Mount Baldy: This modest peak near Hot Springs offers expansive views
In a change of pace from the “local local” peaks of Glacier National Park, I recently teamed up with friends Ryan Gewargis and Jess DenBoer to tackle the snowy summit on Mount Baldy at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountain Range.
It was a warm Sunday morning, with temperatures around 40 degrees when I left the valley and headed to the town of Hot Springs. The sun peeked out over the east as I drove along highway 28, and to the west I could see the dome of Baldy was covered in snow, and if everything went to plan, I knew we should be able to make it to the summit, if we could find the trail first.
I met my Ryan and his girlfriend Jess, who were coming up from Missoula, at the Wild Horse Hot Springs, and we took one car up the mountain. The two of them had celebrated the Brawl of the Wild Game the day before, and still had some recovering to do. Nonetheless, spirits were high as we wound up the mountain in Ryan’s Subaru.
As we came closer to the trailhead, more snow was on the road, and trees blocked the final two miles of road to the trailhead, so we had to walk that as well. Along the road as we hiked, we saw wolf tracks as well as the traces of a somewhat recent kill of theirs. We finally reached the trailhead about an hour behind schedule.
The trail that leads up to Baldy Lake was easy to follow, but fallen trees covered it further decreased our speed. We made it to the saddle, a 2-mile hike to the trailhead, and could see the final summit dome, below it a large scree field covered in snow. We discussed a plan while eating our lunch at the frozen lake.
We agreed the three of us should make an attempt for the summit, despite Jess starting to feel sick from the hike. She stuck it out and we made our way up the final mile to the summit. As I took the lead on the final push, large wolf tracks were on the trail, his pace matched my steps.
Baldy stands alone as the tallest peak for miles in any direction, and at 7,441 feet offers rewarding views from the summit, as well as a dilapidated Forest Service cabin. When we reached the summit, the sun began to dip in the horizon. To the west, we saw the Clark Fork River, as well as the Cabinet Mountains proper. To the east, we saw the full Mission Mountain Range, as well as the white peaks of the Swan Range peeking out behind it. Winds were gusty and we didn’t stay at the top long.
While we hiked back to the car, the lodgepole forest we walked through swayed back and forth, and creaking trees kept us on our toes. In total, the elevation gain was approximately 2,543 feet, and the mileage was around 9.8 miles, give or take two miles from the car to the trailhead and 100 feet of elevation gain. We arrived at the car after dark and the three of us recovered in the welcoming warm hot springs at Wild Horse.
