Climbing Papoose via Lee Ridge

One of the spiny outcrops along the ridge of Chief Mountain is Papoose and a fun climb via Lee Ridge which was filled with wildflowers on an epic day in the Belly River area of Glacier National Park.

With the construction at Many Glacier forcing us to turn around and go for plan B, we headed up further north, up the Chief Mountain Highway to the Lee Ridge Trailhead. Into the lodgepole forest we went, with the woods filled with bird song, wildflowers, and the occasional pile of bear scat. The first few miles is an up and down affair over the gnarled ridges and can be filled with mosquitos, but thankfully, they weren’t swarming and we cruised our way up the ridge through the dappled sunlight that highlighted the forest floor.

There’s a point where the trail climbs up onto the ridge. You can’t see anything as you’re still in the trees, but everything seems different. We came across multiple pasqueflowers, in peak condition, along with some lovely anemones. We started to hear some Fox Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows joining in with the Yellow-rumped Warblers and Swainson’s Thrushes.

Just a bit further, we began to get into the epic views that make this one of my favorite hikes. To the east, Chief Mountain stands proud and feels like it’s almost within arm’s length. Along the ridge are two shark-toothed protrusions of limestone. Our plan was to climb both, but we’d see what the time ended up being and what our energy level showed.

The forest gave way to the terraced alpine slopes. The lovely, low-growing alpine flowers such as White Dryas and Cusick’s Locoweed were unavoidable to tread. From here the trail fades and officially becomes a series of official cairns that take you up to the base of the cliffs on Gable Mountain. This mountain has a couple of wonderful high points visible and the copper colored bands that go across it are visible at the top of Chief Mountain. You get a sense of the history and magnitude of the place that is so much bigger than yourself.

While enjoying the scenery, some movement caught Kristen’s eye. We got the binoculars on… a Bobcat! It was our first cat in the park and a wonderful one at that! We only saw it briefly as it went from one clump of trees to another, until it popped out again! It then sauntered across the ridge, across the trail and down on the other side, stopping a couple of times to stare at us. What a day!

A Common Raven started squawking and got my attention as that sound can sometimes mean that a Golden Eagle is around and sure enough, it was harassing these magnificent apex birds.

We continued up the slope that gradually gets steeper, stopping to catch our breath and marvel at the mountains, the wildflowers, and just everything about the day. At the junction with the Gable Pass Trail, we chatted with some backpackers before dropping east and crossing over a remaining snowfield. We passed through the massive, limestone boulders that had carpets of Glacier Lilies and a multitude of other wildflowers, eventually dropping down to Gable Pass.

From there, we broke off trail and up onto the ridge with Chief Mountain. We gradually gained elevation as we approached the seemingly insurmountable hunk of rock in front of us. After sizing it up, we decided to take a right and see if there was an approach from the east flank. We found an acceptable route that worked us up, then back around to the south side where we charged the summit on a steep aspect.

Along the way, we spied ten Bighorn Sheep rams at the saddle between Papoose and the next limestone protrusion, Ninaki. Finally the summit was gained. We took a few pictures, then worked down to a less precipitous exposure and had lunch. From there, we rewound our adventures through the rocks, the flowers, and the birdsong, back to our car.