Beartooth 12er's, Whitetail Peak, Silver Run Peak and Sundance Mountain

This was a combination fishing and peak bagging trip up the West Fork of Rock Creek.  I took an extended 4th of July weekend, 2006, of 5 days and 4 nights.  I departed Bozeman Friday, June 30, and arrived at the West Fork Rock Creek trailhead late afternoon.  I got my two Yellow Labs, Rocky and Sugar packed up with their food and we started up the trail.  We went about 4 miles and set up camp for the night then got an early fresh start in the morning right after a short AM rain shower.  The goal was to set up base camp in the Ship, Marker, Triangle Lakes area.

I was going to bag as many peaks as I could but not really sure how many would be feasible with the dogs.  On the list were #4 Whitetail Peak @ 12,551 ft, #6 Silver Run Peak @ 12,500 ft, #10 Bowback Mountain @ 12,351 ft, #16 Sundance Mountain @ 12,262, and #17 Elk Mountain @12,256.  As it turned out I bagged Whitetail, Silver Run and Sundance.  The scramble up Bowback looked a little too much for the dogs and thunder showers passed through everyday except the last day which made climbing a risky proposition.  And the approach to Elk Mountain was via Bowback.

As a side note for readers looking to bag some peaks, a trip like this would be an excellent opportunity for a serious peak bagger to bag up to eight or more, 12,000 ft Beartooth peaks in 3 or 4 days with good weather, including the Castle group, Bowback, Elk and Sylvan at 11,935.  Based on my experience in the Beartooths and Montana in general over the years, the best time for climbing during summer months is later in the summer up to about Labor Day or so to avoid thunder storms.

How to get to the trailhead.  Take Hwy 212 (Beartooth Highway) South through Red Lodge.  On the South side of town turn right (West) onto the West Fork Rock Creek Rd and follow it to the trailhead. 

A few miles up the main trail we departed off and up to the West toward the mentioned Lakes.  It was fairly easy going on an intermittent trail.

I made base camp at Ship Lake and did some scouting around.  We had 1 or 2 thunder showers pass through every day except the last day.  I had an ice ax with a straight 30 inch aluminum handle.  I took it and placed it on some high terrain about a hundred yards or so from camp, anchoring it with rocks, right about where the above picture is taken from to serve as a lightening rod.  I remember lying in my tent on several occasions with lightening striking all around wonder if the next one would find my aluminum tent poles.  I did some fishing early the first evening to find out that Ship Lake contained only small brookies.  Mosquitoes were fairly abundant and I was glad I brought good repellent.  The back country is not the place to test home remedy repellent.

A thunder shower passed through on the way down from Sundance.  I found a rock formation to duck into for protection from lightening and rain.

As already mentioned, thunder showers were a daily occurrence on this trip and I was quite exposed this high and above timber line. 

Today was going to be a fishing day.  We headed down to Triangle to see what fish we could find and catch there.

Caught a few nice Cutthroats here

We broke camp morning of the 5th day and packed down to the main trail.  When we got to the main trail, I met another hiker and he asked me if i had seen the Grizzly from where I had just come.  "No I hadn't".  He said it was feeding just below a bench ridge that I had just hiked down.  Interesting.  That communication was the first words I had heard or spoke with another human in 3 days and nights which is the longest I have gone without speaking with another human.

The plan now was to bag Whitetail Peak and Silver Run Peak, then pack out to the trailhead and head home.  Very ambitious.  I packed my day pack with enough food and water to get up the pass and bag both peaks and get back down.  I cached my backpack and the dogs pack in some brush near the trail and we started up the trail.  The total cumulated elevation loss for the day was 7700 ft and cumulated gain was 5000 ft.  Total distance traveled would be 20 miles.  10 miles with full 60 lb pack.   We arrived at the trail at dusk to wrap a full day and a full trip.

We precoded up the switchbacks to Sundance Pass.  After pacing off many of the switchbacks, I concluded that the actual distance was 2 miles longer than advertised. YMMV.  

Day 5  Silver Run Peak