On August 24, 2010 I hiked to the summit of Western Montana’s Trapper Peak along with my dog, Jack the Bitterroot Beagle, and Bob Sherman of ExploretheBitterroot.com. The route we took was via Baker Lake, as opposed to the more heavily travelled Trapper Peak trail. We attempted this hike the week prior, but were unsuccessful in locating the path up the ridge from Baker Lake. However, with the help of Michael Hoyt, author of Bitterroot Mountain Summits, we found the proper route this time and successfully climbed the highest peak in the Bitterroot Mountains at 10,157 feet.

It took us nearly five hours to reach Trapper Peak Summit. But we were taking it easy and filming along the way. I’m sure that Jack the Bitterroot Beagle could have made it in half that time, as he is a hiking machine. Jack had no trouble with any of the steep slopes or traversing the talus slopes and boulder fields. In fact, he did much better than we did.

The weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely spectacular. At the summit, I filmed a 360-degree panning shot. It started toward the southwest over Trapper’s Summit. In the background, over the Boulder Creek drainage was Boulder Peak’s middle and west summits. Farther back was Mount Jerusalem and North Mount Jerusalem. As I panned to the west, the west ridge of Trapper Peak came into view along with Mink Peak. Panning to the northwest, I could see Trapper Creek drainage, then the summits around Chaffin Canyon, West Chaffin Peak, The Shard, Little Tin Cup Peak, and Sugarloaf Peak. Farther away was El Capitan and, barely visible, one of the Como Peaks. To the northeast was Cave Lake, followed by a good view of North Trapper’s three summit blocks and its climbable north face. The Bitterroot Valley was now in the distance, with East Trapper Peak approaching in the foreground. Next was Boulder Point and Boulder Peak’s east summit.  The massive block in the foreground was on Trapper’s north ridge.

Montana movie star, Jack the Bitterroot Beagle, may be the only dog to have hiked Trapper Peak Summit by way of Baker Lake.