The highest peak Lupe has ever climbed to date is Lonesome Mountain (11,399 ft.) in the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains. Lupe and SPHP first saw Lonesome Mountain on a day hike with Lanis on Lupe’s first ever big Dingo Vacation in the summer of 2012. Lupe and SPHP returned to the area for two more treks, one to Two Bits Lake and another to Sky Pilot Lake during Lupe’s 2013 summer Dingo Vacation. There are other higher ridges and peaks around, but Lonesome Mountain stands separate and alone in all its glory. SPHP always thought it looked potentially climbable from the S by an adventurous little Carolina Dog.
This long day hike starts at the Island Lake Trailhead near the Island Lake campground on the N side of the Beartooth Highway No. 212 in NW Wyoming. The Island Lake campground is approximately 2 miles E of the Top of the World Store & Motel or roughly 15 miles E of Hwy 212’s junction with the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, Hwy 296. The hike starts at Island Lake (elevation 9,518 ft.) and gains less than 500 ft. all the way to Albino Lake (elevation 10,000 ft.) at the foot of Lonesome Mountain. Then the real work begins.
Lupe and SPHP left the Little Belt mountains of Montana on the morning of August 2, 2014, after climbing King’s Hill. The plan was to head for the Beartooth Mountains in NW Wyoming and southern Montana. Lupe took Hwy 89 down to White Sulphur Springs and eventually all the way S to I-90. This was a very pretty scenic drive through big rounded mountains of the Little Belt range, soon followed by high rolling prairie and wide river valleys. It all looked very Old West and mostly still unspoiled.
SPHP stopped at a city park along the N bank of the Yellowstone River after getting food and gas in Columbus, MT. Lupe drank out of the Yellowstone River and cooled off in it. She also managed to find something very stinky to roll in to hide her scent. SPHP objected to her proudly worn new scent. Lupe had to get back in the river again to wash it off. From Columbus, Lupe took Hwy 78 to Red Lodge, MT and then Hwy 212 up and over fabulous Beartooth Pass (elevation 10,947′).
Lupe and SPHP arrived at their favorite camping spot on the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River by mid-afternoon, but the site SPHP wanted wasn’t available. Lupe and SPHP hung around enjoying the beauty of the location while waiting to see if the site would open up. After a few hours, it did! SPHP ran for the G6, turned the key – and nothing happened. The battery was dead! It started to rain. The windows were open and couldn’t be closed. An error message on the G6 said “Service Traction”. This helpful message went unmentioned in the owner’s manual.
Eventually two people appeared and were kind enough to give the G6 a jump. Lupe and SPHP headed for Cody, WY over the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway in rain, lightning, thunder and hail. A double rainbow cheerily appeared on the E side of the pass. It was late on Saturday evening when Lupe reached Cody. SPHP found a Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart was a great place to be since it had almost anything Lupe or SPHP might desire, was open all night, and a new battery for the G6 could be had there in the morning. After getting a sandwich at the Subway in Wal-Mart (plus 3 free cookies they were about to throw away because it was closing time), SPHP tried the G6. It fired right up! Maybe the battery wasn’t really bad.
The night was spent in the G6 in the Wal-Mart parking lot. SPHP dreamed wild and vivid dreams, but Lupe slept soundly. Or maybe she always has wild and vivid dreams. Sometimes she twitches. It was already very late, after 8 AM, by the time SPHP regained consciousness on Sunday morning. The G6 started right up again! Nevertheless, SPHP talked to a gentleman in the Wal-Mart automotive center. They couldn’t diagnose or fix complicated problems, but they could install a new battery. The gentleman suggested waiting until Monday to take the G6 to a repair shop.
SPHP had a better idea. Why not drive all the way back to the Beartooths and make the most of the day? The secret was to park the G6 so it would be easy to get another jump if the battery pooped out again. Lupe was going to climb Lonesome Mountain! It was 10:13 AM, clear, calm and a perfect 61°F when Lupe and SPHP left the quirky G6 at the Island Lake trailhead in the Beartooths. The mosquitoes were bad and SPHP was slathered with unhealthy DEET.
Lots of people were around on the trail, which headed N on the W side of Island Lake. A guy from Michigan said it was supposed to rain at 3 PM. This was concerning. There were already some clouds on the western horizon. One lady reported having seen a grizzly bear and two cubs just 10 minutes before Lupe and SPHP came along. Lupe wasn’t even past Island Lake yet. The fishermen SPHP talked to were all having good success catching fish – mostly cutthroat trout.
The trail passed through gorgeous territory. This may be the best hike Lupe and SPHP have ever been on outside of the Canadian Rockies. There were beautiful wildflowers everywhere. The mountain scenery was impressive. Lupe and SPHP passed a succession of splendid alpine lakes – Island Lake, Night Lake, Flake Lake, Mutt & Jeff Lakes, and Becker Lake. There was only one trail intersection to watch for, which was a right turn 2.5 miles from the start (at the S end of Island Lake) onto the trail that goes between Mutt & Jeff Lakes. The only bad thing was the mosquitoes. Lupe really couldn’t stop anywhere for more than a few minutes before they came swarming in.
