The Ottoway Lakes Loop
A favorite picture of mine. Not far from camp the early morning light streaks through the burn recovering forest.
Time to Gain Some Altitude
The Ottoway Lakes Loop, September 2004Day 2 September 23: Clark Fork to Ottoway Lake. 9.4m 3050 foot gain 504 foot loss (H->10.2m).
Even though I woke up a number of times during the night, it was not a bad first night of the trip. I woke up near dawn and waited for the air to warm up a bit before getting up. As soon as I was up (after packing up the sleeping gear), I lit the morning fire to keep warm in the freezing air. As I worked through the morning chores, the air temperatures streaked upwards, and I slowly peeled off layers of clothing. By the time I was ready to hit the trail, the air temperature was merely cool, ideal for hiking. Leaving the nice comfortable camp behind, I hit the trail.
The dome ahead was the first real pronounced feature of the morning along the trail, and makes a good map reference point. It is the hill NE of point 8567, west of the trail and creek. You can see the trail here, going upward from left to right on the left side of the picture. The fall colors were beginning to show themselves.
The trail took off with a slight climb then a fall to Red Creek, another nearly dry crossing. After a short climb the trail leveled off in open forest and remained a fairly level walk for over 2 miles, maybe gaining 300 feet. It met the mostly dry Illiloutte Creek after about a mile then veered away again for a while, but returned to the Creek and a number of good camps across the solid granite channel of the dry Illiloutte Creek. At this point the trail began to climb in earnest, quickly climbing 1000 feet over about a mile and a half: a stiff climb.
The climb was mostly a fairly viewless one, but the scenery gradually became more open and alpine. A dome passed to my right, a point of reference in the otherwise forested terrain. As the landscape started to open up, it began featuring an interesting walk over slab granite and stunted trees as I climbed over 8000 feet.
