Stormy Joe and Bass Peak: A Bitterroot Peak Bagging Trip

For many years now, I've spent the last week of July backpacking with my friend Dave Sumner. It's a predictably good week of weather, and it's a great time to be in the high country: there's plenty of water in the streams and lakes, and things are still green. 

As I said in my last blog, this year I canceled the trip with Dave due to an ankle injury. Last weekend, Jen and I traversed the Pintlers, and my ankle did okay. So, being the wilderness junky that I am, I decided to head into the Bitterroot for an overnight peak bagging trip this week. I opted for Bass Creek, which is one of the closer Bitterroot canyons to Missoula. 

I hit the trail around noon Tuedsay, after some morning work, and made it the 9 miles up to Bass Lake at around 3:30pm. It's a challenging hike to Bass Lake, with 4,000 ft of gain, and for those staying the night, the additional mile to the end of the lake is a must. 

Stormy Joe: About half-way around the lake is a spur trail that heads north over a pass and into the South Fork of Lolo Creek Canyon. I dropped my pack at the trail junction and bagged Stormy Joe, starting from the pass. Stormy Joe is at just over 9,000 ft, an extra 2,500 ft from the lake. After the hike up to Bass Lake, and in the heat of the day, it was a brutal trek. Some route finding is needed to get to the summit without venturing into class 3 terrain. The trip from the pass is rugged as hell -- typical for Bitterroot peaks in my experience -- but there's no exposure or climbing needed. Summit Post gives it a class 2+. 

Bass Lake from Stormy Joe. Bass Peak at the back of the lake.

Stormy Joe from near the summit.

To the south. Lost Horse fire, I'm guessing

Looking north: Sweeney Lake, Lolo Peak, Sweeney Peak

Stormy Joe and St. Jospeh's Peak from camp

a little later

Bass Peak: The next morning, after some hemming and hawing (my ankle was sore), I decided to climb Bass Peak, which is to the south of Bass Lake. To get there, you climb the non-maintained trail to the saddle between Bass and Kootenai Canyons and then head off trail toward the peak. Bass Peak sits behind the obvious peak above you as you're hiking up (see pictures below), so you've got to traverse south as you climb. Finally, you'll reach the cliffs leading to the summit ridge, where I was turned back on my first choice of routes, but then found a series of grassy/tree-filled ledges leading to the summit ridge. Someone afraid of heights would be uncomfortable on this section of the climb. I was on high alert, but felt secure. Summit Post says its class 3. It's a more exposed and interesting climb than Stormy Joe, for sure.

Heavenly Twins from the Bass-Kootenai saddle

close up of the Heavenly Twins

wildflowers and Heavenly Twins again

Stormy Joe, St. Joseph's, Lolo Pk (back left), and Sweeney (back right): the giants of the northern Bitterroots

Looking up, Bass Peak is the darker peak on the left. 

And again on the way out.

Musings: Whenever I bag a peak in the Bitterroot (or similarly rugged ranges), I am surprised anew by how rugged and inhospitable the country is. When I am near the summit of a big peak, I simultaneously feel wonder, danger, and that I could only ever be a brief visitor. I dream of visiting such places from home -- they are among the most beautiful places on earth, after all -- and yet, once I'm there, I am totally focused on safe passage and am usually anxious to return home unscathed. Such places remind me that I am insignificant outside of the human world, because the mountains don't care what happens to me. My importance lies in the human world, mainly with my family, but also with my friends and with my work. And yet, the desire for the next peak bagging adventure is already strong.