Castle Crag, Bitterroot Wilderness

Castle Crag

It's Labor Day weekend and the family is all, basically, gone. Jen took Alex to Fernie, BC, for the Wam Bam Dirt Jump Jam, and Ellie is joined at the hip with her friends, so I made plans for a backpacking trip. The plan was to go up Big Creek in the Bitterroots and climb a peak, but about 1/2 mile into the walk, I realized that I had forgotten dog food for Pudge, so I turned around and decided to drive a few miles further down the Bitterroot and day hike up to Castle Crag, which lies at the top of Sheafman Creek, up out of Corvallis.

Sheafman Canyon is beautiful and because the trailhead is a ways up off of the valley, the five mile hike into the upper lakes isn't as brutal as many others in the Bitterroot. You'd think that because of this, it'd be pummeled with use, but it isn't.

Anyways, here's the beta for my trip. Just past the first lake (Sheafman), heading up to the second lake (Knaack), I followed the first obvious passage to the ridge-top on your left. From the route description on Summit Post, I see that it would have been easier to first reach Knaack Lake and only then gain the ridge. Once at the ridge top, I had to lose elevation down the backside before beginning the steady scree traverse up to the peak. This portion of the walk was long and slow going. After a ways (regardless of where you gain the ridge) you'll see your first large, vertical rock fin, stay below it to the left, and then do that again for the next large rock fin, the top of which is the summit. The views from the top are amazing. 

Doing this trip in a day was a tough 14 miles. I was staggering as I reached the car about 7.5 hours after starting. 

Here are some shots from the top:

Looking east down Sheafman canyon.

Looking north. I'm not sure what the nearest peak is, but I think on the next ridge, left, is Sky Pilot, and further away, right, are the Heavenly Twins, and then right along the ridge is Saint Mary. In the far back is Saint Joseph.

Another view down Sheafman and Mill Creek on the left, with Knaack and Sheafman Lakes below. 

Looking south.

Just to prove I was there.

Pudge, my wilderness companion.

At the end of the hike. The Bitterroot Valley, looking north from the trail. What a place!
I can see why the Salish were so sad to leave it when they were forced onto the Flathead Reservation.