Hyalite Peak

Friday the fourth was Kassy's birthday, and we wanted to do something cool. Enter Hyalite Peak. It's 10,298 feet tall, making it one of the higher peaks in the area. It's a a 7 1/2 mile hike (one way), making it a day-long adventure. It's still pretty snowy up there, which made the ascent and descent somewhat adventurous.

Here are some pictures:

This is near the beginning - We're still in the temperate forest.
A few miles up the trail, and it's no longer July.This is the basin and the top of the valley. This picture was taken looking Northeast, from the beginning of the hike up to Hyalite Peak.
Here we are on a rocky outcropping, planning our assault of the peak.The assault. The trail goes straight up the middle of the bowl (to the right of the image pictured), which would make a lot of sense if there weren't any snow. There was still a cornice at the top and the snow was softening quickly, so we thought being smack in the middle of a snowy, melty bowl would be irresponsible move. We instead decided to go (almost) straight up. We minimized our on-snow travel, mostly scrambling up the rocky patches that you see. Here we are, spaced out.Spenser leading the way.
Looking down the valley from the peak. You can see the reservoir from here, which is pretty much where we started. In the background lies the rest of the Gallatin Valley and a glimpse of the Bridgers. It was a little hazy, which we blamed on California.Here we all are at the peak. The camera is looking Northish.Also, wildlife is awesome. These were both on the peak.Alfred giving a perfect example of the proper way to descend a snow-covered slope when skis are absent. Note the avalanche shovel, for safety. We descended in this manner almost all the way down to the lake (not the reservoir).When we got home we made a delicious pizza, but unfortunately couldn't find candles to put in it.
Happy Birthday, Kassy.