Spring Creek Loop Cabinet Mountains, Montana

All right, well Timber and I are back in Montana. We're back in the Cabinet Range. A place we've uh we've been here before. This is Spring Creek. So we're back again and this time we're going to try to do the whole loop that we intended to do last time. As usual tonight we're just getting to the trailhead late. Got a few hours of light. We're going to try to make it up the trail a few miles. Let's get going. I really like this trail last time I did it. I can't wait to see it again. Oh man, it is really warm out here. We're down in the drainage now. It's already cooling off. The sun's gone. On the hike in I considered stopping short of the campsite that I had stayed at on my last trip here. But if I was going to do the whole loop I would need to get in as far as I could tonight to knock out some of the miles. Well I feel like I found the spot. The rock's kind of unique so I think this is it. Well let's get set up. Well we're set up. Starting to relax and settle in. That hike up was steeper than I remember. That's definitely the most climbing I've done this year and I'm feeling it. Well good morning. Morning day two here on Spring Creek. Oh what a night in the hammock. That was fantastic. Pretty much closed my eyes, opened them and it's day. Still pretty early here. Sun isn't down in this canyon yet. We got the big parts of the hike today. We're definitely going to make it up to the saddle where Munson Creek comes in. I'm still kind of on the fence about taking the road walk back but we'll see. Gonna be all uphill to start the day. We need it. Let's get some coffee on. Oh it's almost down here. Come on sun. Be bold, start cold they say. Right now I'm half freezing. We're packed up. Packs are on. Let's get on up this trail. One thing I remember about the Spring Creek trail is the way it follows next to the creek and cascades all the way down. Well I was wondering how far up the trail would be opened and feeling like I have hit the end. If my memory serves I have five creek crosses getting up here. We got to be coming close to the first one. I'm almost warmed up. Probably just in time to get in the water. Let's keep pushing. I think I'm seeing a trail down there. That might have been the trail that I took the first time and now they've rooted it back over here. That looks like where I would have crossed. With the creek crossings out of the picture we kept pushing up the canyon. Well here's the first real blow down. This is pretty much blocking Well a little creek we stopped at last time was dry so we pushed on. Creek's well below us now. First place we can get water. Let Timber get some water. I'm good. First place we can get some water we're going to stop. Take a break. Relentless uphill here. Well this looks like the only creek crossing I have to make. This was number five before and I think there's a log that might hold me. I don't know. We'll see. Well that wasn't too bad. We're almost to the point highest point Timber and I made it last time. Forest is completely different now in the pines and the firs. Pretty sure that's my saddle. With the steady uphill I was pushing myself hard to get up to the saddle. I could feel my muscles starting to tighten up as I made the climb. There's our first snow. Well just taking a break here. We're a little over three miles in. Starting to make the real push up to the saddle. A little snow in here. I thought there'd be more. I thought we'd be fighting it. Enjoying it. It's hard. Definitely the toughest thing I've done yet this year. Now we'll rest up a sec. Make a push for the saddle. First one of the year. Man just had a bit of a episode there. My side started cramping really bad. I couldn't loosen it and then my other side started cramping really bad. I just had to throw off my pack. I ran down, got some water, threw in some electrolytes and ate some salty snacks here real quick and starting to feel better. That was a little scary. That was really painful. I was just writhing on the ground here for a minute but I'm okay now. Let's start pushing up here. Try to get to the top of this saddle. I pushed on but I was worried about my condition. My muscles were still trying to cramp up as I got closer to the saddle. Well I've made it to the road cut. I'm gonna check my map and make sure I know where I'm at. When I reached the saddle I took another break and got something to eat and hydrated. I was gonna have to make a choice if I was gonna continue on my route or head back down the trail the way I came. Well just had a nice little break here up on the saddle. Now I'm gonna drop back down and hit the road. Start working our way across. Hoping I'm seeing snow so we should be good but I'm hoping there's a seasonal stream running. Let's go see. I was feeling well enough that I made the choice to push on. There was one feature that was fairly close to the saddle but I didn't have enough energy to climb up the hill the rest of the way to it. But I had another way I could get a look at it. Well I saw this trail and I feel like it's going to contour along this hill where this road drops down and then climbs back up. I think we're going to stick on the trail. So far so good. It's open and pretty level. I am wearing down man but we're definitely going to camp in here. There's snow down here. Just want to get out on this point and start taking a look. I'm just guessing those big boys out there are the mission mountains. Well we are in about seven miles for the day. Turns out that single track I took linked me up with another trail that'll cut off part of the road walk. I don't know if it's any shorter but it's single track so we'll take it. Well Timber and I have been here for hours now. When we first got here I rushed over and put some snow in my water bag and hung it up in the in the sun. Then set up my hammock and took a nap for an hour. And when I got out had a liter of water. So we're doing pretty good on hydration. I'm up on a ridge. I'm gonna have some views. I haven't seen a soul today. It's been a great trip. It's been a great trip. Well that was pretty good. Got the fixings for three more. So I'm gonna make myself eat all of them. I need all the calories I can get. Well good morning. Morning day three. Here up above Spring Creek. Going home day. I don't think we're gonna waste too much time here. Get coffee going. Have to eat some stuff to make sure I have enough calories to complete this. Yeah it's been a good one. It's been an adventure which is what we were wanting. All right just pulling out. Hopefully I don't run into anybody. That would be awesome. But let's get this over with. I wasn't very excited at the prospect of miles and miles of road walking. I had wanted to do this loop though so we pushed forward. At least I was on single track to start the day. Just see the road down there. All right back on the road. No wonder I didn't see anybody back there. It's gated. Well we got a road walk for a few miles and then we have a bushwhack to end this off. So no matter what the adventure's not over yet. Let's step this out. We stayed up there somewhere last night. We made a little ground today. The road down there. A lot of ways to get down there. Oh man I think we're in over eight miles. This road, road walk has destroyed me. I know I have a blister. I think it's popped already. This is where we're leaving the road though. I can't wait to get to the truck. There's beer in the truck. Let's go. I was running on empty when we dove off the road down towards the trailhead. The repetitive nature of the road walk had beat up my feet pretty good. As I emerged from my bushwhack onto the road at the trailhead I'm not sure I've ever been happier to see my truck.