Saddle Peak, Montana, United States
I’ve been itching for a while for what I consider to be a real
hike, meaning one to a significant mountain peak with a view. But it’s July 1st
already and the options for that have been limited by the fact that there’s
still quite a lot of snow on the mountains, even many higher valleys still
being completely snowed in. You wouldn’t
really think that when in the valley, but it becomes obvious when you view the
peaks from below. Along with other equipment,
I retrieved my snowshoes from storage in Denver last week but am not keen on
snowshoe climbs of steep peaks for safety reasons. They’re much better when you’re
not going up a steep mountain.
I follow a Facebook local hiking group where people post
about their hikes and the conditions on them. One man posted about Saddle Peak
a few days ago, including pictures of a mostly snowless top. I thought I’d give that one a try. Saddle
Peak is the highest point in the southern part of the Bridger Range near
Bozeman, a little higher than nearer Baldy Peak but about 500 feet lower than
Sacajawea Peak, the range’s high point several miles farther north.
The supposedly easiest route to the summit is from the
Middle Cottonwood Creek trailhead several miles north of town, a very popular
hike that starts close to the valley floor.
Well, the terrain and road slope upwards somewhat to the base of the
mountains, but you don’t rise very much before the trailhead. The trail crosses the creek several times
through very pretty woodland for about a mile until it reaches the Bridger
Foothills Trail and turns a bit north and starts climbing. The gradual ascent
is through wooden glades along the creek for a while but gradually ascends in
zigs and zags through beautiful meadows. Well, they might not always be so
beautiful but were a stunning riot of wildflowers, mostly yellow and
purple/blue, at the time of year of my hike.
Somehow, I didn’t expect a particularly difficult hike,
although I knew it would be approximately a 3,700 foot vertical ascent. I’m in
currently in pretty good shape, but 3,700 feet is still pretty significant even
if altitude isn’t as high as in Colorado. Hey, in Colorado I got used to typically
starting hikes at a higher elevation than Saddle Peak’s 9,159 foot summit.
The
climb became quite steady up to a saddle on a ridge between two creek drainages
where I stopped for lunch. From there
the last 800 or so vertical feet to the top were steep and on somewhat slippery
scree and some talus.
The views from the summit are predictably stellar and the
weather was perfect. There appeared to
be storms to the south over the Gallatin, Absaroka, and Madison Ranges, but
they stayed away from me, fortunate because I had stupidly forgotten my rain
jacket. While some peak hikes will leave
you surrounded in a wilderness of similar peaks, the Bridger Range is a rather
narrow ridge. From the top you can see straight down both sides to the east and
west and then north and south along the ridge to the other prominent peaks in
the range. The other mountain ranges –
the Crazies, Gallatins, Madisons, Absarokas, Tobacco Roots, etc are all quite
distant across the wide valleys.
Saddle Peak gets its name because it looks like a
saddle. There are two slightly higher
peaks about hundred yards or so apart with a slight depression between them.
I couldn’t really tell which was the higher
one, so I went to the top of both to make certain I had reached the high point.
It’s always much faster going down but often not as
enjoyable because it’s typically more cloudy later in the day. Not today,
though; with bright sunshine and gorgeous wildflowers the descent was
absolutely as beautiful and the climb.
That doesn’t mean it didn’t take a while. The overall hike was about 10
miles round trip, so even the return took over two hours on an overall 6 ½ hour
hike.
I haven’t been going out much in Bozeman, reverting to my natural
inclinations to be a rather asocial homebody.
Such a successful trek deserves a reward, though, and I decided to try
Outlaw Brewing Company, one of about 15 breweries in Bozeman and one I hadn’t
tried yet. It’s another airy modern facility on the north side of town behind a
shopping center with a outdoor patio and a food truck, perfect for some
post-hike libations.
And as I drove home from the brewery, a rainbow suddenly
appeared to the south seeming to rise from the saddle between Upper and Lower
Mount Ellis. How appropriate for July 1st
that a rainbow would appear back where it belongs after a month of cultural
appropriation of rainbows. ‘twas a beautiful end to a wonderful day.
2025-05-22