Adventures of a Math Geek: Sky Pilot, Bitterroot Wilderness

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Sky Pilot, Bitterroot Wilderness

State line marker up on Sky Pilot

Changes abound in our lives right now. Ellie is a freshman and Alex is a senior at Missoula Hellgate, and they're both venturing away from the family unit. Ellie is a social butterfly (her words) and wants to spend every moment, pretty much, with her friends, preferably away from home. Alex is around a bit more, but has his sights set on leaving Missoula in a year, making a go of it with his biking in Denver. Most of our friends with kids are in a different place; their kids are young. To them I say, "Relish it!"

Summit cairn

One of the benefits of the kids pushing away is more freedom. I've been filling the void with activity, lately a lot of bagging peaks. Over Labor Day weekend, after some recovery from my trip up Castle Crag on Saturday, and some around town chores, I left late on Sunday and hiked up Bear Creek Canyon in the Bitterroot, with the goal of bagging Sky Pilot Peak. Bear Canyon is spectacular. I highly recommend it, even as a short hike to the lower falls with the family. I hit the trail at 6pm and didn't arrive at Bryan Lake, 8 miles in, until 9pm, made a fire and went to bed soon after.

Pudge above the lake.

The summit in clouds.

The next morning I left camp at around 8am and summitted Sky Pilot (the best peak-name in the Bitterroot if you ask me). It was a pretty mellow walk up compared to some of the other Bitterroot peaks I've done. At the top, a cloudy mist was trying to clear, so I waited around, and it finally did. The hike out was long and tiring. I left the summit around 11am and was back at the car at around 3pm. The entire trip was great: the canyon during the walk in, the lake, the peak. If you have a few days to kill, you couldn't do much better than Bear Canyon, Bryan Lake, and Sky Pilot.