Out there with Tom: Annual Patrol Mountain climb

A glorious ridge walk to the top (Gordon Whirry photo)

Samsara Chapman at the lookout helm for the 27th year

We crossed a cold Straight Creek coming and going

The Patrol Mountain Lookout was framed in snow

Gordon Whirry in a field of buttercups in Honeymoon Basin

Summer really begins after I've climbed Patrol Mountain in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and visited with ranger Samsara Chapman, now in her 27th year on fire duty.

I accomplished that Sunday on a blazing hot day in Great Falls with temperatures in the mid-70s at the lookout.

My goal is to climb the mountain through my 80th birthday, so I'll make four more annual trips on this 12+ miles, 3,600 feet gain and loss trek.

As usual, Samsara was a gracious hostess, and this year I really needed it because I neglected my electrolytes and crashed about midway up the mountain. I've never considered the peak, which I've been climbing annually since 1982, particularly difficult, but this year I could barely make it up the final 1,000 feet to the top because of exhaustion.

After surveying me, Sam prescribed and fixed me a tall electrolyte drink which did a great job reviving me. The trip down was a breeze, figuratively and literally.

Once my head cleared, Sam gave me and Gordon Whirry and tour of the blooming alpine flowers blooming around her wilderness perch.

She expects fire this summer as most snow is gone early.

The 360 views from the lookout are world class with the Scapegoat plateau and with the the high mountains of the Rocky Mountain Fron to the east and north and the Swan Range in the distance to the west.

The high pass just below the lookout is a multi-colored display case which reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream with its stripes and layers.

The only disappointment of the day was a less than stellar floral display. The flowers du jour were globe flowers, columbine, buttercups, and sprinkles of lupine.

The day previous, Katie and I went to Paine Gulch in the Little Belts just outside Monarch and enjoyed a great bloom of Lady Slippers orchids. On Saturday we did a leisurely 8.5 mile walk around Two Medicine Lake in Glacier Park.