Jewel Basin lake loop

Saturday, September 13, Patti and I hiked a loop of trails in the Jewel Basin area of the Swan Mountain Range.  We had planned on hiking in the Cabinet Mountains again this day but Patti wasn't feeling the best so we thought a closer easier hike would be better.  If you count 10.5 miles of hiking up and down easier.

We got to the Camp Misery parking lot early but not too early on a cool morning. But early enough to get a spot in the parking lot.  Enough trails and enough people hike from here that parking can be a problem if you arrive late.

 

We started from Camp Misery on trail 8 to the Noisy Creek Notch, then we passed the Twin Lakes. We continued on trail 7 to trail 55 to trail 719 to Blackfoot Lake.  Continuing on trail 719 to the little loop among the Jewel Lakes, then to Black Lake.  We walked down to Black Lake for a bit.  Three tents were set up for people camping there.

Continuing on trail 719 to trail 392 to Picnic Lakes.  We continued on trail 392 between Picnic Lakes then to the Jewel Basin boundary where we reconnected with trail 7.  Then on trail 68 then trail 8 back to Camp Misery.

*whew*  Lots of lakes and lots of trails.

A nice day and a nice hike.  Sunny.  Not hot or cold.  In the morning we saw some un-melted snow among the tree shade.  The mountains had gotten snow the previous couple of days from an early Winter-like storm.

There were lots of jet contrails high in the sky all day from numerous jets.

There were a number of people out and about on the trails as this is a popular place to hike, but it was not crowded. The dragon boat races were being held in Bigfork this weekend and that may have had an impact on the number or lack of people.

At the start of the final stretch - where we passed through a notch and left the Jewel Basin and hiked back down to the Camp Misery parking lot - we met two teen / pre-teen boys who had been fishing at Black Lake.  They were waiting for their other brother to catch up.   After hiking half down to Camp Misery on a curving round-a-bout trail we came upon the three boys standing on the trail.  They had bushwhacked through the tall/thick trees and brush down the mountainside.  Oh, to be young again.  They were waiting for some girls we could hear up above.  We never saw the kids again.  I believe they bushwhacked down the rest of the drainage back to Camp Misery.

Here are some photos:

https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6071059506320763665?authkey=CN3R46aRlNyuhwE

Here is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaPEGsBs0g&feature=youtu.be

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