Blodgett Mountain
August 18, 2018Zach and Aaron summit Blodgett Mountain on a three day backpack with sun, rain, and a forest fire
In 2009 I crossed over Blodgett pass during the run leg of Joshua’s MESSS (Missoula Elk Summit Shit Show) event. An elegant idea by someone who spends a lot of time looking at maps to cross the Bitterroot Mountains from Elk Summit in Idaho to Blodgett Canyon near Hamilton, MT. Blodgett Pass was the half-way point of a trail marathon following some bike shenanigans. I had never been in Blodgett canyon before that day and my first look was from the pass on the Idaho-Montana state line. We took a break at the pass, ate some snacks, rested our legs, and I gazed up longingly at the layers of bare granite sweeping up toward the peaks above. I wanted to wander up and walk around on that rock. But with 13 miles to go and a small running pack it was not an option. When I finally reached the Blodgett trailhead after dark Julie and the kids we’re waiting for me. Zach had just turned one. In August, I finally returned to Blodgett Pass and Zach joined me just before his 10th birthday.
This time we had backpacks and my hope was to return to the pass, wander around on that sweeping granite, and maybe even summit Blodgett Mountain. Blodgett Canyon, like the other major Bitterroot drainages, is long. But it has a good well-maintained trail that climbs gradually. We would take one day to hike up the canyon and setup a basecamp near the trail to the pass, one day scrambling around in the high country, and then hike back out on the third day.
In the first few miles we encountered a few other groups taking in the sights of the lower canyon and day hiking to the waterfalls. We took a long break above the first falls at a spot where the creek flows over exposed rock. Zach took off his shoes and waded in tentatively at first, but was soon dancing around in the water. The second waterfall made another nice diversion from the trail. We wandered up the rock walking where it was dry and jumping over small side streams. Past the second falls the trail pulls away from the stream and there are more trees blocking the views of the canyon walls and surrounding peaks. The vegetation was thicker and slower going, especially for Zach because it was over his head. However, long swaths of this vegetation was thimbleberry bushes covered in ripe red berries that were the best I had ever tasted. Our progress slowed and I began to worry about making it to our camp before dark. But it was hard to resist all the berries so close at hand.
In the early evening we reached Nine-Mile Meadow, my planned destination for the day, and found an established camping area in trees on the southern edge. Our chosen tent site turned out to be right under a tree branch and we were able to hang our pyramid tent by a line and forego the center pole making the inside feel palatial, especially with just the two of us.
In the morning, with our basecamp established, we got an early start heading up the trail toward Blodgett Pass. The creek was easily accessible from trail junction just before we started the hike up and I filled our bottles not expecting to find any water until we retuned to this spot at the end of the day. Zach was very excited about the rock scrambling and wanted to leave the trail before we even got to the pass and head straight up the rock. It did look like fun, but also a bit steep. I was able to assuage him with promises of plenty of scrambling opportunities above the pass.
After a couple more switchbacks we reached the pass and the uprising swath of granite was much as I remembered from my previous trip. We headed up the stair-step ridge going west towards Blodgett Mountain. Zach and I both thoroughly enjoyed the scrambling and the views, that were already good from the pass, expanded as we gained elevation. After ascending a few rocky pitches the slope mellowed and there were trees along the ridge that slowed our progress. Zach’s enthusiasm wained and we stopped to take a break and talk about our options. At this point we were at least 14 miles from the the trailhead. If we turned around we’d have to go back to camp and hang out for the afternoon because it was too far for us to hike out that day. After some discussion Zach decided to continue heading up and we moved on to crossing an open cirque below the peak.
On the far side of the cirque there was a break in Blodgett’s southern ridge with a ramp that looked like it would provide us access to the peak. To reach it we had to cross a large boulder field first. This was not easy but Zach really enjoyed the hands-on bouldering and micro-route finding. We reached the ramp and slowly made our way up to the ridge. From the top the views of Blodgett Lake perched up in a rocky half-bowl with the peaks of the southern Bitterroot in the background was astounding. It was a mellow walk up to the peak where we were greeted with a bird’s-eye view of the massive Blodgett Canyon extending all the way back to the Bitterroot Valley with the Sapphire Range visible far in the distance. It was a beautiful day and we took our time on the peak checking out the scenery in every direction. The Idaho side looked like a particularly interesting place to explore. That area is a long way from everywhere and likely sees very few human visitors.
