"The Bob," Huckleberries and a Jewel

Picnic Lakes from Mt. Aeneas in the Jewel Basin, Montana

We left the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and traveled back to Missoula and then headed east on Hwy 200 to Hwy 83 and on to our first destination, the town of Seely Lake.  Seely Lake is nestled in the valley between the Mission Mountains and the Swan Mountain Range in the Lolo National Forest.  This valley contains a chain of lakes with Seely Lake being the largest.  We camped among the larch trees at Placid Lake State Park which was a few miles south of Seely Lake. This was our ‘home base’ for a few days while we explored the Lolo National Forest and hiked in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, known by locals as “The Bob.”

 

Morning mist on Placid Lake

Bob Marshall was an early forester, conservationist and co-founder of The Wilderness Society.  The Bob, one of the original areas designated as wilderness by the Wilderness Act of 1964, extends for 60 miles along the Continental Divide and is the fifth largest in the lower 48 states.  It is also prime Grizzly bear habitat with an estimated population density of grizzlies higher than can be found anywhere else in the U.S. outside of Alaska.

 

Mission Mountains viewed from Bob Marshall Wilderness

With our eyes peeled for ‘Grizz,’ we started up the Pyramid Pass Trail towards Pyramid Lake, our lunch destination.  It was a steady five-plus mile climb to the lake through larch and fir forests broken up with meadows still filled with wildflowers.  At the higher elevations the huckleberries were profuse.  Maya and I have been sad that we missed the huckleberries in most of the places we have been so far, but our luck changed in The Bob.  Many of the bushes were starting to turn fall colors but they were still loaded with perfectly ripe huckleberries.  We ate as we hiked watching for bear along the way.  Alas, we had no luck with spotting grizzly but we absolutely ate our fill of huckleberries.  It is always a tricky thing with bears; we want to see them but not too close and we don’t want to surprise one.  So we did make some noise especially when we were in the huckleberries.

 

We had lunch at teal blue Pyramid Lake which is named for the nearby mountains. But the lake has a triangular shape itself, much like a pyramid.  As we ate our lunch we heard pika calls on the talus slope of the mountain next to us.  The pika, as many of you know, is a small mammal with short limbs, rounded ears and no tail.  They are in the rabbit family and are sometimes called the “whistling hare” due to the high-pitched alarm calls they make.  We didn’t see any of the pika (they are small and hard to spot in all those rocks) but we enjoyed bird watching as we ate and saw several Clark’s nutcrackers and a bald eagle.

Pyramid Lake and peaks

 

Reflections in Pyramid Lake

 

The Bob is so large and remote that many people take horses or mules into this wilderness and often stay out weeks at a time.  Hunting is allowed in wilderness areas but it is very difficult because of the great distances you have to hike or ride to get to the game.  Then if you get an elk or deer, it has to be packed out on foot or pack animal.  (I think I’ll stick to fishing.)

Our hike back down from the lake was very pleasant.  We saw two groups of horses and pack mules on the trail, one heading into the wilderness and one coming out.  We talked to the group coming out, two men on horseback with seven pack mules.  They told us they had been in the wilderness for two weeks.  We also passed a group of 5 backpackers that were going in for a short three-day trip.

View from Mt. Aeneas of Birch Lake (largest) and Aeneas Lake (left)
Jewel Basin

 

The next day our plan was to head about 70 miles north and camp near Bigfork on huge Flathead Lake.  It was only Wednesday and we usually have no problem finding campsites in the middle of the week but the campgrounds around Flathead Lake were full.  The lake is a very popular place and some people were taking a very long Labor Day Holiday!  We went on to Kalispell and found a place.  It worked out well since we are about to go into Canada.  We did some banking business and stocked up on groceries.

 

Walking on 'the spine of the world'



Come on, you can rest when you get up here...

But we still made time to hike in a very special place – the Jewel Basin.  Although not a designated wilderness area, this unique backcountry area is specifically set aside for hiking only.  No horses, bicycles or ATVs – just hikers and leashed dogs allowed.  It was a pleasure to walk on ‘clean’ trails with no horse droppings. 

 

The Bear Grass was still in bloom down in the Jewel Basin

The Jewel Basin has over 15,000 acres, 27 alpine lakes and 50 miles of hiking trails.  The trails climb the crests of the mountains that surround the basin and then down into the basin to beautiful lakes and meadows.  We started out on the trail to Mt. Aeneas, a strenuous climb of 3 miles and almost 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  From there we carefully made our way down the steep backside of the mountain (it was a little scary) and descended into the basin to Picnic Lakes where we picnicked, of course.  It was a spectacular hike with stunning views of lakes and mountains.  In places we felt like we were on top of the world.

 

Looking down on Picnic Lakes from Mt. Aeneas

Looking up from Picnic Lakes to Mt. Aeneas (middle peak)
Can you believe we were just up there?

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked  2  
Total Miles Hiked      19.06
Ave. Miles per Day      9.53
Total Elevation Gain     4,087
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  2,044

All this climbing is hard work