Eagle Scout Assault - Mt. Ross (elev. 9,004')

Trailhead: Brackett Creek, Gallatin NF, Bridger range.
Total Distance: +/- 6 miles
Elevation Chg: +4000 / -4000
% Bushwacking/Trail/Scramble: 30/50/20

Our hike started a tad sluggish as everybody had imbibed a la maxima Friday night. Me, I drank some dank Montana beers at MAW (Bozone Cascadia Dark IPA, Bitteroot Huckleberry Wheat, etc.), and the younger of us Doug and Josh drank a heady stew of homemade jungle juice consisting of tequila, vodka, cheap light beers, the kitchen sink, dirty gym socks, etc.

It was slow going.



We were looking for the Fairy Lakes campground/ trailhead, but instead turned off the road early and immediately toned down our visions of hiking the entire 20 mile ridge back to "The M" near Bozeman. Instead we veered off trail and headed cross country toward a nice grassy saddle below Mt. Ross, then scrambled up its face. After three false peaks, we made it up to glorious views of Gallatin valley and the patchwork of agriculture nestles in its verdant bosom. The sky was gaining activity, the dance had begun, and we felt rumblings and darkness as we descended down down the eastern face in search of water and a camping spot.

We were pooped. Like "did-I-just-twist-my-ankle-I-don't-care-no-I-don't-think-I-did-my-hand's-bleeding-ok-I'll-just-wipe-it-on-my-leg" pooped.

We all cooked dinner using small cedar twiglets, each in our own stove setup. Doug had a homemade little double-walled woodstove made out of various food cans. I used my titanium caldera cone, with great success. I think Doug needs to jimmy his design a bit as his stove was consistently starved of air and therefore took a lot longer to boil his water. I give him credit though for making things himself, and would probably have done the same as a budget constrained college student if I knew as much as he did at that age. They both slept under a homemade sil-nylon cat-tarp (The Purple Peopleater) which held up against the gusts and precipitation with only one collapse early in the night due to user error. My Contrail held up, albeit one stake came undone and moistened my cabesa. The Rockies demand you batten down the hatches all the time - the weather just changes too quickly. Luckily, as we were heading to bed the sky cleared and the stars just popped, like a golf course for the Gods I thought. It was my first solid glimpse of the Montana stars outside city lights since moving to Bozeman, and served as another reminder of why I get out and camp.

Overall, a solid one-nighter with two solid kids. Both Josh (freshman) and Doug (sophomore) are Eagle Scouts that grew up together in a Seattle suburb and have had excellent backcountry access their whole lives. Of course I was jealous, they've covered so much of Washington (Olympic Peninsula, Cascades, etc.) already. I thin we all learned a bit from each other, which is the benefit of traveling with the light'n'fast crowd. We'll do it again.

Brackett Creek trailhead is 16 miles from Bozeman.