N of Becker Lake, Lupe and SPHP left Wyoming and entered Montana. There was no sign. At the S end of Albino Lake at 10,000 feet it was time to leave the trail. Lonesome Mountain loomed high above Albino Lake just to the W. Lupe and SPHP turned SW and headed for the big ridge that projects SSE from Lonesome Mountain. Once up on the ridge, Lupe discovered lots of hidden ponds and deep snow banks. Lupe and SPHP turned NNW and headed for the summit of Lonesome Mountain scrambling up and down over big granite ridges.
- Eventually the climb turned into just a scramble over huge boulder fields all the rest of the way to the top of Lonesome Mountain. Lupe is an excellent scrambler and could have been at the top of the mountain long before SPHP got there. The weather started deteriorating all around as Lupe and SPHP scrambled ever higher on the mountain. SPHP’s progress over the big boulders was painfully slow. Lupe was always appearing nearby looking like a true explorer surveying the world from the heights of various boulders.
As SPHP finally got close to the top of Lonesome Mountain, the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. A big rainstorm was in progress some miles to the S. Fortunately, SPHP did not see any cloud to ground lightning. Lupe and SPHP finally reached the top of Lonesome Mountain. The view was spectacular. Lupe and SPHP could see lots of lakes and mountains that SPHP hadn’t ever seen before except on maps.
A woman on the trail between Albino and Becker Lakes had told SPHP she tried to climb Lonesome Mountain earlier this day, but ran out of time. She told SPHP that the summit in view was a false summit. Lupe and SPHP had climbed the false summit. Quite a distance to the NW, SPHP could see another summit separated from where Lupe was by a big drop-off and then a saddle consisting of another boulder field. It all looked very possible to get over to the true summit easily enough, but it was late in the day already and would have taken at least an hour to get over there.
In a way it really didn’t matter – the true summit looked to be at essentially the same elevation as the false summit. A check of SPHP’s maps showed both summits within the same elevation contours. The difference in height between the two summits can only be a matter of 0-20 feet. (Later on SPHP found out that on Peakbagger.com the false summit at 10,399′ which Lupe did climb is listed as the high point on the mountain, although a 10,400′ contour is shown to the NW. SPHP’s Alpine Quadrangle of the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains shows a height of 10,409′ to the NW.)
Lupe and SPHP would have loved to stay up on the summit (false or not) of Lonesome Mountain to enjoy the views while figuring out which lake below was which. However, although current conditions were just cool with a light breeze, Lonesome Mountain was now surrounded by threatening weather.
To the S there was a big storm going on. Dark clouds hung just over the huge ridge to the NE. Back at Island Lake where Lupe had come from, SPHP could see it was raining hard. Off to the W an ominous line of dark clouds and showers was approaching. A cloudburst was going on to the SW. SPHP was pretty certain rain was going to hit within 30 minutes. Rain wouldn’t be too bothersome, and even hail might be avoidable under the shelter of a big boulder, but lightning would be potentially deadly.
SPHP snapped a few quick photos and told Lupe it was time to get down off Lonesome Mountain ASAP. So began the scramble down. It took quite a long time, but not as long as going up. SPHP thought about going down by Lonesome Lake, which could be seen clearly to the SW. Lupe and SPHP have never been there before. That whole area looked full of lakes easy to reach. It would have been fun to explore there, but a look at the map showed it would be a longer hike back to the G6. SPHP knew Lupe was going to be late enough getting back to the G6 as it was.
About 20 minutes after Lupe started down, it did start to rain, but it never rained hard. Lupe and SPHP only got sprinkled on, and even that only lasted maybe 20 minutes. Eventually the skies to the W cleared. The storm to the S still rumbled. There was some cloud to ground lightning, but it was far away. It became apparent Lupe and SPHP were not going to get caught in any significant storm.
It took Lupe and SPHP a long time to work their way back down to Albino Lake. The were-puppy liked to attack SPHP on the big snow banks that had to be traversed, but SPHP was now in too much of a hurry to play the were-puppy game. On one snow bank SPHP suddenly noticed a dark pink, almost red color on Lupe’s white vest and paws.
Initially SPHP thought maybe Lupe was injured and bleeding from some mishap in the boulder fields, but upon examination it proved to be just some of the pink coloration that is common on the old snow banks here. Lupe certainly acted like she felt not only fine, but terrific! Once down out of all the super rocky stuff up on the ridge, Lupe took off running great distances at top speed racing here and there over the heather. She had an absolutely wonderful time.
Lupe and SPHP rejoined the trail at Albino Lake. They went long distances on the trail without seeing anyone. The last sunlight to shine on Lupe was at Becker Lake. Other day hikers had already returned to the trailhead. Backpackers had already reached their camping destinations. Lupe and SPHP met just a very few people, but otherwise the trail was empty. It grew so dark it was hard to see the trail, but SPHP didn’t use the flashlight until the final major stream crossing at the outlet from Island Lake. The campground was totally dark and quiet.
Lupe arrived at the G6 at 10:09 PM. It was 44 degrees F. SPHP fed Lupe some Taste of the Wild and Alpo. She was tired. SPHP was tired too. Thankfully, the G6 started up. SPHP drove in the darkness back to Lupe’s favorite spot on the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River for another night in the G6. At nearly 12 hours, this hike proved to be Lupe’s last really long day hike of her 2014 Dingo Vacation to the Canadian Rockies & Beartooth Mountains. Climbing Lonesome Mountain had been a wonderful time. Lupe agreed it sure beat spending the day cooped up in the G6 in the Wal-Mart parking lot!
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