Day 111: Into the Spanish Peaks Wilderness

Mileage: 23.5 miles (2025.2-2048.7)

I woke up around 7am and said bye to Maranda, my host. I had two slices of leftover pizza and then got coffee and a breakfast sandwich at the co-op across the street, before I walked over to Walmart a little before nine and caught the bus down to Big Sky. The driver said he couldn't let me out at the trailhead, but the closest stop was the Visitor Center. I hitched back a few miles from there and then made my way down the road to the Deer Creek Trailhead.

It was steady up for over five miles and then I lost almost all of it going down. I passed some beautiful alpine lakes and then wound my way up seemingly endless switchbacks. It hailed on me for a few minutes but then it cleared up again. The mountains here were made of big piles of boulders and rocks, with the occasional cliff face here and there.

Trail was indistinct at times, but cairns guided me pretty well along the way to Hell Roaring Creek. Then I started up again after a quick snack break. Up and up and up until finally I reached some cool subalpine meadows and had tremendous views of the surrounding ridges and peaks. I climbed up actually endless switchbacks until I finally reached the pass and was rewarded with sweeping views in all the directions. With the sun beginning to set, looking back to the south and east the peaks glowed a fiery orange. 

As I headed down I startled three mountain goats, sporting their new summer do's. The last time I'd seen goats they were in full winter regalia, so it was neat to see them with their more sporty look. After the initial scare, they didn't seem to mind me too much as I snapped a few photos.

Then back up switchbacks again and down into the Spanish Fork Creek basin and down to Mirror Lake, where I setup camp for the night. Looking back at the peaks, they glowed even brighter gold and orange now, illuminated by the setting sun. They were quite impressive peaks, some over 11,000 ft, while most were in the range were around 10,000 ft.

As I ate dinner next to the lake a beaver swam around and checked me out, and a tiny Least Weasel kept hopping over to me, probably looking for a morsel. After hanging my food I turned in for the night.