Sacagawea Saturday

Better Than Mowing the Lawn

By HONEST LINES

September 12^th, 2014

UP AND AT 'em

Early Saturday mornings in the suburbs of Bozeman, Montana can typically head in a couple of directions. One, you’re in the garage gassing up the mower and digging out new line for the trimmer. Two, you’re up before the sun with a couple of sleepy teenagers and daypacks and heading north into the Bridgers.

I chose the latter.

Sacagawea isn’t a tough hike. The toughest part is the last seven miles of the drive in on a rough dirt road that shakes the daylights out of the car and occupants, leaving you slightly motion sick when you finally pull into the parking lot. We weren’t the first ones there that morning—some ambitious college kids had pulled skis and were heading up to snag a few lines in shorts and tank tops—but we had the trail mostly to ourselves as we started up with a 14-year-old’s eager pace.

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We talked and took photos as we climbed, stopping to look for the plentiful mountain goats that hang out along the ridge. None of them were very close, but it was still cool to see the families lounging around on the steep slopes of Hardscrabble Peak across the valley.

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A quick meal on the summit, some more photos, and then back down. Some stand-up glissading, one band-aided shin, and a jump in Fairy Lake later—we were heading home.