with the bright blue and fragrant Forget-Me-Not flowers.  That is the best flower show of the season to my mind.  The bright, yellow Glacier Lilies were also in bloom.

Glacier Lilies on Rogers Pass trail

We dodged snow by going off trail above the prominent outcropping.
Collar Peak was an easy and enjoyable experience.
The trail is some 22 miles north and east of Lewistown and the BLM has signs directing you all the way.
We did a trip into the Judith's a year ago into the Limestone Kiln Canyon that whetted my interest in Collar.
There is special interest in this trip in that it passes through the Maiden ghost town, which we were surprised to find quite a number of people living in.
The Judiths are full of old mines and former settlements.
In addition to the bright blue skies we were treated to the almost shocking green in the bottom grasslands.
The road to the Collar Peak Trailhead is also the road to Judith Peak.  We came to within a half-mile of the trailhead when we started to encounter snow on the road, so we parked and walked to it.
Large spires emanate from the sides of Judith Peak, making our walk more interesting.
At the trailhead we had to make a decision on which way to hike, since it is a loop hike.
We started up the right-side trail and found it immediately clogged with snow drifts.
The left-side trail, however, was clear and great hiking.
Not that we didn't find snow on that side as well.
About a mile into the hike we had to leave the trail and follow an old (game?) trail to avoid enormous snow patches that covered the trail.
The last mile or so it was on and off the trail to the top.
The top offers exceptional views of the many mountain ranges and Great Plains, the most showy being the Big Snowies to the south.  We could also easy pick out the Little Snowies, Little Rockies, the Little Belts, Highwoods, Bearspaws, Moccasins and the rest of the Judith mountain ranges, and Square and Round buttes.  How blessed we are to have these "island ranges."
There's still plenty of snow, particularly in the Snowies and the high peaks of the Little Belts.
After some time on top we started back down, but we could see the rest of the loop that would have made this a 5-mile trip.
It is 2.3 miles to the top of Collar from where we started, with a gain of nearly 1,100 feet through lodgepole forest.  The forest opened up a bit for views of the mountains to the south.

Our route to the top Collar Peak and back