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| Flat Creek Approach   | 
| Page Type: Route Route Type: Hiking Season: Summer Time Required: Most of a day Difficulty: Class 2
| Route Quality: | | | | Loading...
| Page By: Bob Sihler Created/Edited: Dec 4, 2006 / Sep 22, 2008 Object ID: 248809 Hits: 771 Loading... Page Score: 86.62% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
OverviewGenerally speaking, I am strongly against creating pages for mountains and routes one has not climbed. The owner of the page for this mountain, though, did not provide a route or climbing information, and I think adding a route I have not taken but which comes from a credible source is better than having no route at all.
Anyone who has climbed this route is welcome to take this page over. I will happily delete this page or transfer ownership. Also, since I have not really created this page, I do not ask for votes on it; I don’t want credit for someone else’s work. By the same token, I hope no one will give low votes just because this route lacks photos and maps; please remember why I have made this page.
The route information is paraphrased from Thomas Turiano’s Select Peaks of the Greater Yellowstone.
Getting There
Sunset on the Sleeping Indian-- thanks to Biglost for this and the other image on this page. |
Follow the directions to Flat Creek Ranch Trailhead, described on the main page.
Route DescriptionThe start of the trail is what’s left of an old two-track road. Hike along it and look for a trail that heads left and across a small stream. The trail stays on the right side of the stream and heads into a draw. Turiano warns that a half mile along, an “obvious switchback on the left side of the creek cuts back across a slope and gains the ridge to the left,” and he warns NOT to take this trail. What you are supposed to do is cross the creek and find and follow a faint trail that follows along the left (north) side of the creek. When the trail ascends to a small flat featuring large Engelmann spruces, you should leave the trail and go directly through the center of the stand of spruces until you find another trail. You should be on the east side of the flat and about 100 yards away from where you left the other trail.
The trail, which Turiano says is an excellent one, climbs through rolling, open country and onto a broad ridge on the right side of the open meadow you have just crossed. The trail enters trees and switchbacks north across a steep face, and it follows a draw through meadows, stands of trees, and some piles of deadfall. Then it climbs steeply through forest, crests a ridge, and enters a high meadow. There is a small hill at the top of the meadow, and the trail climbs it and reaches a saddle on the other side of the hill.
Now the trail ascends through thinning vegetation to treeline, placing you on the plateau that makes up the “belly” of the Sleeping Indian. The way to the summit should be obvious now, but you head right for a mile to an overlook on the north ridge of the “belly,” and from there you climb 400 feet of scree and boulders until you reach the summit.
On the tundra, try to stay on rocks as much as possible to avoid destroying this delicate ecosystem, which can require several human lifespans to recover.
RT Distance: 14 miles
4200’ elevation gain
The summit plateau and profile of the Sleeping Indian-- thanks to Biglost for this. |
Essential GearGood hiking boots, plenty of water-- it gets hot out here in the summer.
Get an early start and watch the weather closely. As you can see from the photos, Sleeping Indian is expansive and open in its upper reaches, and it would be a nasty place to get caught in a storm.
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