Lower Aero Lake

My friend Kim arrived on Sunday afternoon and I haven’t slept since the adventures have continued unceasingly.  People often tell me that I have packed a lot in to my relatively short life; but they don’t know Kim.  Kim puts everyone to shame when it comes to utilizing the hours of the day for the creation of wild and crazy memories and stories to tell the future grandchildren; and, let me tell you, she redefines ‘wild’ and ‘crazy’.  When she visited me in Cooke back in January of 2010, she was named ‘Kamikaze Kim’, and not without good reason.

Her time in Cooke City this week, as expected, has been another series of memories and stories.  Because the photos tell the stories, I’ll dedicate this and the next couple posts to our mountain-top adventures these last few days.

Our first big escapade was on Monday, when we hiked to Lower Aero Lake in the beautiful Beartooth Mountains—Cooke City’s backyard playground.     

En route we were reminded that the mountains may be our playground but they’re some one else’s home.  We never laid eyes on this grizzly, but after seeing the tracks, he seemed rather omnipresent—probably for good reason.

From the trailhead to the lake and back was approximately ten miles of trail through gorgeous mountainous scenery, winding its way through timber and then upward in to high alpine country.

This is Zimmer Creek just before it reaches flat lands again.  Kim is standing proud in the photo, if you can find her among the rocks!

We hiked along Lady of the Lake, a lower alpine lake, then along Zimmer Creek, before turning properly upward through what is colloquially known as ‘Cardiac Gulch’.  Here I am at the top of Cardiac Gulch, smiling only because it was as we were heading down.  I was certainly not smiling just after reaching the top of the gulch, which we climbed nearly straight up from the valley below. 

But just after Cardiac Gulch, and a couple false summits, finally Lower Aero Lake came in to view.  It was a beautiful sight; and not just because we were exhausted from the Gulch.

It is, by far, one of the more magnificent scenes I’ve seen in the lower Beartooths.

After catching our breath and enjoying some PB&J, we headed back down the Gulch, down Zimmer, past Lady of the Lake, and finally back to the vehicle.  Here’s another shot of Zimmer Creek on our way down.

It was another beautiful day here in Montana!