Traversing the Rattlesnake

Kevin and Charlie walking the ridge from Mosquito Peak to Stuart Peak, in the distance.

It doesn't seem long ago that I was a poor and lowly graduate student. From 1996 to 2002 - with the exception of one lost year after my dad passed away - I spent my work days studying and teaching mathematics in Bozeman and Eugene, Oregon. Those were great years: we were poor, but enjoyed rich friendship and experiences. And to this day, some of my strongest friendships remain those that I forged while in graduate school, even if I don't see some of those guys very often.

Now that I'm settled, new friendships are rare, and even when they do form, they build more slowly and seem to be less intense. I'm not sure what the difference is. Perhaps it's that I have so much more responsibility and am more scattered, or that I no longer go through truly challenging experiences with a group of others. Whatever the case, life is different, and special, for the graduate student. 

This past weekend, I walked across the Rattlesnake Wilderness with my PhD student Kevin Joyce and his good friend and fellow UM Math PhD student Charlie Katerba. It was clear to me, after observing them through the day, that their's is a unique friendship of the type I described above. It's neat to see. 

The walk we did is one that I did with Matt Roscoe and Eric Leithe back in 2007 (see my description here). You start at the Finley Lakes trail head, which is relatively unknown and can be gotten to by turning east onto McClure Road south of Arlee, and then turning right about 3/4 mile later and driving to the end of the road. You follow trail (sometimes faint) to Upper Finley Lake and then angle southeast to the Rattlesnake Wilderness Divide. At this point you can see the gorgeous Sanders Lake, which is where you will meet the trail that takes you all the way to the Rattlesnake Trail Head. Along the way, we made slight detours to bag Mosquito and Stuart Peaks. The day was long, at 20 miles, but mostly on trail. In my view, this is one of the best outings around.  You can download my partial GPS here.    

Upper Finley Lake

Heading up to the Rattlesnake Divide. Upper Finley Lake is just visible below.

The view of Sanders Lake from the divide, 9am.

Heading down to Sanders Lake.

Some neat rock along the way.

Past Sanders Lake on our way to Mosquito Peak on the horizon.

Gaining Mosquito.

On the summit of Mosquito. McLeod Peak looms behind Charlie.

Another -- these guys are good friends. It brought back the strong friendships that I forged in grad school.

Walking the ridge south of Mosquito, with the Missoula Valley in the distance.

Some remote Rattlesnake lakes. At this point my camera batteries died.