Rambler

Thursday 8/5: We attempt once again to get a good view of Granite Peak, the high point of the
Beartooths at 12,799 feet. We take an elaborate route over saddles and hills toward the Sky Top
Lakes, which are in a deep canyon running south from the peak. It’s a gorgeous sunny day, unlike
yesterday. The route is above tree line and wends its way through scree, boulder fields and snow
patches. Lucy is especially good at finding solid snow that allows us to make time across the rock
piles.
After taking lunch at the lowest Sky Top Lake, we climb a knob to the west and take in the amazing
views. In addition to Granite Peak itself, we get a view of The Spires, a section of pinnacles on the
west ridge of the canyon. Looking over into the next valley, we can see oval Upper Aero Lake and
elaborately twisty Rough Lake. Rough Lake’s islands, peninsulas and bays are so odd-looking, it
almost seems like a perverse golf course a designer put together. Big thunderstorms are casting off
from the Absaroka Range to our south and cruising over to the Beartooths, but miraculously they pass
to either side of us, leaving us in the sun. We scramble down to Rough Lake, wade the inlet stream,
then head down a green valley to Fizzle Lake, Fossil’s sibling on the south side of the divide. Fizzle is
a puzzle, with many bays and lobes, and cliffy walls; we climb up above the south side and cross the
outlet to reach the trail, which we hike back to camp.
At bedtime, a monster thunderstorm, the biggest yet, wallops us. Lightning strikes are fast and
furious, the wind roars and rain and hail pour down. By morning, it’s all gone, but everything is
soaked.
Friday 8/6: Lucy is determined to bag a peak on this trip, so I plot out an elaborate route to East
Rosebud Peak, which rises above Fossil Lake’s eastern shore. We get within a few hundred feet of
the south edge of the summit block, but the unrelenting steepness of the scrambling stymies us. We
backtrack and cross into a valley on the east side, which proves to have a much more straightforward
route. The top of the valley leads to both East Rosebud Peak and Mt Dewey, so we elect to tackle the
taller Mt. Dewey, the same peak that we had viewed on Wednesday.
The view on Mt. Dewey is just as amazing as we’d hoped, but one element of the view is alarming
-- a big thunderstorm is headed our way. We scoot down the valley as the lightning and hail pound
away at us. The valley gets progressively steeper, and we slip and slide down a rock pile into a cirque
on the wrong side of the peaks. Eventually the weather abates somewhat, and we find a saddle that
leads back to our original route. By the time we reach camp, the clouds are barely sprinkling, and
then the sun comes out - another fine day in the Rockies.
Saturday 8/7: It’s time to pack out. We dry out our gear as best we can and set out down the
trail to the Clarks Fork trailhead, 10 miles away and 1,900 feet below. The scenery on the south side
of the Beartooths is very different -- instead of the unearthly chasms of East Rosebud Creek, we see
delicate lakes and streams, and (as we descend) thick green forest. It seems wetter and greener
here than on the north side of the divide. The day starts out sunny, but by lunchtime it’s clouding up.
Eventually the trail leads down into flatter terrain of marshes and meadows. Bad news: the trail is
used by the dude ranch at the bottom for horse rides, and the last few miles are a series of miserable
mud puddles and horse poop, with brutal hordes of mosquitoes. We reach the parking lot just as the
storm hits its stride. Marble sized hail smacks Don and Lucy’s car as we do the shuttle over Beartooth
Pass. Rain is pouring down as we reach the trailhead at East Rosebud to pick up my vehicle.
We may be wet but we’re happy -- this was a spectacular place to go backpacking, and we had great
company. Trip members: Leslie Woods, Don Leaver, Lucy Leaver and Donn Seeley (your scribe).
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