Veteran’s Day my father and I had another assault on Sacagawea planned. The first trip up got stuck on the road up to the mountain. Literally. This second trip, we parked the car before we got stuck, and hiked up to the Fairy Lake trailhead. We decided, given the snow depth, that we didn’t have the gear nor the time to hike the mountain itself. So, we turned around and hiked up a ridge in the foothills of the mountain. We topped out at around 8500′ feet, after climbing to three different “peaks” on the ridge and enjoying incredible views of the bowls and towering peaks of the Bridger Range. The snow was greatly variable, but we scrambled around on the rocks, hardpack, ice, and loose sugar for about five hours before making our way back to the car.

Mts. Sacagawea and Hardscrabble

Overall, a great hike. After descending most of the road, we parked the car off the side of the road and hiked around in the woods, fields, and pastures for a while. It’s really weird, after living much of my life in the incredibly demarcated and boundarized East Coast to be able to just park a car and hike off into the woods for a while. It’s a wonderful feeling of freedom that makes the hiking that much more enjoyable.