Dist: 9.7km Elev: 750m Summit: 9121' Time: 6h Difficulty: 4/5"Bear Bait" lives on! Despite looking a little different each year due to ever-changing circumstances in the family, it is always fun to get out and Lloyd, Matt and I had a great day in the hills. I proposed Grizzly Ridge in hopes of big views and small crowds, and this trip delivered on both. The hike to the Grizzly Ridge summit was itself quite scenic and enjoyable, but the real adventure began when we (I?) decided to deviate from the original plan by blazing a trail along the ridge between the high points of Grizzly and neighboring Highwood ridge, in pursuit of the "most direct" route back to the car. This quickly transformed our leisurely hike into hours of hands-on scrambling along a steeply angled treadmill of loose and dirty scree... More than we had bargained for, to say the least. Nonetheless, we all lived to tell the tale and agreed the day would be more memorable for the unexpected adventure. Next year, we'll do a nice alpine lake.
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| Pocaterra Ridge to the north. |
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| Ascending to Grizzly Col. |
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| Surveying the valley we just traversed. |
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| Watching a soloist scramble Mt. Tyrwhitt. |
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| On Grizzly Ridge, headed to the distant summit. |
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| Grizzly Ridge summit views. |
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| Massive rockslide on Tyrwhitt. |
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| Matt getting his scramble on. |
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| Lloyd rethinking some life choices. |
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| Papa Bear just crushing it. |
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| Highwood summit. Solid ground at last! |
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| Highwood summit views. |
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| Looking back at the "direct" return route before descending back into the trees. |
Wow, this is amazing! Impressive the tradition continues, spectacular the views and weather, awesome the rockfall, and incredible the dirt Lloyd collected on his hands during the scramble. Remarkable effort and inspiring trip, all of you.
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