Location: North 48.49876, West 115.45323 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: (YDS) class 1.
Climbed August 7, 2012.
Information:
How to get there:
The starting point for visiting this mountain, is the town of Libby in north-west Montana. Libby is located on
Hwy. 2 connecting Kalispell (MT) and Spokane (WA), about 32 miles from the state line to Idaho.
Here is a quick reference and summary of all
peaks visited on my 2012 summertrip to the USA.
Route description:
This is a mountain that can be visited by car. From Libby, drive 1.1 miles East on US37, then 7 miles
north on Pipe Creek Road. At the 7 miles marker, turn right onto a good gravel road with a sign saying
Blue Mountain Lookout 11 miles. Stay at the main road as it climbs the hill all the way to the summit with
communication antennas and a fire lookout tower.
Comments:
After the 29 hour "epic" climb of Mount Cleveland, we needed a rest and recovery day in Libby before
taking on Snowshoe Peak. Rob and I decided to explore Blue Mountain in the morning before Melanie and
Eirik would be ready for an excursion.
We had a nice and easy drive to this summit, up there we met the guy that worked every day in the
fire lookout. This meant that we got access to his excellent "office" up on top of the tower.
Upon return, I drove Eirik and Melanie to a State Park, known for its big cedar trees. This park is called
Ross Creek Giant Cedars. I then returned to Libby, where Rob and I wanted to drive a bit back on Hwy. 2 and try
to locate another P600 peak. This attempt failed, we got overselves lost on dirt roads that did not get us to
any summits.
Later, I went back to pick up Melanie and Eirik. On the way back to Libby, we stopped and visited the
famous Kootenai Falls.
The fall is not very high, but the
water volume is quite impressive. A bit downstream
is the Swinging Bridge, another attraction
that we had to check out.
Overall, a good day
providing some new attractions as well
as some recovery in order to make a pre-dawn
start on Snowshoe peak tomorrow.
