Father's Day, Quartz Benchmark, Northern Bitterroots

I think that's Crater Mountain, looking south from the off trail portion of the hike.

On the morning of Father's Day, Jen was off to race in the Hair of the Dog Enduro here in Missoula, Alex was out in Deep Creek working on his '720 jump', and Ellie was just a few hours into sleep, having had stayed up until 4am the previous night. The thought of sticking around the house alone was depressing, so I decided to go hike Quartz Benchmark, which is located north of Heart Lake in the Northern Bitterroot/Great Burn, about 20 miles out of Superior. Quartz Benchmark is the high point of the Northern Bitterroot Mountains in Montana (the actual range high point is in Idaho). 

The hike ended up being a bit more than I bargained for, at nearly 20 miles, 6000 feet of gain, and 8 hours of near continual walking. The first half of the walk was on the heavily used trail to Heart and Pearl Lakes, which are popular destinations for Missoulians. The second half of the walk however, from Pearl Lake to Quartz, goes through rarely visited, rugged, and lonely country. This is a place to go if you really want to get away from it all. Here's my GPS route, which follows Cedron Jones' Peakbagging Montana.

I admit that I found the walk a lonely one, even with Pudge along, but the upshot is I thought a lot about my own father, who's been gone since 1999, something I rarely do for any extended period. He kept me company, and I thought about what advice he'd give me at this stage of life, given my struggles. He wasn't big on advice (a strength of his) and was just nice to be around, but still I'm sure he'd say something along the lines of: "Just relax, John, and enjoy your blessed life." 

Looking north from the ridge above Pearl Lake, along the ridge I walked to Lightning Peak (left) and Quartz Benchmark (middle back).

Looking south along the ridge, back at the summit (the one with trees on it) from which the last picture was taken.

Pudge taking a rest.