cloud peak - 13,167' - Class 2
September 2015
This trip was done on Labor Day on a beautiful, cloudless day. Matt Valentine joined me from Gillette to make a single day climb of the highest peak in the Big Horn Range. We met up at the West Tensleep Trailhead the evening before where we talked with a nice couple from Nebraska who were on their honeymoon. They gave us some awesome German polish dogs to help us fuel up for the big 23 mile day. Once it got dark we crashed in our cars and set the alarms for 3am.
It was a very dark morning when we awoke and the moon was no where to be found. We packed up and were quickly walking up the trail. Matt had been up Cloud Peak before so he knew the way but this was my first trip here. It was a little creepy hiking the trail under total darkness, and when we passed by Lake Helen, Matt informed me there was a moose just a few yards off the trail! I saw the beaty eyes reflecting off my headlight.
Further up, after maybe 7 miles twilight started to illuminate the crest of the Big Horn Range, and once we reached Mistymoon Lake it was light enough to take the headlights off. We crested a small ridge and dropped about 400 feet into the head of Paint Rock Creek where we saw a handful of tents from people making the ascent of Cloud Peak in 2 days. It was still so early though that none of them were awake yet. We took a small break here to fill water and re-energize a bit. We spotted the small waterfall at the far side of the basin and located the climbers trail heading up towards the long SW ridge.
The trail ascended the lower slopes of the valley between Bomber Mountain and Cloud Peak, but eventually began going up a side drainage off to the left (more like a large ramp) to meet the broad ridge around 12,300 feet where the ridge flattens into a large plateau. This involved huge amounts of talus hopping but we would soon realize there was much more talus to deal with!
We crossed over the narrow section of the ridge, and saw a couple small ferret looking animals (thinner than a marmot) that I had never seen before. They were actually quite cute but very skiddish. I was never able to get very close to one, but I got a nice photo shown in the gallery below. I could not figure out what they ate to survive up that high.
The rest of the ascent was over even larger boulders an additional 700 feet as we curved around to the north. The rugged west face was an awesome sight as well as Wilderness Basin below us to the north. We reached the summit just before 9am I believe and escaped the cold wind by dropping a few feet to some rocks right above the 1,000 foot east face. The massive valley with Glacier Lake, and the Merlon at the end of the rugged SE ridge made for an awesome view to relax with as we ate breakfast on the summit with no one else around.
I walked a couple minutes to the north to get a look at Black Tooth Mountain, which we had contemplated doing that day as well but having already done about 12 miles we were ready to head back. Just before we started down we saw two guys scrambling around the deep notch in the SE ridge just below the summit, one of which appeared to be on the phone. I do recall having service, but they quickly started down without actually reaching the summit (they were only 100 feet away!)
We never ended up seeing them again that day, but as we descended, we saw a few people headed up. We made quick work dropping down the huge boulders back to the narrow section and chatted with a group of three on their way up. Once back to the small basin at the head of Paint Rock Creek we relaxed a long time in the sun. I was able to fill water once again and we slowly re-gained the 400 feet back to Mistymoon Lake (which wasn't pretty) and for the rest of the hike I remember taking lots of photos since it was dark on the way in. The banner photo above is taken from Mistymoon Lake.
Sometime around 4pm we made it back to the trailhead where we parted ways. Matt went back home to Gillette and I headed to Red Lodge.
It was a very dark morning when we awoke and the moon was no where to be found. We packed up and were quickly walking up the trail. Matt had been up Cloud Peak before so he knew the way but this was my first trip here. It was a little creepy hiking the trail under total darkness, and when we passed by Lake Helen, Matt informed me there was a moose just a few yards off the trail! I saw the beaty eyes reflecting off my headlight.
Further up, after maybe 7 miles twilight started to illuminate the crest of the Big Horn Range, and once we reached Mistymoon Lake it was light enough to take the headlights off. We crested a small ridge and dropped about 400 feet into the head of Paint Rock Creek where we saw a handful of tents from people making the ascent of Cloud Peak in 2 days. It was still so early though that none of them were awake yet. We took a small break here to fill water and re-energize a bit. We spotted the small waterfall at the far side of the basin and located the climbers trail heading up towards the long SW ridge.
The trail ascended the lower slopes of the valley between Bomber Mountain and Cloud Peak, but eventually began going up a side drainage off to the left (more like a large ramp) to meet the broad ridge around 12,300 feet where the ridge flattens into a large plateau. This involved huge amounts of talus hopping but we would soon realize there was much more talus to deal with!
We crossed over the narrow section of the ridge, and saw a couple small ferret looking animals (thinner than a marmot) that I had never seen before. They were actually quite cute but very skiddish. I was never able to get very close to one, but I got a nice photo shown in the gallery below. I could not figure out what they ate to survive up that high.
The rest of the ascent was over even larger boulders an additional 700 feet as we curved around to the north. The rugged west face was an awesome sight as well as Wilderness Basin below us to the north. We reached the summit just before 9am I believe and escaped the cold wind by dropping a few feet to some rocks right above the 1,000 foot east face. The massive valley with Glacier Lake, and the Merlon at the end of the rugged SE ridge made for an awesome view to relax with as we ate breakfast on the summit with no one else around.
I walked a couple minutes to the north to get a look at Black Tooth Mountain, which we had contemplated doing that day as well but having already done about 12 miles we were ready to head back. Just before we started down we saw two guys scrambling around the deep notch in the SE ridge just below the summit, one of which appeared to be on the phone. I do recall having service, but they quickly started down without actually reaching the summit (they were only 100 feet away!)
We never ended up seeing them again that day, but as we descended, we saw a few people headed up. We made quick work dropping down the huge boulders back to the narrow section and chatted with a group of three on their way up. Once back to the small basin at the head of Paint Rock Creek we relaxed a long time in the sun. I was able to fill water once again and we slowly re-gained the 400 feet back to Mistymoon Lake (which wasn't pretty) and for the rest of the hike I remember taking lots of photos since it was dark on the way in. The banner photo above is taken from Mistymoon Lake.
Sometime around 4pm we made it back to the trailhead where we parted ways. Matt went back home to Gillette and I headed to Red Lodge.
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