Two Bob Marshall Route Questions (for those who may know)

Do you mean Slategoat and not Scapegoat?

Assuming you mean Slategoat Mountain.

I've not been in that particular area, but have enough sense to give you what I hope will be some decent guesses.

Generally below 6k in that area you'll end up in thick spruce forest and the lower slopes of Alces Creek look steepish. This combo can make for some fairly slow travel. I'd cross Moose Creek just below Three Lakes Creek, and head SE up to around 6.8k as fast as possible. Looks like you could walk that contour around into the lake with minimal effort. Probably good games trails, as there are lots of elk in that area.

Going south to Bear Lake will make for a cool hike. Just looking at a map, I'd head up the north face of White Ridge, swing west around the south side of the sub-peak, then get on the west side of the ridge and follow it south. I would anticipate finding game trails around 8k. Getting down to Bear Lake might be a bit tricky. The east-trending nose just north of the lake looks like it would go sticking to the very top, but there might be some futzing around cliff bands near the top. The limestone in the Bob can make for some nasty steep and unstable talus. If that doesn't work, the next ridge to the north (i.e. dropping south from point 7673) would definitely go.

Hey,

Yep, I messed up with Slategoat.

Thanks for the invaluable experience, and info, David. We're going to peer at our maps, this weekend, and iron out the rough edges. If anything, where to cross the creek puts our minds at ease and everything has slotted together.

Now, all we need are the plane tickets… :-)

Tim