This hike to St. Paul Lake will be blazoned forever in my memory because it was the first hike I ever did in Montana. I was out west this past summer visiting some hiking friends. They were eager to share their favorite hikes with me and decided this moderate hike to a remote alpine lake would be a fitting introduction. It was.
St Paul Lake is located in the Cabinet Range of Western Montana, close to the Idaho-Montana border, about 2 hours southeast of Spokane, Washington. This region has its share of 8000′ peaks and glacial cirques, with over 20 alpine lakes teeming with cutthroat trout. The fire danger is always very high in summer, and the area has a grizzly bear population, which I found a little intimidating, but my friends took it in stride since they’ve been hiking out there for years. I’ve never had to carry bear spray before, and it was a sobering wake-up call to get handed a bear spray canister and learn how to use it quickly in an emergency.
For the ten days I visited, we planned most of our hikes using a guidebook titled “Trails of the Wild Cabinets” by Dennis Nicholls and Jim Mellen, the local hiking bible. The Benchmark Maps Montana Road Atlas was also an indispensable guide for navigating the Forest Service roads that provide access to the surrounding towns and Wilderness Areas.
The St Paul Lake Trail (#646) is about 6 miles up a gravel road from the highway and was close to the compound where we were camping. The hike to the lake is 4 miles one way with 1600 feet of elevation gain through an old-growth forest of hemlock and giant cedars.
After we were chased from the parking lot by agitated bald-faced hornets (nasty bugs), we started hiking uphill on switchbacks overlooking the East Fork of the Bull River. I’d brought Tenkara Fly Fishing gear on this trip, but the water level on the streams was too low to fish successfully. In hindsight, I should have brought a rod and tackle to fish in the alpine lakes we visited, but I don’t own any flatwater fishing gear and will have to acquire some before my next visit.
As we climbed, we passed the Cabinet Wilderness Boundary, and I reflected on how much I appreciate the National Forests and Wilderness Areas in the United States. I live in a National Forest back home and felt an immediate connection to the landscape when we passed the Cabinet Wilderness sign early in our hike. Living amidst big trees and mountains and having easy access to great hiking, fishing, and skiing has enriched my life and health during the past six years I’ve lived in their proximity, and I never want to live far from a National Forest again. They are more than a refuge for nature.
One of my friends is a hiking trail builder and an equestrian, so I was treated to an explanation of what it takes to build a trail hardened for horses since mixed-use is much more prevalent in Montana. In addition to recreational use, trail maintainers used horses and mules to haul heavy tools to more remote locations and higher elevations on some of our hikes.
As we approached the lake, the vegetation thickened considerably, and I became a little nervous about a potential bear encounter. We were all talking and making plenty of noise, but this being my first time in brown bear habitat, I was understandably nervous. I relaxed more on our later hikes.
When the lake came into view, I was amazed by the view of St Paul Mountain overhead. It looked like the Matterhorn! The surrounding mountains and ridges were gigantic and extended as far as the eye could see, while the lake was picture-perfect, nestled in a cirque at the foot of the peak. We all scrambled down the steep bank to have lunch and marvel at the view. The water was low but clear, and a waterfall thundered on the opposite bank. And that was my introduction to hiking in Western Montana, a place I plan to return to again.
