Working off Thanksgiving in Bear's Paw Mountains

Bearpaw Baldy, highest peak in the range, dominates the horizons

Katie on the way up in the wind

Susan Woyth celebrates her 20th peak in 2020

There were occasional patches of snow on the designated trail

Katie's Girls in Glacier group celebrate their post-Thanksgiving climb

 It has been so long since I've hiked or climbed in the Bear's Paw Mountains south of Havre that I don't have any record in this 16-year-old blog.

We corrected that Friday with a post-Thanksgiving trip to climb Mount Otis (elevation: 4,471 feet) in that mountain range with Katie's Glacier Girls in extreme wind, but with bluebird skies.

It was as fascinating to drive through the Rocky Boy Reservation on the way as it was climbing this small peak.  

The seriousness of the Covid pandemic really hit home when we were checked in and out of the reservation on our way to the trailhead in Beaver Creek (Hill) Country Park, said to be the largest county park in the nation.  Masked checkers stop all cars coming and going as the pandemic rages on the Chippewa Cree rez.  We had to give our names because a strict tracing regimen is followed. 

Aside from that, the beauty of this island mountain range so isolated on the High Plains grabs you along the way.  There are so many snow-covered "bumps" to this range that your eyes don't know where to focus.  The reservation is quite pretty, though engulfed in poverty.

We warmed up for the climb with a short hike at the Bearpaw Lake Campground, taking the lower 1-mile Rotary Loop Trail.  Lots of snow and ice around the campground made getting to the trailhead a little tricky.  I added a bit to the hike by climbing an adjacent high ridge and taking that back to the trailhead.

About two miles away we found the Mooney Gulch road that leads to the Otis Mountain trailhead, but thought it too icy to drive.  I sized up the mountain and decided to take an off-trail route to the top along a low ridge that connected to the summit ridge.  All eight of Katie's girls had no trouble making it up this steep 1,000 feet route, which offered progressively more beautiful views of the Bear Paws.  To our surprise there was a bench on the top which we ceded to Susan Woyth, who had just accomplished her 20th peak in 2020.  We were all so proud of her.

We decided to take the official trail back down, which offered us a nice loop.  Then it was a walk back to the car through an area that has many small cabins.  We had covered just under 3 miles and climbed just over 1,000 feet on this loop.

I have climbed Bearpaw Baldy at 6,619 feet, the highest peak in this range, but that was some years ago. It is a brooding, high presence from most vantage points.