HELLROARING

The next morning we had breakfast and packed up for the final backpacking trip of our 2020 summer adventure. Then we continued driving up Rock Creek Road. We passed many, many primitive campsites along the way. Most of them were occupied – this is clearly a popular valley for free camping. Rock Creek Road is mostly a good dirt road, though the last mile was steep and rough in places. I think most vehicles could make it to the trailhead at the end of the road. If not, there are places to park along the way. If necessary, you could park a bit before the end of the road and walk from there.

There were a fair number of cars at the trailhead when we arrived on Wednesday morning. We completed our packing in the parking lot. Our plan was to backpack in to Shelf Lake, which is situated below the Hellroaring Plateau, but above treeline. We would spend one or two nights there. On Thursday morning we planned to hike up to the Hellroaring Plateau and climb Mount Rearguard. At 12,204’, Mount Rearguard is the highest point on the plateau. It towers above Black Canyon Lake, which we had visited the previous day. It also promised views of Spirit Mountain, Beartooth Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and the Bears Tooth itself.

We would return to our campsite at Shelf Lake on Thursday afternoon. At that point we could either hike back out or spend another night in the wilderness. That would largely depend on the time and our energy level. Spending another night would be more aesthetic, but hiking out would be more convenient. We had a 30 hour drive home, and the sooner we started on that on Friday, the better.

We started our adventure on the Glacier Lake Trail, which is well-designed and maintained. It’s a popular trail leading to a man-made lake on Rock Creek that sits just below treeline. We climbed numerous switchbacks, enjoying views of cascades on Rock Creek and the unnamed tributary that drains Moon Lake and Shelf Lake. We crossed a sturdy bridge over that stream and continued up a few more switchbacks. We reached a faint, unmarked junction with the route to Shelf Lake and Moon Lake. Since we got an early start, I decided to drop my pack and continue up the trail to Glacier Lake. We were so close, it would’ve been a shame to miss it. Christy decided to relax while I took the side trip.

Glacier Lake wasn’t quite as close as I thought. I still had to climb another 700’ to reach the ridge above the lake. I eventually reached a pretty good view of the lake, but there were enough scrubby trees around to get in the way of good photos. I thought I might be able to see Emerald Lake from there, but it was hidden from sight. It also looks like there may be a waterfall on Rock Creek downstream from Glacier Lake. However, that stretch of creek is down in a canyon, out of view.

I backtracked to rejoin Christy at the junction. We had lunch there before starting the grueling climb towards Shelf Lake. We followed a use trail, which climbs very steeply along the creek draining Moon Lake. Aside from being way too steep, the path was in pretty good shape. We finished the hardest part of the climb and arrived at a challenging stream crossing. Although unnamed, it is a large, cascading creek. We didn’t really want to wade, since that would require soaking our camp shoes. We continued upstream beyond the obvious crossing point, bushwhacking through thick willows. We reached the base of some cliffs, which prevented us from continuing upstream on that side of the creek. Luckily, there is a large boulder in the middle of the stream. It required some gymnastics, but we were able to use it to cross the creek without getting wet.

Once on the far side, we scrambled through talus and bushwhacked a bit to regain the trail. We continued up the valley, enjoying some easier walking. We passed a campsite in a treeline meadow at the point where we would head up to the Hellroaring Plateau the next morning. That actually would’ve been the most convenient campsite for us, but I wanted to camp at Shelf Lake. We rock hopped the creek and passed a couple of shallow ponds. After the second one, we rock hopped the creek again and started up a final, steep climb. We crested the final hill and arrived at the Shelf Lake outlet. The alpine lake sprawled in either direction, and the cliffs of the Hellroaring Plateau towered across from us.

We didn’t see any campsites. We explored up the ridge to the east, hiking through rocks and grass. Apparently, there aren’t any established campsites up there, but we found a decent spot that wasn’t too rocky for the tent. We set up camp there, and Christy spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. I did another hike, up through alpine meadows to Moon Lake. Moon Lake is another alpine gem, sitting in a notch between the cliffs of Spirit Mountain and Mount Rearguard. There was another group camped there, but I didn’t see any actual people. Just a few tents and one hammock that was set up strategically between two boulders.

We got up at first light the next morning. After a bit of debate, we decided to break camp and take our gear back to the campsite we had passed near treeline. We would stash our packs there. When we returned, we would either camp there or head out. This way, we left our options open. The hike from that campsite to Shelf Lake is tougher than I anticipated. I suspected that we wouldn’t want to hike back up there after coming down from Mount Rearguard. And if we did hike back up there, we would spend a second night there. At that point, there’s no way we would break camp and hike out. Shelf Lake was a nice spot, but spending a second night there wasn’t compelling.

