Scenes of the Pintlers
After leaving Butte behind, we rejoiced at heading back into the wilderness. The Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness covers a big swath of the Anaconda Range in southwest Montana. Everyone calls this range the “Pintlers”, perhaps in part because the name appears everywhere. There's an East and a West Pintler Peak as well as a Pintler Peak, a Pintlers Peak, a Pintler Creek, Pintler Lake, and Pintler Pass. You name it, it's called Pintler. But any which way you call these mountains, they surprised the heck out of us! The Pintlers may be a lesser-known range, but we found them to be absolutely spectacular.
Warren Lake, Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness
A classic day in the Pintlers included at least 5000 feet of climbing and at least 4 different kinds of weather, all packed into 12 hours on the trail. On a single day, we had rain in the morning, intense heat midday, high winds and thunderstorms in the afternoon, clear skies again, then a full on hailstorm as we got into the tent. The mountains are steep and rugged and the valleys are huge U-shapes carved out by long-vanished glaciers.
Rainbow Lake from above with moody skies
Heading up toward Rainbow Mountain
It was apparent to us that we'd entered a Wilderness as soon as we stepped inside. It felt a little more untouched, a little more removed from the roads and ATV tracks, and a little more alive with creatures and undergrowth. The forest was thick and lush as we started up a climb, with dense groves of spruce and firs.
Beautiful, soft trail through the forest
We climbed up past a pristine mountain lake and found a magical forest of soft, green larch trees filtering the afternoon light down to a golden glow. Each day, we climbed up and over multiple passes, skirting the divide, with nothing but mountains anywhere in sight. The valleys were deep, cool, and shady and the water was plentiful.
Upper Seymour Lake with trail switchbacks just visible high above (top left corner, just below the ridgeline)
Jonathan along the switchbacks above Upper Seymour Lake
An unnamed pass above Upper Seymour Lake (and our lunch view for the day)
Glowing, golden larch forest lining the trail
Here are some more scenes from our four days walking through this majestic range:
More switchbacks! More lakes! More beautiful peaks!
Another view of Rainbow Lake from above
Looking down on Martin and Johnson Lakes from Rainbow Pass
Morning light filters through the dense forest along the valley floor
Lovely trail with trees curving upward from the steep slopes
A gnarled old pine, high on the slopes near Pintler Pass (8736’ elevation)
An old burn area where wildfire raged along the edge of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness
We made it to mile 600!
As we left the Pintlers, we saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes and heard their haunting calls echoing through this broad valley. It was truly a special experience and one we will never forget.
