Western Montana Getaways: Climb back into youth with a bouldering trip to Lost Horse Creek
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
HAMILTON - Climbing is one of our earliest impulses.
Maybe as a tyke you started with a chair, or the sofa perhaps. Inevitably, trees got some well-warranted attention. Eventually, your attention turned to rock. And perhaps that was the end of it. You grew up, got a job and, as the sage once said, put away childish things.
But in case you didn't, I've got a little road trip in mind for you. It's the sort of trip that could work on a number of levels, not the least of which is restoring some of the joy of childhood to your life.
Maybe you have kids of your own who are looking to scramble around on some rocks. Or maybe you've got the urge yourself, but don't really want to invest in a bunch of climbing equipment until you see whether you like it.
Or maybe you're just looking for a gorgeous drive to a very cool place.
What I've got in mind is a little bouldering trip to Lost Horse Creek, a bit south and west of Hamilton.
Bouldering, of course, is simply climbing without ropes. If the rock looks so high that a fall will maim or kill you, it's best not to climb without some experience, a rope and a partner.
Anything else is fair game.
But first off, let's talk location. Lost Horse is one of the big drainages that spill eastward from the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. If you're coming from the Missoula area, take Highway 93 south to Hamilton, then go about nine miles farther south to Lost Horse Road, which sits atop a little hill. Just under five miles to the west gets you to Lost Horse Creek Lodge, which is a great place to crash for the evening if you don't want to drive home or camp.
Between the lodge and the road that turns off toward Lake Como - another mile at most - are literally dozens of boulders, almost all on the north side of the road and uphill just a bit. Another area - called the Motherload - is just off Lake Como Road.
Cross the creek, go maybe a quarter mile and take the second dirt road to your left. It dead-ends at a gate, and the boulders are just a short walk from there.
Fact is, the woods of Lost Horse Creek are just full of boulders. To the extent that bouldering is a recognized subset of traditional climbing, people have been "climbing" in Lost Horse for decades.
Many of the biggest, baddest boulders have names like Gladiator, Super Rad, the House and John Wayne, and there are dozens of named routes up their flanks. Those names and routes have gone up over the years, and they're still being added to.
In fact, more than 30 climbers got together on the last weekend in April for the Lost Horse Boulder Bash, an informal gathering dedicated to working the area's current boulder "problems," maybe find a few new ones and generally have a fine time in the woods.
I mean, really, it doesn't get much better than traipsing around in the woods looking for cool rocks to climb. In a way, giving rocks names and such is a little goofy, but it does serve a useful purpose in that it binds the climbing community together and sets at least a loose standard for the difficulty of routes.
Even that - the grading of routes - can get pretty goofy and insular, but they're helpful to an extent if climbers grade fairly. On the other hand, grades can rob climbing of its very essence by making it more like other sports - so focused on statistics and measurements that we forget why we even like them.
If you want to get some idea of the grades on some of the Lost Horse boulders, check out the rockclimbing.com Web site. Click on the "Routes" tab, then North America, then United States, then Montana. On the Montana page, under Southwest, you'll see Lost Horse Creek. That site outlines a handful of boulders, along with their routes and grades. There are also some nice photos that might help you identify particular boulders.
If you're not familiar with boulder grades, you can find a good conversion chart from the more typical Yosemite Decimal System grades BY CLICKING HERE.
Now, the fact is, you don't need to know one thing about bouldering grades or conversion charts or even the names of boulders to go down to Lost Horse and have yourself a fine time. You can even go by yourself, if you'd like, though it's nice to have a spotter if you decide to climb a route that truly challenges your talents.
But otherwise, just get out there and climb. A pair of climbing shoes will help, of course, and a bouldering pad is nice for the inevitable crash. They're not essential, though, and kids will be happy just scrambling around.
If you get to climbing around on rocks that haven't been climbed before, you will want a small brush - an old toothbrush works fine - to clear away the pine needles and old lichens that clutter some of the boulders.
Remember, go lightly in the woods and on the stone. If you can't climb the rock, move on. Clean up after yourself, stick to trails when you can and leave the place as nice as you found it.
