I hiked Spruce last night, to drink a beer and look. OR makes a mean beer cozy.

It was nice.

I even “discovered” a new trail. Going down (or up) the north side of the loop, at the 1.5 miles to go (until the top) sign there’s a trail heading south, marked as 1 mile until the Transcendent Mine road. I thought the road might be on the west side of the hill, and I could cut over to it and then walk down to the car (this was after hiking to the top and hanging around for 30 minutes watching the light). Instead, it climbed steadily to the ridge, at the little saddle with a camp circle at the 4 miles to go sign (presuming one is heading south along the Spruce ridge. I hate backtracking, so I took the ridge the four miles back to the car, finishing in the dark.

It’s a rough little trail, I certainly don’t recommend going up it on the bike, but it could be an interesting and rugged descent.

Sitting on top, I was struck with how much I hadn’t yet explored around town. In Missoula I resolve to do better.