The Spanish Peaks are a sub range of the Madison Range in Southwest Montana. One of the main entrances to the Spanish Peaks is the Spanish Creek trail head accessed by driving on a public road through Ted Turners ranch. There is a large campground and a forest service cabin at the trail head making this is a very popular area in the summer, but in the winter it's pretty quiet. We decided to take advantage of this and plan a little winter getaway. Luckily the cabin doesn't get too many rentals in the winter and we were able to take our pick of weekends. You can drive the road to the trail head until about 4 miles before the cabin. Then it is very easy to follow the rest of the snow covered road to the cabin and other trails.
This was going to be Derricks first backpacking/snowshoeing trip so an easy four miles was about all we were looking for. The nice thing about the cabin is that it has beds and a wood fired stove so we were able to pack pretty light. The road climbs slightly, but at a gradual grade. The weekend we chose turned out to be on the warm side which was nice, but also caused the snow to become a bit slushy. It was fine when we started out in the morning, but as the day warmed up we found ourselves hiking through a slushy mess. Luckily the snow on the road wasn't too deep so we were able to manage.
Breaking Trail
The hike in was nice. It is very open giving you beautiful views of the mountains looming in the distance. We only saw a couple of ski tracks, no people. On the way in and as we neared the camping area we were breaking fresh trail. It was amazingly quiet. The cabin was nice. It stayed pretty warm once we got the stove going. It was a real treat to be able to cook a meal with real dishes and not on a camping stove. Many people had left behind little additions (candles, cards, whiskey) that made the cabin very homey.
Looking out at the Spanish Peaks
Approaching Spanish Creek
The one downfall of the night was discovering my newer shoes had given me some nickle sized blisters on the back of my heels. Unfortunately my feet had gotten wet and cold in the slush and I hadn't realized how bad it was getting until I stopped. I did my best to bandage my wounds the next morning, but needless to say the hike out was slow going. Every step seemed to hurt my now raw sores. Eventually the pain subsided but we took almost twice as long going back to the car as we did coming in. Minus the blisters, it was a nice weekend. Really good to get out after such a long cold winter.
Our little home for the night
To get to the cabin: Head south on Highway 191 from Bozeman. Turn right on the Spanish Creek Rd (about 13 miles after Four Corners). Take the gravel road for about 5.5 miles. At the end of the gravel you hit a paved road going south. This is where the snow usually begins.
Map of the Hike
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