In what has been turning into a reoccurring theme, I took a solo hike in the Big Sky vicinity two days ago. Actually, to call this a vicinity hike is a somewhat understatement- for this is the zenith of Big Sky, the highest point around and taking a paramount identity over any other mountain in the Gallatin Range. Lone Mountain is the 11,133 foot mountain that makes up Big Sky Resort and Moonlight Basin. After living here for some time and never having climbed it in the summer (ive rode the tram up the top and snowboarded down countless times down most of the routes) my time had come.
The climb up was quiet, pensive. The top photo was roughly half way before the last major climb to the summit. I ran into a few folks on the ridge hike to that point, discussing random Lone Mountain trivia, and me being able to flex the knowledge that I saw from the video recording of the guys who built the tram over 10 years ago (they had to climb to work most days up the same way i went). That above shot is below from the bowl when i was hiking down later. The ridgeline to the left of the peak is the way i came up.
The peak, unsurprisingly, held similar views to those of the winter times. Regardless, it was summer, and without the snow different areas were a little more discernible. The amount of loose shale rock was pretty unsurprising also.
But the below shot is sweet- that is the Lost Lake backcountry area that ive rode and shot photos of in previous years. Seeing that beautiful green lake down there was very cool- i wanted to hike down there, but i knew my route out would be 3 times as long as it would be if i just went down and back to my car.
Good hike, took the scenic route back to my car. Next day my legs were trembling at times for no reason other than the workout from the day before. In other news I may be going on more solo hikes in the future than i thought.....til then
