Weekly Report: How the Summer of 2024 Went
2024 was a very good year of hiking for myself, Kathy & Skye. I retired fully at the end of 2023 and with Kathy still working, Skye & I had ample opportunity for the outdoors. Time has always been a limiting factor while working, but that limitation was basically removed starting in 2024. I initially set a goal of visiting 40 lakes and hiking 400 miles of trail for 2024. That was a pretty ambitious plan, but was mostly successful as I visited 46 separate lakes and hiked almost 350 miles of trail with a total of over 60 days in the field. Of those lakes, 4 were on our trip to the Beartooth Highway, 2 others were in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and Upper Priest Lake here in North Idaho.
In the 1910 Burn region, I made it to 3 new lakes; Frog Lake, Ward Peak Lake & W Fork Fish Creek Lake 2. This makes 73 of the total 81 lakes on my master list visited; none of the remaining 9 are easy though. I also made it a point to hike to a number of peaks and other high points. I successfully made Binocular Peak, Mink Peak and the high point directly above Dalton Lake. However, I fell short of summiting Crater Mountain, West Goat Peak (Pintlers) and most recently Lost Peak. But I gained some very important knowledge about the routes and expectations to make the summits; all 3 are on my to-do list for 2025.
I handed out over 100 of my cards over the summer and the limited feedback I received for the website was good; not bad for year 1 of this project. In all the travels this summer, I never met anyone who knew of my website. I had multiple days and trips that I never saw another person; which I attribute to the fact that I hiked mostly during the week and not weekends. I took well over 1,000 pictures this summer. I am including a sampling of my favorites at the end of this narrative.
This winter I will work on the website and ski a lot at Lookout Pass. For the website, I plan on completing the following:
Review all the lake descriptions and update where necessary -- DONE
Add a full page topo map link with the general route depicted -- DONE
Add more detail and pictures to the Trail 738 pages -- DONE
Change the "Blog" section to Weekly Reports. I still may have a true blog section -- DONE
Update the lake PDF's to represent the web version better. As I made changes to the webpages, I didn't update the PDF's -- DONE
- My family wants me to produce a printed version of the guide, so that will keep me busy
My priorities for 2025 are focused on specific objectives, rather than the shotgun approach I took in 2024.
- Summit the 3 peaks that I didn't complete in 2024, namely Crater Mountain, West Goat Peak (Pintlers) and Lost Peak
- Hike into the Upper & Lower Steep Lakes, easier said than done
- Complete a Fish - Indian Creek Loop, 3-5 days depending on route
- Camp overnite at Kelly Lake
- Visit Harrington Lake as it has been since 1981 when I was at the lake
- Visit the Siamese Lakes and summit Straight Peak
- A week trip to Yellowstone
Here is a sampling of some of the pictures that I took this summer.
Hub Lake in May
St. Regis River Trail in May
Upper Siamese Lake
Upper Lost Lake & West Goat Peak in Pintlers
Dwarf Sasquatch Along the Trail to St. Joe Lake
Ward Peak Lake
Beartooth Plateau From Beartooth Hwy
Morning at French Lake
Lost Lake From Lost Peak Ridge Trail
Dalton & Pearl Lakes From the Highpoint Above Dalton Lake
Heart Lake (Dry Creek) From Binocular Peak
LaMarche Creek Drainage in Pintlers
Evening at French Lake
Ward Peak & Ward Peak Lake
Upper Trio Lake From Dalton Lake Highpoint
Heart Lake in June
Ward Peak Lake
Lower & Middle Trio Lakes From Highpoint Above Dalton Lake
Leo Lake
Looking at Stateline & Steep Lakes From Crater Mtn
South (Big) Cedar Log Lake
Heart & Pearl Lakes, One of my all time Favorites
Vann Lake
All 3 Oregon Lakes
Dalton Lake in June
North Cache Lake with Shale Mtn in Background
Looking North to Hoodoo Area From Crater Mtn
Heart Lake in the Fall
North Cache Lake
Square Lake
Morning at Middle Cache Lake
The Catch at Heart Lake (Big Creek)
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