We packed up and carried everything back down past the ponds. We reached the campsite, and moved our essential gear into my pack. Then we stashed Christy’s pack and the food cannister under some scrubby trees. Once that was complete, we were ready to start our hike. It was a cloudy morning, and the weather looked very sketchy for a summit attempt. Unfortunately, it was now or never. We had to start the drive home the next day.

The climb to the Hellroaring Plateau is tougher than it looks on the map. We contoured south, traversing below cliffs. We passed a spur ridge coming down from those cliffs, turned the corner, and headed up a steep, grassy slope. There was some talus along here, but we were able to avoid the worst of it by zig zagging around. The slope eventually eased, and after climbing 800’ we reached the top of the plateau. We followed the ridge high above Shelf Lake, looking back down at our campsite from the previous night. The morning clouds had cleared somewhat, but there were more on the horizon. Conditions were iffy, but it was still early.

After some relatively easy walking, we contoured around the top of the Laduala Creek drainage through a talus field. Then we started the second tough climb of the day. We climbed a steep, rocky ridge along the tops of the cliffs above Shelf Lake. We gained 500’, but swung around a minor, unnamed summit. At that point, we had a good view of what awaited us. Mount Rearguard towered ahead of us, above an unending sea of rocks. Ugh. There were a lot of dark clouds to the west, too.

We debated our options, but decided to continue on for some inexplicable reason. Conversation was difficult anyway, due to the howling wind. Apparently that wind was the inspiration behind the name of the Hellroaring Plateau. THE WIND NEVER STOPS UP THERE!

REARGUARD

A long, tedious talus slog led to a minor gap on the ridge above Moon Lake. From there, we tackled the final 1,100’ climb up a giant pile of boulders and talus. There were times during this climb where it seemed like we weren’t making any progress at all. The entire climb was a game of “which way up looks the least worst”? Despite this, we somehow struggled to the top. The summit is covered in a series of rock towers, all roughly the same height. There was no telling which one was the actual highest point, so we just picked one.

Usually I like to hang out on a summit after a tough climb. That wasn’t an option on this day. The climb had taken far longer than I had expected, and bad weather was threatening once again. We took in the views and ate a quick lunch before hurrying back down. The descent was faster, though we had to be cautious about the occasional loose rocks and gaping holes between the boulders. Once at the bottom, I veered east a bit to get a view of Sliderock Lake. We were out of water, and we stumbled upon a small stream in the middle of the talus maze.

The initial wave of storms passed us by. We resumed the hike, and spotted a whole herd of mountain goats heading down the cliffs towards Moon Lake. Our luck with the weather eventually ran out. We were on the final descent from the Hellroaring Plateau when a nasty storm hit. The temperature dropped into the 30’s, and we were pelted with ice. At least we were off the plateau, away from the riskiest spots for a lightning strike. The storm passed quickly, and we reached the campsite where we had stashed Christy’s pack late that afternoon.

We were exhausted. Initially we decided to set up camp there and hike out first thing the next morning. We had just started that process when we were swarmed by mosquitoes. Ugh! Where did they come from? Suddenly, that campsite didn’t seem very appealing, and the hike out was all downhill.

We headed out. It was slow going despite the downhill grade, due to exhaustion, cramping, and sore muscles. We reached the car shortly before dark. At least we saved the toughest hike of the entire trip for the end!

We drove down the road and stopped at the first vacant campsite. We arrived at dusk and set up camp in the dark. We made a quick dinner and went straight to sleep.

I made coffee and we packed up the next morning. We were out of food, so we drove into Red Lodge and stopped at Prindy’s Place for breakfast and more coffee. It’s a small place, and we had to wait a bit. It wasn’t anything special, but it was more than good enough under the circumstances. Afterwards, we started the long drive home. We drove east and then south towards Cody, passing the spectacular cliffs of Heart Mountain along the way. Heart Mountain is an impressive peak that reminds me a bit of Devils Tower. From there, we drove to Casper and on to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where we stopped for dinner. We continued onto I-80 and covered another couple hundred miles that evening. We stopped at a hotel in central Nebraska Friday night. On Saturday we drove back through Lincoln, Nebraska, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Originally I thought we might camp in southern Illinois, but it was way too hot! We got a hotel in Paducah, Kentucky on Saturday night. We made good time on the drive home, and made it back by early evening on Sunday.

It was another great trip to the Rockies for us. We picked the perfect destination during a pandemic, as we were able to avoid other people most of the time. There are still many, many hikes I want to do in the Wind River Range and the Beartooth Mountains. I’m sure we will be back soon!

Back to Montana

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!