Rose's 1st Backpacking Mission

7 Years Old &
Hellroaring Bound

Rose has profoundly altered my view of the world in so many ways, and one of them is the things a girl can do vs. a boy.  At her age, we're getting into the territory now where I have scattered memories of myself at that age, and in comparison she is far ahead in so many aspects.
She can climb ropes and do monkey bars way better than I could.  It seems silly, but at 7 that's really the heart of your social and athletic environment.  Social skills.  Reading.  Foreign languages.  She does so much of what is important to me way better than I did at that age.
We can add backpacking to that list now as well.  I don't know when I went on my first backpacking mission, but this trip was a demanding, big one for a kid that age, and she did awesome.
We went to the Hellroaring Plateau, and the Hellroaring Lake Basin.
If you've ever been going up Beartooth Pass, heading south from Red Lodge, you can look across the valley as the road starts to kick up towards Vista Point, and on the other side you can see a dirt road, a dirt Beartooth Pass if you will.  This is the Twin Bridges / Hellroaring Plateau road.  Before the Wilderness designation, it was one of the many jeep roads that bisected the area.  Hard to believe now, but there used to be at least three different routes south over the Beartooth Mountains.

The close switchbacks are the Hellroaring Jeep road;
 in the background Beartooth Pass and Vista Point

Traffic Jam

Six vehicles and seven groups of people at the TH.  Amazed.  Did not expect that.  The parking lot was overflowing.  It was a bad sign.
Then, one by one, within about ten minutes, they all left going back down.  Including one older couple (mid 70's ish) who absolutely mystified all of us by getting a ride all the way up the road with an ATVer, then wandering around the parking lot, seemingly in a silent but tense discussion, before heading straight down the fall line off into no-man's land towards upper Rock Creek.  So if anybody knows a missing couple of white folk about that age, go look there.  God only knows what their plan was that day.  Teeny little backpacks too.
So Rose and I headed up.  She carried a backpack too.  Mine was heavier, but she was doing her part.  We caught and passed the ATVer, and headed down off the plateau into the Basin.
The trail down from the plateau did not exist, and we slipped and slid all the way down, all buts and elbows.  Halfway down we scouted the basin, and we both picked out the same exact campsite at the same time.  Great minds.  . .
We thought we were going to Snowbank Lake, but we missed and hit much lower in the chain, next to an unnamed lake we named Shrimp Lake.

Next to Rydberg & Smethurst: Shrimp Lake.
I've seen smaller lakes with names, and it's so scenic, it merits a name.
Shrimp Lake because it is filled to the brim with HUGE shrimp.
Never seen anything like it, it was tough to scoop up water without them.

First Three Hellroaring

That first night, we fished three lakes: Smethurst, then Daly, then Rydberg.  On many maps, all lakes in the area are simply named Hellroaring.  It's a confusing basin.  The NatGeo or the Beartooth only maps are better.  Smethurst and Rydberg are also considered the first Hellroaring Lakes because many people park at Twin Bridges and scramble up the Hellroaring Creek rather than going up the plateau.  It makes a lot of sense, and it's probably what we'll do next time.  If you do this, you hit Rydberg first.
Smehturst and Rydberg were filled with teeny tiny little brookies, plus a CT or two, and we didn't fish much.
Daly was insane.  So scenic, and filled to the brim with little pan sized brookies.

Daly Lake

Her cast is really nice.  She's a great little fisherwoman.

All about Elkhorn

Day two we did one big mission, that ended up being all about Elkhorn.  That lake rocks!!!!!

Hellroaring sucks as a name.  It's not loud down there.  There's nothing distinctly roaring about it.
The only hellish thing: navigation.  It is tough to get around down in the basin; it's very swampy.
Once we learn our way around more, maybe it's easier, but on your first try, it's a swampy maze.

Secret Tunnel

The highlight of the day for Rose was this secret tunnel.  It's the outlet from Elkhorn Lake.  It was one of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

When you pop out on the uphill side of the tunnel, you're at Elkhorn Lake.  Like Smethurst, it's amazing such a small lake even holds fish.  Unlike Smethurst, these fish are really nice sized, great looking bookies.  Also caught three baby CT's, but mostly nice brookies.  Rose calls them Bronco Fans, because of the orange and blue dots.  We slayed it at Elkhorn, filled up a bag with snow and brookies, and headed back to camp to get home.

Crescent Lake

Look at that Cast!!!  She almost nailed a big one with this one.

Crescent is super scenic, including this waterfall inlet.  It's also stocked with big fish.
They're more choosy though.  Only caught one.  Great one though.

Hellroaring proper.  Really wanted to fish this one, but we were both low on energy.
Instead, we packed up and headed out.

All Told

The first day, Rose hiked 1.2 miles in, with a bunch of gained lost' elevation.  She had on a backpack even. During our fishing mission, I didn't keep track, but it had to be another mile or two at least.
The second day, she did five miles, and with a couple of thousand vertical feet.  It was an insane effort for a girl her age.  No complaints, no problems at all.  In fact she had a great time, keeping herself entertained all day by finding rocks for her fairy crew back home.  The whole area has a lot of quartz and rose quartz.  We had a great time.
Go Homeschool!