Flathead traverse trip report

The Flathead Traverse is a lesser-known linkup of peaks through the Flathead Mountain range. The range, as defined by this traverse, is bookended by Lower Twin Creek Trail and Ousel Peak Trail. While the Ousel Peak trail does see traffic on the northern end on the range, the southern end is rarely travelled. According to mapping applications the route is roughly 55 miles and 29,000ft of climbing. I expect in reality this two numbers might increase their values. Along the way it is possible to tag 20 peaks, this even number is oddly satisfying. What drew me to this route is that it just makes sense, one ridgeline connecting high points. There is no other efficient way to travel through this area. The second draw is the true epic mountain experience this route provided. It is an instant classic. It’s hard, but not impossible. None of the peaks are technical, all the climbing exists in the class 2-3 range. There are harder routes in the area. Upon researching the route, the most information is available from Brian Story’s blog, he has been on the traverse numerous times. In addition, Nate Bender and friends took a crack at the traverse, he provided some helpful insight for the northbound direction. Lastly, Mike Foote and team traversed part of this route during the “Crown Traverse” and provided some beta.

Day 1

While we went to sleep warm the night air eventually cooled and the morning greeted us with a slight chill. The mosquitos were already awake as well as we hurried to pack our bags and organized ourselves for the first day. We parked the car at the nearby trailhead after a short drive. Once we both felt settled, we took off up the dark trail. Travelling by headlamp is never easy, especially in the early morning my hike felt like a forward stumbling of steps through the over grown trail. My headlamp either illuminates the brush at eye level or the footing at trail level, but never both. Our pace felt rushed by the swarm of mosquitos eagerly awaiting their breakfast feeding. The trail eventually faded out and the adventure began. The first highpoint, Crossover Mountain, included a few false summits and short bushwacks. We capped our first summit with a high-five and we were on our way.

From Crossover the ridgeline meanders, short climbs and descents. Getting closer to Dry Park there was a steep descent and climb, which gave us quite a sample of what was to come. Dry Park and Circus came easy enough. After Circus we both were getting low on water so we investigated every snow pack for a drip on the downhill side. Unfortunately, it seems like at this point in the season the remaining snow is dense and not giving off much water. Tagging Prospector Mountain required a short out and back. Along the way we out each left a bottle below a snow drip and recollected the bottle on the way back to the route. This allowed us to wet our whistles a little bit.

So far, each peak has been taller than the one before it. It feels like the route is slowly ramping up its intensity. On the way to Baptiste we came across a beautiful mountain seep. A little cold stream flowing right out of the mountain side. Delicious. While we sat on the precarious mountain side friendly bees gathered around and we took in our helpings of hydration. We packed our bags with water and continued on our merry way. Baptiste was this route’s introduction into the alpine. At almost 8,400ft tall, it is a tall peak for this range and provides great views into the area we are headed. The even taller peaks of Grant and Great Northern loom on the horizon. From Baptiste we descended and soon after reached an unnamed high point. To the right was Red Sky, another peak on the ridge line. Previous traverse attempts on the route skipped Red Sky because it is a bit out of the way. We descended towards Red Sky, but were quickly thwarted trying to navigate through some cliffs. We decided to turn around and take the more popular route straight down into the Logan and Dirtyface saddle. I read about this bushwack so I was aware of its toughness. Quickly enough we were crashing our way through the alders. Each of us taking some awkward tumbles in the thick brush. There are creeks on each side of the saddle, Logan to the west and Dirtyface to the east. There is also a trail leading through the saddle, I expected this trail to be in rough shape. We stumbled into the creek and nourished ourselves. The trail was adjacent to the creek. While the trail was overgrown it was nice to be on a trail and we quickly ascended towards the saddle. Then once again we were off trail and into the thick of it. It was a 1,500ft climb to Unawah Mountain and we were back in the cooler alpine air. From Unawah we descended and then climbed again up to 8,000ft to tag Felix peak. This spot is known to hold a snow patch throughout the summer. Today the snow patch was watched over by a lone mountain goat. We descended below the snow patch and filled up water for the next stretch. Since our next water wouldn’t be until the following day, we both carried full capacity for the hours ahead. After Felix there is a long bumpy ridgeline to get to Cameahwait. The day was transitioning to night and camping was beginning to be a thought. Although this route is so engaging I had not yet felt an eagerness to sleep. This evening the wind has ceased to blow meaning the bugs were swamping us every time we slowed. In the more forested sections of ridgelines, we were getting swarmed by mosquitos. It kept us moving fast. At 10pm we summited Mount Adams. We covered exposed skin and sat down for dinner to discuss our plan. We had 10 of the 20 peaks behind us. Our watches had recorded roughly 28 miles, but our gpx line had us around 24 miles into the route. After roughly 18 hours of movement, we decided to camp on the summit of Adams. We were hopeful the wind would help keep the bugs away and allow us a little restful sleep.

