Up to My Belly River

An itinerary for the backcountry campground at Cosley Lake was cut short by persistent rain. We had waited around all day for the rain to clear before we headed in, but the rain came back after we were halfway to the backpacking destination. We stopped at the Belly River Ranger Station to say hello and to get out of the rain, but ended up staying in the Mount Merritt Mansion, a small cabin used for park employees traveling through the area on various assignments. Mosquitoes and mud were awful the entire time.

We decided to take a loop trip to Dawn Mist Falls, Cosley Lake, and Gros Ventre Falls, all nice features along the way. To cross the stream, however, required wading through waist-deep icy water. Totally soggy and miserable, we had another 8 miles of hiking and up the steep heartbreaker of a hill to get out of the Belly River drainage and to dinnertime at the Babb Press.

Humidity is high and thunderstorms are brewing, a sight unseen the past couple of years. Beargrass is nice and flowers around St. Mary Lake are peaking. Time to go back to work.