This hike has a not-so-funny-till-I-rectified-the-situation story attached to it. Part of it is that I did this hike a total of three times in two weeks. Why, you ask? It was Sunday, the 6th when I decided to go to McCormick Peak. It's a short hike, so I left the option to go on to Josephine Peak or Blackrock Peak up in the air. The problem was that I started quite late in the day, so only ended up at McCormick Peak. That's all right, I figured, as I could do it again in the next few days. I hit Stark Mtn. and Mt. Tiny before deciding on getting back to Josephine Peak on Wedneday, Sept. 16. I had seen what Blackrock Peak looked like from McCormick, and it looked a bit arduous to do by myself, so that one is shelved for now. I knew I had to get to almost the top of McCormick Peak before dropping down to a saddle, then back up to Josephine Peak. This hike had several ups and downs, which would be Ok, except that when you have that relief of summiting a mountain, you really want the hike home to be all downhill. I was already mentally prepared for the extra work, and knew I had only so much time to get it done and get back to work. Little did I know the extra work in store for me. After getting to Josephine Peak, I clicked a little selfie and posted it on Facebook. My caption read, ".....now, to haul ass back to the bus barn." I may very well have jinxed myself here. Down I went, then back up over the next hump, when I went to look at my phone's navigation app. There was no trail here, and although I have a decent sense of direction, I wanted to stay pretty much on the exact path as I had picked out for myself on the way up. OHMYGOSH!!! My phone suddenly wasn't in my holster. Thankfully, any critters nearby didn't speak English, and therefore wouldn't feel their ears were vandalized by my expletives being yelled across the canyons. Knowing I was already pressed for time, I turned back, ran around below for a bit, then back up to the top, then back down again, trying to remember my exact steps. I was nearly in tears when I decided to give up for the day. As I'm sure plenty of us feel in recent years, our phones have become an extension of ourselves. When I resolved myself to just get back to the Jeep in time to get back to work, I suddenly had a new, more imminent fear....was I going to find the trail back to McCormick Peak? REALLY wanted my phone now! However, I was relieved that the embarrassment of having Search and Rescue out looking for me was never induced! Found the trail, ran most of the way back, and just missed my bus heading out with a Substitute driver. Least of my concerns....now to arrange for an immediate hike back to Josephine, when I would have time to dig around the dirt (and snow, for all I knew), to find a rather expensive little gadget.
Saturday took forever to get here, but I solicited my husband, Jeff, to come help out with the endeavor of finding my phone. He was more than happy to do it, as he is the real bread winner in the family, and is much more frugal about spending than I. I had very high hopes at the beginning of the hike, but as we got to the point where I had realized it was gone and started searching, my hopes were slowly dissipating. Back and forth, back and forth we went, slowly working our way back up the mountain. Jeff was ahead of me, and I think maybe wanted to be the hero a little bit by finding it first. When he called out, "Found it!" I thought surely he was kidding. It would have been cruel had it been a joke, but my hope was all but gone at this point. He actually found it! Yay! So there you have an incredibly long, and maybe a little boring, story on why I did this hike a ridiculous amount of times. I like to think of myself more of a peak bagger, so this was not my favorite week. I put off a few other hikes, so I'm hoping the weather holds out for me a little (read: a LOT) longer!
The drive in is quite easy. Coming from Missoula, take a right off the Ninemile exit from I-90. Go past the Ninemile house and take another right on W. Ninemile Rd. At the end of the road, take a left. A few miles down the road, you'll see a clear sign on the right for McCormick Peak. Follow it to the end, there are good signs the whole way, about ten miles.
 |
| The view on the first drive to McCormick Peak |
 |
| You can see there was snow starting to accumulate up high |
 |
| Squaw Peak in the distance |
 |
| Definately got into a little snow |
Above were pictures from the hike to McCormick, below are the ones I took on the longer trip to Josephine peak:
 |
| A little falsie of McCormick Peak |
 |
| Trying to show how well-prepared I am when hiking alone |
 |
| My selfie shortly before losing my phone |
And one picture Jeff took on the way down. There's a smile on my face, so you know the phone is securely in my back pack at this point!
 |
| Showing off the beautiful color as it gets colder |
No comments:
Post a Comment