Carneddau Triathlon

What a sense of triumph! In all directions the ground dropped below me, to the east off into the vastness of the Bob Marshall Wilderness with a large expanse of Grizzly Basin directly below. To the west from this birds eye view, the steep drop off I had just come up opened out on an expansive view of the Swan Valley with the Mission Mountain Range lining the western horizon. Below me, drifting lazily on the breezes, an eagle circled looking for its afternoon snack. To the east from my perch at the top of my world, 2 or 3 snowbanks in the draws below me persistently held out for upcoming fall and winter reinforcements.

From the Richmond Peak vantage point the face of the peak, made up of bare slide zones, with a few ridges of trees and brush, appeared to rise almost straight up from the valley floor below. It was not a mountain wall that I would expect to yield a trail, a bit of a cliffhanger path that would lead to the summit.

The area - such a wonder, and now I knew there was another route into the Bob. Truth be known, even though the climb was, well...., a climb, it really didnt take as long to make it to the Bob Marshall boundary as taking the other two primary routes.

Another 20 minutes of scrambling, and at last, the summit ridge for Sunday Mountain was conquered. The view stretched before me down and back into Montanas Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. To get to the Sunday Mountain summit called for another half hour of scrambling, following the ridge up and up until I could go no further, the highest point on the mountain ridge.

No question about it, this was also bear country - Grizzly bear country. The initial distance on this unmarked trail led off through dense, overgrown brush as it led across the saddle. What better place for them to be hanging out than in the dense brush I was working my way through.