Garnet Mt. Trail

Okay, so I'm not dead.

I haven't been eaten by bears or mountain lions.
I haven't been taken captive by crazed mountain men.

No.  I'm just a teacher approaching the end of the year and all its craziness.

But, next week is the final week of teaching.  From there, I'll settle in to my part time summer job at a local bakery and a lot of hiking.

Yesterday I finally got out again with Koda (and Nathan).  We decided we would try Garnet Mountain Trail.  The trail is 8 miles round trip.  You know you're done when you reach the top and see the Forest Service Lookout Tower (which can be rented out for a few nights here).  The total elevation gain is around 3,300' if you start from Storm Castle's Trailhead  parking area.  Some people drive around past Storm Castle/Squaw Creek and go to Rat Lake, which also has a trail leading up to Garnet Mountain Lookout.

We went by way of Storm Castle.

To be honest, the trail isn't terribly difficult or steep until the end, then there is about 0.5 miles of steep, gravelly road to walk on.  Part of this is because this portion of the trail is also used by 4-wheelers and dirt bikes.

(Side Note: I really hate having trails accessible to motorized vehicles like this.  I think it totally defeats the purpose of going out into "nature".  If you want to ride your dirt bike around, go into town.  Bozeman would do well to invest in a dirt bike track and keep these folks off of the trails, I think.)

It's a beautiful hike.  Arguably the most scenic one I've done in Bozeman thus far.  The trail is lined

with alpine wildflowers and it seems like you get a new and incredible lookout every half of a mile.

I wouldn't recommend it for anyone visiting from lower altitudes.  If I had tried this last fall when I moved, I would've gotten frustrated and not even enjoyed the scenery.  But, if you're feeling up for a good 4 hour hike (about how long it took us) and a bit of a workout, then I would say to give it a shot!

But remember, bring bear spray!

With summer will come more time to hike and blog, so I'm hoping  to get this blog up and running again.  One more week of school and then I'll be cruisin' through summer.

I have a few trips planned, but not too many.  I will be in the Black Hills at some point in July and running a 5K not too long after that.

Until then, enjoy the photos!

Best,
A