The year 2020 has been so bizarre that I shouldn't be surprised that December has been unseasonably warm and sunny and that we're still hiking, not skiing.
The sky has been cloudless and the angle of the sun casts its golden light radiantly at a low angle.
It was back to the Holter Lake area on Saturday, this time to hike the length of the Oxbow Bend, a 3.5 mile long peninsula that stretches from Departure Point Campground nearly to the base of the Beartooth Mountain.
This is a relatively rugged, if off-trail hike along a narrow ridgeline that points right at the Beartooth peak. If my GPS is not lying, we covered 6.4 miles and gained nearly 3,000 feet when the ups and downs are tabulated. The wind was really cranking, which made the hike challenging at times.
There are a number of game trails that assist negotiating a series of "peaks" along the way, the final one to the far end of this strip that is a bit tricky to negotiate.
It's up and down along these peaks past enormous Ponderosa pines, some junipers and Doug Fir and lots of grass.
Heading south from Departure Point at 1.5 miles the peninsula narrows down enough that it is used as a portage point for those wanting to skirt one of the Oxbow turns.
The Oxbow is a very spectacular feature of Holter Lake, which is an impoundment of the Missouri River behind a dam between Wolf Creek and Craig.
We thought the peninsula would be an interesting backpack site for the scenery and the nearby waters, which are prime fishing.
I surprised to see the number of remote cabins, reachable only by boat.
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