28 May – 1 June 2025
Route: Bozeman – Bear creek – Mystic lake – Hyalite creek – Hyalite peak – Divide peak – Storm Castle creek – Garnet mountain – Gallatin road, ~100 km, 4500 m elevation change
Favourable weather: clear skies, no wind at all, pleasantly warm (20–25°C), very dry (+feels warmer even at night, when it drops to just above freezing; –need more hydration!). I placed my tent very strategically on hills and open areas, enjoying the night sky.
Getting to the mountains from Bozeman city centre was quite a long and boring walk, but on the way back hitchhiking worked well.
Saw a mule deer very close (just a dozen metres away) – it looked at me for a while, ruled that I am harmless, and continued to pick the grass..
At this time of the year, there is still plenty of snow above ~2200m, although it is quite firm to walk over. The slopes of main peaks are avalanche-prone, so I was choosing routes mostly within forested areas (which sometimes extend up to 3000m).
The grand plan was to traverse the ridge from Hyalite peak through Divide peak and Mount Bole to the South Cottonwood creek valley. However, some parts of the traverse looked quite menacing already from below, so I dashed to Hyalite peak lightweight and then started the traverse at Divide peak, but eventually was stopped by a rocky ridge that called for some serious scramble, which I found too dangerous. Still, the entire traverse is feasible (there are tracks on Strava heatmap, and I've seen footprints and ski tracks on my way). Or alternatively, the Gallatin Crest trail follows the main ridge south from Hyalite peak all the way to Yellowstone!
The forest in the upper part of Storm Castle creek is burned down, but this makes for quite an expansive and unobstructed view (especially at night!). The lower part is outside the national park and is too trafficked, so I chose a forest road climbing a ridge to the south, and was rewarded by a very nice afternoon break at a pristine Pioneer lake (which has no trail access) and a spectacular view from the Garnet mountain. The trail down from Garnet has no water sources, but a small patch of snow saved my day and made it possible to spend the last night on a cliff overlooking the mountains across the Gallatin valley.
