In August, Cyndi & I (with the dogs, of course) drove out to Montana. We picked up Tom in Missoula, then headed for the McCart Mountain fire lookout tower near Sula, which would become our home for the next 5 nights. McCart is on the border of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness area; it is a mile and a half hike from the trail head. No water there, all water and food had to be brought in and hiked up by us. Here's a photo of the tower as we first saw it:
From here we hiked every day through the mountains. Many sections had been burned by forest fires a few years back. Since then new trees have started to grow, and in another decade or so the forests will be back in all their grandeur. The weather was perfect, and as for the views, judge for yourselves:
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| Sunset from McCart Tower |
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| Mountains all around |
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| Tom, Zoey and Monte on the trail |
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| Twisted tree trunk |
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| Waterfall - 6 miles in |
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| Western Paintbrush |
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| Hikers heading home | | |
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| Rainbow after a storm |
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| Spiderweb! | |
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| Relaxing by the stream |
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Five days of hiking left us tired, sore, and in awe of the beauty and majesty of the mountains. Then it was time to return to civilization and a Missoula Osprey baseball game:
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| Relaxing eve at our national pastime |
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All good things must end, and so did our trip. We left next day for the 2 day drive back to Minnesota with good memories and hopes to return again soon.
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