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

[Timothy Reynolds]

Hi Friends,

My two buddies and me are in the final stages of planning a week-long excursion to the Bob Marshall this fall. We have a haphazard circuitous loop worked out, that will be all fine and dandy, but we have one crucial question, and one not so crucial question for those who have experience in the reserve and are familiar with the terrain we're talking about. In order…

1) How is the off-trail route to the lake nestled under Scapegoat Mountain? We will be approaching it from the trail that runs West-East, from the Chinese Wall (the one that turns east before Larch Pass)? It looks like we will have to ford or wade the creek at this point to get across to the small river that drains the lake, and from there it's about a 2.5/3 mile ascent up to it.

2) Has anyone ever hiked south from Scapegoat Mountain to Bear Lake? If so, how'd you do it; what was the best approach? This is another off-trail hike that would involve going over some rather steep mountain terrain.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have. Looking forward to hearing the response.

Best,

Tim

[spelt with a t]

Do you mean Slategoat and not Scapegoat?

[David Chenault]

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.

[Timothy Reynolds]

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

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