I put together a 5 lb kit recently and wanted to take it out for a spin; the Pintlers are really rugged and would be the perfect place to give it a whirl
the "kit"
loaded up
It's about a two hour drive to the trailhead and tried to get there early as possible as I had a pretty aggressive route planned. On the drive over I couldn't help but notice how hazy it was- smoke from fires in WA & CA (a few of our too). Weather was calling for hot and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening, hopefully not too much rain.
I headed up Page Ck and after 8-ish miles came to Page Lake
it really started climbing after Page Lake up to Rainbow Pass
it was only 3/4 of mile climb to Rainbow Peak so I decided to bag it, nice views all around
looking into the Page Ck drainage
from there I dropped into Queener Basin (saw a small bunch of elk in one of the many meadows)
I ran into a trail crew on my way to Cutaway Pass and thanked them for their work; many years ago I worked on a trail crew and have very fond memories of it
the climb to Cutaway Pass was tough, but was greeted with a nice view of Beaverhead Mtn
from Cutaway Pass I dropped into the LeMarche drainage and had to lose all the precious elevation I had gained, plenty of nice views along the way though- here's West Goat Peak
having a light pack while covering a lot of distance in the mountains is always advantageous
at the head end of the West Fork of LaMarche Ck I started my final climb of the day (in the rain!) and it was doozy- 24 switchbacks later (yup I counted them) and I finally made it to Warren Lake (Warren Peak in the background)
home for the night (I actually changed the pitch to a lower one as the wind started to come up)
My route back the next day was only about half as long, as I needed to get home at a decent hour. It was a quick trip, but got to see some spectacularly rugged country AND pretty pleased with my kit
the "kit"
loaded up
It's about a two hour drive to the trailhead and tried to get there early as possible as I had a pretty aggressive route planned. On the drive over I couldn't help but notice how hazy it was- smoke from fires in WA & CA (a few of our too). Weather was calling for hot and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening, hopefully not too much rain.
I headed up Page Ck and after 8-ish miles came to Page Lake
it really started climbing after Page Lake up to Rainbow Pass
it was only 3/4 of mile climb to Rainbow Peak so I decided to bag it, nice views all around
looking into the Page Ck drainage
from there I dropped into Queener Basin (saw a small bunch of elk in one of the many meadows)
I ran into a trail crew on my way to Cutaway Pass and thanked them for their work; many years ago I worked on a trail crew and have very fond memories of it
the climb to Cutaway Pass was tough, but was greeted with a nice view of Beaverhead Mtn
from Cutaway Pass I dropped into the LeMarche drainage and had to lose all the precious elevation I had gained, plenty of nice views along the way though- here's West Goat Peak
having a light pack while covering a lot of distance in the mountains is always advantageous
at the head end of the West Fork of LaMarche Ck I started my final climb of the day (in the rain!) and it was doozy- 24 switchbacks later (yup I counted them) and I finally made it to Warren Lake (Warren Peak in the background)
home for the night (I actually changed the pitch to a lower one as the wind started to come up)
My route back the next day was only about half as long, as I needed to get home at a decent hour. It was a quick trip, but got to see some spectacularly rugged country AND pretty pleased with my kit
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