The trip down was slow going at times but definitely physically easier than the climb up. Zach discovered his inner mountain goat on the descent hopping from rock to rock at an impressive pace and rarely missing a step. We made our way to a large patch of snow and enjoyed a mellow glissade and a short break from rock hopping. On the return we took a more southerly route across the cirque avoiding some of the boulders and good section of the treed ridge. Scrambling down the final rock sections went quickly with Zach often running ahead.
It was easy hike down from the pass and back to camp. We enjoyed a well earned dinner and then headed into the tent for the night. I actually look forward to the long nights on backpacking trips. Without the distractions of home there is not much to do except go to sleep. There was still light in the sky when we laid down in our sleeping bags and we talked for a while. During this time we heard hoofed animals in the area around our camp. We never saw them but after having similar experiences in Jewel Basin I’m certain they were mountain goats that had come down from the higher elevations in the evening. Just as our eyes were getting heavy we heard a very loud SQUWAK! SQUWAK! SQUWAK! followed immediately by a rush of hooves and then WHAM! something hit our tent and I yelled out to scare away away whatever it was. Now we were both wide awake and Zach asked me if he should be scared. It took me a couple of minutes to calm down and come up with a reasonable explanation of what had happened. I think a goat got too close to a sleeping bird. The bird squawked loudly and sent the goat running. It must have ran right by our tent and clipped a guy line with its foot which shook the tent.
After that we both managed to fall asleep but the excitement for the night was not over. In the middle of the night I was awoken by a loud thunderstorm passing overhead followed by heavy rain. I was surprised as this was certainly not in the forecast I checked before we left but was happy be to warm and dry inside a tent. In the morning the rain had stopped but everything was wet. I went out to retrieve our food from the hang and brought it back to the tent to have coffee and breakfast while Zach slept in. From my short foray out I could tell that we were going to get quite wet from the vegetation during out hike.
The morning was cool and we took our time getting ready. I was expecting the sun to come out and warm things up and dry out the thick vegetation had to walk through. That never happened. We both donned rain coats and long pants and headed down the trail for the long walk out. Immediately our pants were wet and for Zach it was worse because the vegetation came up much higher on him. We moved quickly to stay warm and walked a couple of miles before taking a short break for a snack. Then it started to rain. We were already wet from the vegetation and wearing our rain coats so it didn’t seem that much different. In Montana it generally does not rain for that long. This day proved to be an exception.
As we walked down the trail I began to smell smoke. Zach noticed it too and asked me about it. I told him that the lightning storm from last night had probably started a fire but it was likely a long ways away and not to worry. Then we started to see ash falling from the sky and I began to contemplate our options if there was a fire in the canyon. Likely the fire would be small enough that we could bushwhack around it. But if that was not possible then we could just turn around and walk out the Elk Summit. It would take us an extra day but we’d be on the other side of the divide from the fire. Then we spotted the fire a short distance from the trail. It was still small but too big for us to put out. There were flames in the crown of a couple of dead trees and the area surrounding those trees was on fire. I took a GPS waypoint planning to report it when we got out to the trailhead. I had no idea that the light rain shower, our first in a couple of months, was going to continue for hours putting out the fire on its own.
It felt like a very long walk out. Our pants were wet and our shoes were soaked. Thankfully, the raincoats kept our upper bodies dry. We needed to keep moving to stay warm and didn’t take any breaks because sitting down in the rain was not very appealing. We both just wanted to get to the trailhead but the miles dragged on especially near the end. It brought back memories of slogging over the same section of trail at the end of the MESSS barely able to run. The wet weather kept everyone else home and we did not see anyone else on the trail that entire day.
During our walk we made a plan of what do when we finally reached the parking lot. I stared the car to get it warming up and then we both crawled into the back and closed the door. We stripped off all our wet clothes and put on the dry clothes that were stashed in the car. Being out of the wind, with a little heat from the car engine, and wearing dry clothes made a tremendous improvement. We warmed up quickly and greedily broke into the snacks we had stashed in the car for the end of the trip.
