Mounting (formerly) Squaw Peak

One of the peaks around Missoula that I had on my list to summit while in town was Squaw Peak. While it no longer goes by that name, it is still known mostly by that name. Sitting on the western horizon as one of the tallest points seen from the Missoula valley, it looks like the tip of a Hershey Kiss, coming to a perfect point.

Tischer and I tackled this hike today under amazing skies. We had to drive over 10 miles of Forest Service roads to get to the trail head, in the middle of no where. First I swung in to talk to a ranger at the Historic Nine Mile Ranger Station about conditions. In fact, there had been a small group the day before that had headed up.

T and I finally arrived at the trail around 11:30AM and departed the truck at noon. The trail started to climb pretty quick, and within 10 minutes we were wading through a small creek of runoff flowing down the trail. To Tischer's delight she got to drink and splash while I huffed a little. As I expected we eventually hit snow and because this trail isn't marked with blazes, when I couldn't tell where the trail was going through the trees I did my best to follow the foot prints left from the previous days hikers. However, everything is melting really quickly and in less the 24 hours, some of the tracks were already gone.

I got lost no less than 3 times, and each time I eventually backtracked in my own footprints until I was back at a spot where I knew the trail was. A little determination and luck finally got me to the fringe of tree line where I traversed the bottom edge of the loose rock that comprises the peak. The trail doesn't actually head up to the summit, so Tischer and I scrambled the last 30 minutes up the scree.

We spent about 25 minutes on the summit. Took some pictures and absorbed the view. I only needed to add a thin layer to fight the slight breeze blowing. The north side of Squaw was still covered in snow and damn if I didn't dream of skiing it. In the shadows, it looked good.

5 hours after leaving the truck we strolled back where Tischer finally decided she was hungry and ate her lunch. Planning ahead, I had half a growler waiting in the cooler for me. Along with some peanut M&Ms and salt and vinegar chips, a refreshing a delicious post hike meal.


I got back to town in time to meet Brian and Janet for dinner at Charlie B's and a few more beers. Good times. Good times indeed.