Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S U M M E R 2 0 1 6 18 DIAMOND AND CLIFF LAKES Accessed by an easy one-mile hike that traverses flower-filled avalanche slopes and passes crashing cascades, Cliff Lake provides a miniature dose of Bitterroots wilderness — with the correspond- ing lack of crowds to match. Beginning at the spartan but scenic Diamond Lake campground, the walk to Cliff Lake makes for a post-picnic stroll, and it's short enough that backpackers can take kids and tenderfoots there. True to its name, Cliff Lake abuts a sheer cirque high on the Bitterroot Divide. Anywhere on the easily accessible shoreline will work for anglers — and for those angling for a view of icy-hued Eagle Cliff and its permanent snowfield. For the effort, there may be no better lake in the northern Bitterroots. DRIVING DIRECTIONS: From I-90, take exit 47 (Superior) south to Southside Frontage Road. Turn right (west) and drive 4.9 miles to Dry Creek Road (FR 342). Turn left and drive 9.9 miles, then bear left on FR 7843. At 3.5 miles, stay right, and at 4 miles reach the road's end at Diamond Lake campground and trailhead. STATELINE TRAIL – BONANZA LAKES In 1869 Cedar Creek on the Bitterroot Divide separating Idaho and Montana experienced a miniature mid-winter gold rush, as nearly three-thousand miners flooded into the drainage, staking the entire gulch in one day; little paid out, but the miners left their mark, both on the ground and on maps, the name "Bonanza Lakes" commemorating a strike either real or hoped-for. Today, hikers can strike it rich with two subalpine lakes, each with its own character, in a region of the Bitterroots that hasn't been mined heavily for recreation. e 5.5-mile roundtrip hike follows the Stateline Trail north from Cascade Pass through dry lodgepole forest, stunted subalpine groves and grassy meadows. It's a wildflower bonanza: beargrass, harebell and western coneflower carpet the open subal- pine forest. e sandy-bottomed lower lake is well-suited to swim- ming, and the shaded, huckleberry-laden shore is ideal for whiling away an hour or two. Another quarter mile beyond, the upper lake occupies a granite perch at the base of a vast, nearly vertical meadow. Save for one short steep stretch, the only difficult part of this hike is deciding which lake to choose. Hikers interested in longer excursions can follow the portion of the border-tracing Stateline Trail along the Bitterroot Divide for dozens of miles of some of Montana's finest ridgetop walking. For a pleasant base for day hikes on the Stateline Trail, check out the Missoula Lake Campground just west of the trailhead. It offers a handful of primitive sites among the trees; anglers can fish for feisty cutthroats from the brush-lined lake, a half-mile hike from the campground. DRIVING DIRECTIONS: From I-90, take exit 47 (Superior). On the south side of the freeway, turn left (east) on Diamond Match Road. Drive 1 mile, then turn right on Cedar Creek Road (FR 320). Drive 24.9 miles (paved for the first 2.8 miles, good gravel thereaf- ter) to the trailhead at Cascade Pass on the Idaho/Montana border.

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