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| Three Bear Lakes (upper left corner) and the Silver Butte Road (the lower right corner). |
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| Three Bear Lakes |
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| Middle Bear Lake. The rock at the bottom of the lake will be seen in my photos later. |
Location: 28 miles south of Libby on US 2. Turn right onto Silver Butte Road 148 and travel a little over 9 miles to the trail sign. Turn right and continue .1 mile under the power line. Ample parking is available at the trailhead due to the cleared area under the power line.
Trail number: 531 (On the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Map this trail is designated as Trail 178.)
Length: 3.0 miles
Trailhead Elevation: 3,700 feet
Trail End: Junction with Trail 63. Elevation: 5,900 feet
Elevation gain: 2200 ft.
The Silver Butte Road is little more than a one lane gravel road.
At quite a few places along the road were areas being logged or had been logged. Due to the Spring thaw it appears logging operations were suspended. A half dozen or more places had logs stacked with signs declaring that firewood gathering was prohibited. The road was rutted from the earlier logging activity and Patti had to drive slow and carefully.
Patti and I thought the trail to the lakes would be gradual and perhaps would follow a creek. Wrong on both parts. The trail climbed steadily up the mountain side. We had little downfall across the trail.
Because we had little snow during our hike to Snyder Lake last week at an elevation a little over 5000 ft, and because the Cabinet Mountains had less snow this Winter, we figured that what snow we would encounter would be small, scattered and manageable. Well... up to about 5500 ft we had little snow. For the next few hundred feet of elevation gain the snow was isolated and we could either walk around it or easily across it in a few steps. Then as the elevation rose the snow became more continuous with scattered ground.
While the snow was soft enough for firm footing, the snow was hard and solid and I didn't post hole. Patti had more post hole problems, even when stepping in my footsteps. The snow and elevation gain was wearing Patti out. While I was certain we were still on (above) the trail, Patti at times had doubts I was keeping us on the trail. A short time after we hopped on rocks and crossed Iron Meadows Creek she waited in a snow free area and ate some food while I continued on. I was certain we were close to the lakes.
After a half mile I reached the junction with the trail to the Iron Meadows. This was close to the middle Bear Lake. I had missed the spur trail to the first Bear Lake. This spur trail may have been the one time I was initially unsure which way the trail went through the trees. Shortly before I reached the trail junction to the Iron Meadows some trees had orange ribbons tied around them to indicate the trail.
Apparently the middle Bear Lake has a spur trail to it but it was impossible to find under the snow. I could not see the lake from the trail junction, but due to the mountain I could see through the trees I felt the lake lay below in the bowl below the mountain.
I bushwhacked through the trees. After a short distance I could see the lake below. It was quite a drop to the lake.
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| A little steep. Don't slip! |
I discovered I should avoid large shaded areas as the snow was too hard to dig my shoes into. The snow in the sun was soft and I could set my footsteps. I went about halfway down to get a photo of the lake un-obscured by the trees before climbing back up the steep mountainside and then returning to Patti.
I generally could follow my footsteps back the way I came. In a few large shadowy areas my footsteps were faint to non-existent and I had to take care to follow what I felt was the trail path through the trees. A few times I called out for Patti but she never heard me. I found my way back to Patti.
Even though she was rested she decided not to go up to the lake and will return after the snow has melted. At that time we can complete out intended itinerary of visiting Bear Lake then continuing on a divide trail over to Baree Lake before looping back to the car.
On the way back to Kalispell we stopped at Middle Thompson Lake and in the sun and warmth we studied Patti's map for other trails in the Cabinet Mountains. I found a couple interesting hikes with top elevations of only around 5000 ft and with low potential snow levels.
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| Middle Thompson Lake |
For 21 photos from our hike: https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6147514310857442561?authkey=CM6Z7ZGFhcfxngE
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