05/14/14 Woody Mountain 6220' #28

Backside of Jumbo

On May 14th, I went out for another bike-and-hike with the one before being so enjoyable.  This time I wanted to get up Woody Mountain.  Woody sits east along the Clark Fork and is mostly hidden from Missoula, but once you get around Jumbo, there it is.  I decided to try to bike up some dirt roads off the Marshall Canyon Road.  These are nice as they are closed to motor vehicles.

I made it to a point where the main road (at least it looked most traveled) switchbacks and I followed the road that continued around the hill.  Then that road cut back and I stayed in the same direction again.  This new road I was on was mostly grass with two tracks.  It had not been used by vehicles in quite some time.  This road took me on a little bit of a descent into Mittower Gulch and across the little creek that runs back there.

Woody from near the saddle

After crossing the creek the road became even rougher.  It was all grass and was starting to grow back in.  There were spots where the creek ran over its banks and ran down the road a ways.  At this point the road was too rough and too steep for me so I was pushing my bike.  I worked my way deeper and deeper into the gulch.  Eventually the road left the creek and began climbing.  Here the road was much steeper and needless to say, I was still pushing the bicycle.  It is difficult pushing a bike up a steep trail or road, but I continue to tell myself that it will all be worth it on the descent.

Burned tree near summit

The road continued to climb and around 5000 feet I started running into snow patches on the road.  At first they were small, but as I climbed higher and higher the patches were bigger and bigger.  Fortunately, depending on the aspect of the slope, there would be long dry sections and then a large drift.  The dry sections were frequent enough that I kept pushing the bike higher.  I had wanted to get it to the saddle and I did.

At the saddle at around 5550 feet I stashed the bike and started hiking up the north ridge.  From the saddle I started going southwest on dry ground.  As I climbed higher the ridge turned to go directly south and there was more snow.  It was never too difficult to get through the snow and it was mostly consolidated enough to hold my weight.

Most of the upper section of the mountain was through a burn and I had good views all around.  The highest point was completely covered in snow so I found the highest part of the drift and considered that the summit.  I took a break and had some food and water while I took in the great views on a sunny day.  Then I turned to head back down.

Road out with University Mountain in background

The way down was so much faster than the way up.  On foot, the snow helped me get back to the bike quickly.  Then the bike tore down the roads I had toiled to get up.  I think it took me nearly three hours to get to the summit and it took just under one hour to get back to the car.  This helped to strengthen my love for the bike-and-hike.

Elevation gain:  2680'     Total gain:  41,945'