Mt. Cowen

Anyone that knows me well enough knows that I often have a "fun" time on my trips. By fun I simply mean that everything is stacked against me. Cowen turned out to be one of those. Good times.
Last summer Tom had suggested that we go climb Mt. Cowen out in the Absarokas/Beartooth Wilderness. This peak is only 11,209 ft. But what it lacks in height it makes up for in pure intimidation. I never expected to feel like I was walking into the Tetons for the first time again. That was pure intimidation. This turned out to be the same.
Since we never got this trip together last summer, I just started making plans and told people I was going and then I would see who ended up going with me. It worked out well because Brandt and Tom ended up coming. We were heading out Friday afternoon when a torrential downpour and hailstorm rolled through. At that point we were all wondering if we should actually go because the streets of Bozeman were actually flooded. We apparently went against our instincts and still decided we would make it. We left Bozeman at 5:00pm and got to the trailhead a little after 6:00pm. We had 8 miles to hike.
We threw the packs on and started hiking at 6:30pm. About a half mile into the hike, it started raining again. We all stopped and put on our pack covers to keep our gear wet, but didn't put on our jackets because we were sweating enough that it really didn't matter. We were trying to hike fast so we could make camp before nightfall. We tried... but it didn't work.
About 2.5 miles in we were going up switchbacks and walked over this crest only to see a grizzly bear just a little ways in front of us. The bear looked at us and then went running off. This area is known to have a lot of bears so we had two cans of bear spray with us in case we did get attacked. Eventhough we did have the spray, it was pretty simple to have the bear just go running off. Couldn't ask for an easier confrontation really.
Well, we kept on hiking, finished the switchbacks and eventually rolled up and over another ridge crest where we got our first glimpse of the peaks as they broke through the clouds for an instant. Just imagine a rough granite peak poking out of the darkest most ominous looking clouds you've seen. We all stopped for a minute and tried to take it all in, but our time was forever getting shorter to make it to camp by nightfall.
We kept on hiking and before I knew it my feet were getting soaked. Oh right, it's raining. Blisters forming... feet getting sore... keep going. We were all getting tired by about 9:00 or 9:30 and just kept on hoping we'd be making camp before long. Carrying camping and climbing gear was just a little too heavy to move fast enough to make it before nightfall and before we knew it we were putting our headlamps on. But, before we got the headlamps on we came upon a little excursion that made us even more tired and possibly a little desperate.
Just as night was falling we were met by the trail going in two directions. One direction looked as though it was closed and the other went across a river. With such a good snowfall year, the river was still high enough that it had taken over the trail and we were forced to cross the river to the other drier side. We walked across a couple downed trees and made it to the other side where we put our headlamps on. We found the trail on the other side, but it soon disappeared. "I'm cold, wet, and we're lost." Not how I envisioned this going. We backtracked, crossed the river again and started hiking next to the river. After about 45 minutes we finally made it back to the trail. It's now about 10:45. We've only got a half mile to go.
We keep hiking along the wet trail and come upon camp a little after 11:00pm. We should have been here about two hours ago if we weren't forced to start late because of a hail storm and we wouldn't have gotten lost. We're searching in the dark to find a place to camp and eventually just put our stuff down in the best spot we can find. We throw the tents up, get our food and start cooking. I start to filter water while Brandt and Tom start to eat. I'm absolutely starving now staring at the lake we're next to pumping water into our Nalgenes. "This could have gone a little better. I think we should have just called the trip off from the get go." Oh well... we're here.
When I'm finally eating, I ask Brandt what time it was and low and behold it's 12:20am. "Wow, this pasta and cheese tastes ridiculously good!"
We pack all our food into a bag and go to find a tree to hang it in. I grab my p-cord and tie a rock on the end to toss the rock up and over a tree branch. I'm way off. Possibly a little too tired to be doing this. Brandt suggests "maybe you should toss it underhand." Alright, here we go. Didn't get it again, but you know what let's just see if we can haul the bag up off this branch. We tie the bag on and start to haul the food. I'm standing underneath holding the bags off the ground while Tom starts hauling the bag from the other end of the cord and the branch comes down right on my head. "Well, this is fun." Luckily a different branch held it and now we're hauling the bag up and tying it off. Finally.
We all go to bed and decide we'll get up at 6:30am and be off hiking by 7:00am. Wouldn't you know it... we didn't get up until 9:15am. What just happened? Well, you need to start the approach for alpine climbs like this one very early because the hike, the climb and the descent will end up taking all day. Since we didn't get up early enough, the climb was out of the question. The last thing I wanted was to be on the peak only to get caught in a storm. While I may be stubborn and try to do things beyond potential sometimes, I do manage to get a good decision in once in a while.
Well, we ate breakfast, looking at the beautiful cirque we were camped in and decided to hike the approach just to look at the climb. So we all grab our cameras and make off for Mt. Cowen (which you can't see from camp). We start hiking up a steep scramble and come up over the ridge and see a couple beautiful lakes sitting in a tight cirque. We are taking things slow since we've got all day and manage to take some pictures, have a bite next to the lakes and then keep moving on up the valley. As we're getting higher, we're coming upon more and more snow. We scramble up snow and rocks, and go past small waterfalls. Brandt stops about halfway up because his knee is hurting him. We leave him right next to one of the waterfalls and Tom and I keep hiking up to the ridge to get a glimpse of the route. As we near the top we start to see Cowen over the ridge and realize the route is still another short valley away. "You mean we would have had to climb two ridges just to get to the route?" Tom looks at me, "I guess so." Then he lets out a great chuckle that signals the full extent of how massive this thing would have been to climb today. If we did get up in time to climb it, we definitely would have been extremely tired by the time we got to the summit and we would have had a pretty big descent to do after that climbing down a snowfield and through a couloir then down to scree and boulders. Fantastic.
We take some pictures and a little video and get the heck off the ridge. We end up basically skiing in our boots down the snowfields and make the descent in about 10 minutes compared to the hour it took to get up.
When we get back to camp, we lounge around and finally realize how tired and hungry we are. We fire up the stove a little before 6:00pm, eat, and are in bed by 8:00pm. You never quite feel like a real man until you are in bed before your niece who isn't even a year and a half old.
We wake up the next day to more clouds and a little rain on the hike out. Luckily it wasn't raining right when we woke up so we could pack our tents while they were dry. When we put the bags back on, we all wince a little bit at the weight and the sore hips from the hike in.
For the most part, the hike out was uneventful, minus Brandt's hurt knee. I was starting to get worried we might have to split up Brandt's weight so he wouldn't have to have weight on his knee, but luckily he made it the whole way out with a little hobbling. When we were most of the way out, we were met by a little rain for the last couple miles. Start in rain and end in rain. Not so bad. It kept it cool, but it also gave me a couple bad blisters from having wet feet.
When we made it back to Bozeman, we pick up some steaks and potatoes and go grill at Tom's place. Oh, don't worry we're basically making the early bird special (4:30pm). That's dinner time right?
We might try this again in a couple of weeks, but we'll see. Not too stoked right now to have another go at it. But, as people know, I'll keep going back for more... sore muscles, blistered feet and all.