Summit has good "views"
0.5 miles, +160 ft, -35 ft
This is a short hike to a rocky knob on the continental divide.
From the Bernice Exit on I-15 (Exit 151) between Boulder and Butte, take the Boulder River Road west as follows:
0.0 Exit I-15 at Bernice
3.2 Turn right and cross the Boulder River, then continue westwardly.
10.1 Stay on the main road (left) at the Indian Creek turn off.
East Crater is a peak in the Indian Heaven wilderness. Three years ago, the south side and ridgeline of East Crater were completely burned by a fire that ended up burning about 500 acres in the area, and this fire caused the evacuation of the entire Indian Heaven wilderness area in September of 2017. Not much has grown back on the south side, while the north side, essentially untouched by the fire, is thick with trees.
Turn east off of Fields-Denio Road at 42.1606, -118.6033 onto Whitehorse Ranch Lane.
Turn north off of Whitehorse Ranch lane onto an unmarked road at 42.2577, -118.3200
Turn left at an obscure point at 42.2819, -118.3588
Make a hairpin right turn at 42.2622, -118.3870
Park near a locked gate at 42.2619, -118.3895
Hike up the road for just over a mile and turn left at the saddle away from the radio installation. A short rock scramble is required here to get up to the broad mesa that is Buckskin Mountain.
Elevation gain is 700 feet.
Turn east off of Fields-Denio Road at 42.1606, -118.6033 onto Whitehorse Ranch Lane.
Turn off of that onto an unmarked road at 42.3111, -118.2625
Go past the right turn to Willow Creek Hot Springs to turn left at 42.2769, -118.2624
Park at 42.2463, -118.2392
From here it is cross country 3.6 miles round trip with 1400 feet of elevation gain.
Pueblo Mountain with 4x4.
Turn off of the Fields-Denio Road at 42.1447, -118.6038.
Make a sharp left at 42.1346, -118.6350.
Stop driving a start walking at 42.0996, -118.6686.
From that last point it is about 2.2 miles round trip with 2200 feet of elevation gain. It is steep, but not technical at all. Route is obvious, but a GPS is always helpful.
This summit is attained in a 4.5 mile, 3500 ft elevation gain hike with well maintained trial for the first half and reasonable trail with loose rock the rest of the way to the top. The trail head is easy to find once you know what you are looking for. There are a few key GPS waypoints that ease your way tremendously. I would not have been able to make this activation without tips from KC7DM, so a huge thank you to him.
Mount Tiny is within the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Area near Georgetown Lake. Mount Tiny is a great SOTA double with its neighbor Little Rainbow Mountain, W7M/BR-071.
The summit provides excellent views of high mountain lakes and open alpine SOTA peaks. A glass jar register filled with paper is tucked into the summit rocks.
Elevation gain: 2700’ from Storm Lake.
Trail Miles: 5.5 roundtrip.
Off-trail miles: 1 mile roundtrip.
Little Rainbow Mountain is within the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Area. The summit provides excellent views of high mountain lakes and open alpine SOTA peaks. Little Rainbow is a great SOTA double with its neighbor Mount Tiny, W7M/BR-079
Elevation gain: 2800’ from Storm Lake.
Trail Miles: 4.5 roundtrip.
Off-trail miles: 1.4 miles roundtrip.
Water: Depending the time of year a stream exists above Storm Lake along the trail. Then none exists along the trail.
Three Lakes Peak is just within the Flathead Indian Reservation along the Reservation Divide. The summit has great views of the Confederate Salish-Kootenai Tribes land, the Flathead River, three alpine lakes, the Mission Mountains and the Ninemile Valley. A Flathead Reservation Use Permit is required.
Two routes are described. The Alternate route is shorter, but much steeper and nearly double the elevation gain. The Reservation DivideTrail is good, but in some meadow crossings it is easy to lose the trail due to forb and grass overgrowth.
