Category: Mill Creek

mill creek winter hike. february 2023.

2/23/2023

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A little day hike into Mill Creek Canyon last week.

Soooo beautiful! What more can I say?

It's a loooong ways up! Makes me feel like rockclimbing.

A little too cold for that right now!

Entering the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness a couple miles in.

Love the rocky cliffs! :)

We headed up to a mostly bare rock field for a little break.

Cliff views up behind us from our break spot in the rocks.

Our view looking further up the canyon from where we sat. The surrounding snow is deeper than it looks when you get off the mostly packed trail. We did some post-holing through the snow to get up to the bare rocks. Sometimes, you do what you gotta do. ;)

The rock field we chose to hang out in had some nice sunshine for a bit, but once the shade moved over us, it was time to get moving again! Winter is great for hiking, but our breaks tend to be a little shorter unless we take enough time to have a fire. :)

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snowy hike up mill creek to finish november 2019.

11/30/2019

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A cold, snowy hike up Mill Creek for a bit after work this afternoon/evening to end November. Below are a few random photos. The views are always beautiful! :)

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off-trail destination up mill creek. november 2019.

11/7/2019

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Although today's hike was a shorter one, we had a special destination in mind. We'd been eyeing a certain rectangular hole in the canyon wall that has piqued our interest for a while now. We'd had plans to try to get to it someday, and that day had finally come.

While we had our doubts about the possibility of getting into it, we were still hoping to find a way.

One way to find out... get up there and take a look. So that is what we set out to do. We hiked in on the trail a bit and then left the trail to head up to the canyon wall to answer our lingering questions.

There are lots of amazing views of the northern canyon wall in Mill Creek Canyon.

No trail to follow here.
We just pick our way along as we go, using caution on the loose rocks.

Rock fields are always a little slow going for me, but we're making progress. :)

Plenty of rock to navigate on the way up.

I'm not the only one stopping along the way to take pics. ;)

Getting pretty close. It's larger than I realized from the trail. We did get up to the wall below the hole, but as we suspected, it was too high up and risky to try to get into it. So we went around and up on the rock to the right of it as close as we could for now.

Almost there. Coming around on the side.

So, so close! This photo doesn't represent the size well, but it does show the relation of where we were sitting next to the hole. We couldn't find a way into it that we felt safe with at this point in time without additional help or gear. Maybe another day??

Our view looking further into Mill Creek Canyon from our rock spot next to the hole.

Zooming in for a closer look at the snowy mountains.

Enjoying some lighthearted conversation and views away from the beaten path. :)

Looking up.

Without climbing gear and Josh along, this is as far up as we dared to go. ;)

Looking down from our spot up above the trail and creek.

To add some perspective, I've pointed out the creek below and a hiker that came along on the trail while we were hanging out above.

Heading back down a slightly different way than the way we went up.

This way has less rock field and smaller talus to deal with. The better option for me.

Looking back. Our distance is increasing as we make downward progress.

Back to the trail with a feeling of accomplishment.
The view that had intrigued me has now become another experience. :)

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mill creek hike. november 2018.

11/10/2018

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I was hoping for a better day for hiking on one of my days off, but warm weather and sunshine just wasn't happening. So we set off for a hike up Mill Creek anyway.

We hit snow from almost the beginning, and it got deeper as we continued to hike farther in. The clouds were setting in pretty thick and big snowflakes were falling by the time we got to the falls, making it feel very wintry. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable 6-mile day hike in the mountains, and the views are always beautiful. :)

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change of plans. disappointment turns into fun.

10/12/2017

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Sometimes things don't always go as we plan. Like a few days ago when we set out to hike up Roaring Lion, a trail we have yet to hike. We've been planning to hike there for a while now, and we finally got a day to do it. Or so we thought.

We drove all the way there only to discover when we got out with our packs at the trailhead, that it was windy. Quite windy. It was a cold wind, but we had plenty of layers with us, so that wasn't a problem. But ... lots of standing dead trees after a recent fire can pose a serious problem when combined with wind.

I was disappointed that we would have to put this trail off once again, but my be safe motto for mountain adventures called for a change of plans this time.

So the girls and I discussed our options. We have another hike we've been wanting to do this fall, but because we needed to drive back out from this trailhead, back through Hamilton, and up the mountain to the other trailhead, time was dwindling too much for getting an early enough start for that one.

Based on various factors, we settled on hiking Mill Creek again, as that trailhead is not so far back in the mountains, saving us some of our diminishing time for actual hiking instead of too much extra driving. The prospect of hiking Mill Creek again wasn't as exciting as our original plan to hike something new, but it was a wonderful fall day in spite of the wind, so we adjusted our mindset and decided to go have some fun! :)

A beautiful view looking back down the canyon where we had just hiked in about 3 mi.

Mill Creek Canyon offers much in the way of hiking, climbing, and adventure.

The open views are amazing, and they continually change as you hike farther in.

Almost to the falls, which was today's turnaround.

The falls are not as large and dramatic as they are in late spring and early summer when the water is really rushing from the snow melt, but they are still enjoyable.

When you combine water with rock slabs and sunshine and you have the whole area to yourself, you get an ideal place for hanging out and relaxing for more than just a bit.

In the fall, the girls enjoy soaking up the sun while I wander around taking too many photos. :)

See you in the next post. In the meantime ... Explore. Dream. Discover.

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mill creek winter hike. february 2023.

snowy hike up mill creek to finish november 2019.

off-trail destination up mill creek. november 2019.

mill creek hike. november 2018.

change of plans. disappointment turns into fun.

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