The Rocky Mountaineers

Date: Sept. 15th, 2018
Participants: Lance Cherry, David & Julie Kahl

The Spotted Dog, a drainage that flows into The Little Blackfoot River, just west of Avon (Hwy 12), became a state Wildlife Management Area (WMA) around 2010, primarily to provide elk winter range. It has one road that accesses it from the west, just outside of Deer Lodge, up O’Neil Cr. on the Clark Fork- Little Blackfoot Divide, -the west rim of the Spotted Dog Cr. basin. And one road that comes in from the north and ends on the Spotted Dog -Trout Cr. Divide, the east edge of the basin. It has been my desire to find a point to point route through the WMA from one road end to the other, that would be about 8 miles/ 12.87k. The west road accesses a small part of the WMA that is west of a strip of private land this private land comprises most of the west side of the Spotted Dog drainage and part of the CF-LB divide, and on down into the Freezeout Cr. drainage. There is one, several hundred yards/meters wide, sectio…

Date: September 8, 2018 Trip Leader and Participant: Forest Dean
Perhaps the late notice did not attract any attention, or maybe nobody likes to go on trips with me!Either way, I set out solo on this sublime Saturday morning at 9:15am, heading for the remote Triangle Peak on the north boundary of the Rattlesnake Wilderness.I rode my bike up FR 99 for about 14.5 miles to the intersection of Trail 515.The ride up took about 1:15.It then stashed my bike, changed into trail runners and alternated running and hiking a couple miles up the trail to a point where I followed a small stream up and to the east.I eventually topped out on a ridge and followed this to the very uninspiring 7827’ summit of Triangle Peak (really just a high point along a relatively flat ridge).There are remnants here of an old lookout or something.Took just over 3 hours to reach the summit.After lounging around for about an hour, I headed back the way I came.Flying down the FR99 was fun.Round trip time of just a hair …