Autumn view of the Bitterroot River as we headed south to hike up Roaring Lion.
| "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." As I mentioned in my previous post, our first attempt to hike Roaring Lion ended at the trailhead before we even got started. We decided it was just too windy to be hiking in a recently burned area. So we hiked a different canyon with plans to come back again another day. That day came a week later. We only had the afternoon available this time instead of a full day like the week before, but after checking the wind forecast, we decided to go ahead and do it. We wouldn't have enough time to get as far as we had originally planned, so hiking the full distance will have to wait for a future hike. |  |
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There are always dangers in the mountains, but there are extra hazards in areas that have recently been ravaged by wildfires. And it's certainly not just any ordinary flagging tape you come across that says "KILLER TREE" with a skull and crossbones on it.
Although we did have some trees down across the trail to go over and around, it was nice that this hefty one had already been cut out of the way.
We aren't the only ones that find trails to be a very good way to travel in the mountains.
 | We had warm sunshine when we began hiking, but it became noticeably cooler as the sun set over the ridge. Temperatures change quite a bit out here, so we make sure to have extra layers with us. While we did get to hike Roaring Lion this time, we didn't get as far as I thought we would, because I didn't find a good place to cross the creek without getting wet feet. It was cold enough that we had a bit of snow in the area, and I simply didn't want on the other side bad enough to go barefoot through the ice cold creek. So, we didn't get to the open scenic views of the cliffs along the trail on the north side this time around, but we enjoyed our hike and our additional off-trail exploring on the south side of the creek. |
We'll have to do attempt three in the later part of summer, when the water is low enough to cross safely (as it is now), and the weather is warmer for fording the creek without freezing my feet off. Maybe next year? They say, "third time's a charm", and they also say, "three strikes, you're out". We'll see what happens. :)
