MOUNTAIN LOG COWBOY COUNTRY 50 Before venturing into the wild it was essential for us to purchase bear sprays. There are over two thousand bears – Grizzlies and Black Bears – in these states, and the sprays shoot a vapour that bears can’t abide a distance of six metres. We were fortunate enough not to encounter any, though they were occasionally very close. BITTERROOT MOUNTAINS The Bitterroot range is a 265-kilometre-long ridge of jagged, granite peaks that separates southwestern Montana from Idaho. We were unable to climb St Mary’s Peak (2,851m) due to a raging forest fire, but we did manage to get to the summit of Trapper Peak, at 3,096m, the highest of the Bitterroots. It was a 14-kilometres hike, and a climb of 1,070 metres, and we met not a single person on our walk. On the saddle under the summit, we gazed in awe at the panorama of wild mountain scenery around us. Of the lower-level walks we did, Blodgett Canyon was the most memorable, with its spectacular waterfalls and interesting vegetation – wild huckleberries, towering Ponderosa Pines and wild American grapes. Pictured this page: Bison grazing in Yellowstone National Park. Photo: Jim Ryan
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