Farley Visits the Pintlers

A backpacking trip to the Pintlers has become an annual tradition.  This was the second year we've made a Labor Day Weekend summer wrap-up out of it, and the first year we camped at the trailhead in Farley before heading out.

View from the Skalkaho Highway.

I'm not a good angler, but the fishing at Phyllis Lake, Upper Phyllis Lake, and Johnson Lake is insane.  Last year I was so excited when we arrived, I wanted to toss out my first cast before even setting up the tent.  I did, and my pole came apart (that's how big a hurry I was in; I couldn't even put it together firmly), and that first cast ended with half of my pole floating on the surface of the water.  And I still got a bite!  I couldn't set the hook but the fish hit so hard I managed to reel it in.  Dinner!  I'm telling you, this place is a bad fisherman's heaven.

We set up at the trailhead on Moose Creek Road outside Philipsburg, Montana, sharing the space with a group that was packing in on horseback to pick up a trail construction crew they'd dropped off the previous weekend.  We realized upon stopping that Farley had lost a hubcap on the bumpy gravel access road and was feeling exposed.  We started a campfire on the edge of the parking lot, set to enjoy the late summer evening.  Then a thunderstorm hit.  Lightning cracking over the top of a VW camper van is loud beyond loud.

Poor, naked Farley, missing a hubcap.  That's the horses
from the pack team on the left.

The next day we hiked to Johnson Lake. I caught a good handful of fish while Marc napped, including two on back-to-back casts.  I'd planned to keep just one to eat and threw the rest back. I'd forgotten to bring oil to cook it, and Chef Bu wouldn't allow me to throw one in this backpacking pan without it, so I had to improvise.

The navigator, checking the map.  

Getting started.

Brand-new bridge, built by the trail crew
the pack team was picking up.

Cool section of previous burn.

Who doesn't love salmonberries?

And wild raspberries?

Johnson Lake, first night's destination

View near Johnson Lake

Dinner!

Fish.  Stick.  Fishstick.
I know Huck Finn would've done the same thing in a pinch
if his backpacking partner was worried about warping his pan.

Johnson Lake campsite along a creek.

The next day it rained most of the day.  We hiked from Johnson Lake to Upper Phyllis Lake in the rain and set up camp. The rain stopped so we ... did some fishing.  The next morning we packed up camp and headed back down to Farley.  We looked the whole way back for his missing hubcap, with no luck. He's still feeling naked.

Two grouse scared the crap
out of me when they flapped up
from relative obscurity on the trail.

Day two scenery.

More day two views.

I could not convince Marc that this rock I found
in a scree field was a petrefied grizzly paw print.

View from the tent at Upper Phyllis Lake.