The night was rough. Our sore bodies kept us tossing and turning. We slept with our faces covered to provide protection from the bugs. The full moon illuminated the valleys below us. At some point I dozed off to a cool breeze, but eventually awoke in a sweaty mess. The lovely breeze had died. Bringing on swarms of mosquitos and a sweaty sleeping bag. We didn’t bring a tent; I only packed a tarp in case of emergency shelter. A tarp doesn’t help with bugs. I buried myself in my warm sleeping bag and covered my head in a jacket. The buzzing of the mosquitos never stopped. I would doze off occasionally and then awake to the sounds of more mosquitos. We got up at 5am, not sure if I was eager to start the day or if I was eager to try to lose the bugs.

Day 2

First thing in the morning we descended off Adams and then up an unnamed peak. Interestingly enough this unnamed peak is taller than our next named peak. It took an hour or so to get my legs under me and warmed up. The soreness dissipated with the miles. The delicate foot placement of off trail travel took some time to hone back in. Soon enough we found ourselves on Elk Mountain. Alas no elk were there that morning. We headed north. Ahead of us lay a few unnamed highpoints before our next peak. We took time to descent a few hundred feet to the east to fill up our water reserves. The cold water was refreshing in the quickly warming sunshine. I washed my face of the previous night’s sweat. After that a quick little scramble up got us back to the ridgeline. We climbed up to Liebig, an impressive peak. This highpoint gave us a great view of our next objectives. Arguably the technical crux of the trip.

We climbed one unnamed peak, descended and climbed again. This time tagging our 12th of the trip, Mount Grant. Grant and Great Northern are the alpine highlights of this trip. We dropped below Grant and followed a pack of goats along the ridgeline. We found ourselves in a beautiful alpine basin flanked by a candy blue tarn. This tarn was an available water source, but required an off-trail jaunt to access, so we skipped it. Along the way to Great Northern we collected some refreshing snow to toss in our caps and our mouths. The eastern side of Great Northern would be the technical crux of the trip. The huge slabs were enveloped in vertical snow packs. We choose to forgo packing microspikes and ice axes, instead we opted to stay safe and away from the snow. This would make our decision making even more important. We found our way to a slab and started the climb. Some, not all, of these slabs lead to a ridgeline which connects to the summit of Great Northern. Unfortunately, from this side the true summit is out of view and we are operating off intuition. Both Cody and I have not climbed this route before, so either way this would be a challenge. Upon creating the top of the chosen slab, we discovered this was not the correct slab. Well, this meant a quick little downclimb to reassess the situation. Luckily Cody had some satellite images available for us to scour for clues. In addition, we used our phone-a-friend lifeline, but unfortunately that friend did not pick up. We headed up a different slab, more to the left side of the face. While this one required a couple precarious maneuvers, we took it slow and thought things through. This slab got us to the correct spot and upon cresting the top we could look upon the connecting ridge and summit of Great Northern. Looking over we saw multiple silhouettes of people standing on the summit. On longer trips like this I often view day-hikers as little connections back into the world. At some points I even crave this fleeting connection. Continuing on we sort of botched the ridgeline traverse and dropped down into the scree and proceeded to traverse the scree back onto the ridgeline. Just a few minutes later we found ourselves on top of Great Northern, the 13th peak of the trip. Lucky us. After a quick high five we descended a bit and took shelter in the shade to assess our situation and goals.

After some deliberations we decided to descend out the Great Northern climbing trail. We both were adamant to walk away from this adventure injury free and healthy. The water situation to our north would be challenging. Also, our desires to descend back into the forested ridgeline and potentially into hoards of bugs was minimal. So, after a couple more hours of walking and thousands of feet of descending we found ourselves hitchhiking on the reservoir road. I think we both were pretty stoked to be done with this tough outing. It was fulfilling and a satisfying adventure and we left it at that. This route is special and I would not rule out another attempt on the whole thing.

Stats

Day 1 – 28.2 miles, 15,817ft of gain, 17:49

Day 2 – 14.4 miles, 6,483ft of gain, 10:29