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My friend Jon and I had the great opportunity to tackle the West Ridge of Missouri Mountain yesterday. It was a great trip overall. I feel like there aren't enough trip reports of the West Ridge (non-standard route) of Missouri so I hope this helps anyone who tries the peak from this side.
We arrived at the old abandon town of Rockdale at about 7:30 AM. Just a quick note about this: I did NOT see a sign that said "Rockdale" or anything resembling this at the turnoff so just make sure you are watching your mileage as posted on this website (9.6 miles was about exactly right from the turnoff of US 24). Just keep your eyes peeled for the cabins on the left side of the road.
The 2 river crossings weren't too bad this time of year, but you definitely need some nice clearance to get through. Below is a picture of us coming back down at the second stream crossing. Beautiful Fall colors along 4x4 road The second stream crossing
The 4x4 road up is pretty straight forward but there are definitely some white knuckle moments along the way. This is NOT an easy road. We took my '99 Toyota 4 Runner all the way up to the gated off area (i.e. as far as you can possibly go). Keep an eye out for large boulders in the middle of the road that you need to navigate around. Don't even think about trying this road with anything but an SUV, truck, jeep, etc. It won't be a very fun day for you. Also, depending upon your experience level with 4x4 trails like these, don't underestimate how much time it will take you to drive up this. I would give yourself 30 minutes to an hour to make it up, depending on how far you want to drive up. I am moderately experienced and it took us about 40 minutes to reach the top.
We began our hike at 8:30 AM. The direction on this website were perfect. Pay attention to them because there are a couple turn offs along the way that may be confusing, mostly just at the beginning. However, the correct trail was pretty obvious for the majority of this hike. You begin to realize how steep this hike is about 10 minutes from the gate of the upper trailhead. The views of Clohesy Lake early into the hike are beautiful. Looking down at Clohesy Lake
The trail takes you further south before hitting a nice waterfall/stream. At this point, a very steep trail takes you up the small drainage, eventually into the basin of the West face of Missouri. From here, you don't have very long before you're out of the trees. Climbing the steep trail up the waterfall Looking back down the falls
At the top of the waterfall, we were able to get our first glimpse of the summit. From here, Missouri just looks like a long, wide ridge more than a defined peak. Our first look at the Summit (Center)
Unfortunately, this was the start of some pretty steep, unexciting climbing up a large grassy shoulder of the west ridge. Looking up the steep grassy slope leading to the West ridge
The one good thing about hiking up this steep slope is that you get some beautiful views of Huron peak to the West. On the grassy slope, about halfway up to the ridge. Huron is in the background. A view of the summit, halfway up the grassy slope.
Finally, after some strenuous hiking, we gained the west ridge. From here you could see a majority of the remaining route in front of you. We had to scramble our way up some relatively solid rocks to reach the top of an interesting ridge block. On the West Ridge, with the summit right of center Finally on the West ridge, looking across the basin at Iowa Peak. Halfway up the west ridge, close to the intersection point for the Missouri Gulch standard trail.
Once we reached the top of this large ridge headwall, we could see the intersection of the standard Missouri Gulch route. Judging from looking down it, that route looked pretty steep as well. From here, the rest of the hike is the same as the standard route up Missouri. Viewing the ridge climbing ahead. The Summit is straight ahead.
We had a lot of fun on this ridge, as it was the only part of this hike that was not super steep. It was a nice break from everything up to this point. Beautiful panoramic views on every side. Some fun ridge climbing
Once we reached the crux of the route, I was super excited to tackle it. This section was not too challenging; just required a little more concentration and patience. Before we did this hike, I had seen pictures of this crux, which turned out to be the determining factor for me to leave my dog at home. After seeing it for myself, I think it's safe to say that I made the right decision. Standing above the crux, with the last bit of climbing to the summit ahead. Me descending down the crux Picture from below as Jon descends the crux The steep West Face of Missouri
Finally, shortly after the crux, the summit was ours! Very beautiful views from up there! Even though the clouds were blocking much of our views to the south, it added a pretty unique, and almost mystic flavor to the whole experience. Very rewarding summit! Getting some much needed rest on the summit On the summit, with Harvard in the background Looking west at Ice Mountain, the Apostles, and Huron Peak.
Overall, we had a blast on this hike. I'm glad that we decided to come up this route for few different reasons. First of all, it was definitely more secluded than the standard route. We literally didn't see so much as another person or car the entire trip up. We finally saw our first few fellow hikers as we were on our way back down. After talking to them though, they had all come from the Missouri Gulch side. Secondly, even though this route was very steep, we were really only in the trees for about 25 minutes (which I love!). Having the ability to drive all the way up to the top of the 4x4 trail was a nice bonus because we were able to avoid some serious elevation gain, starting at close to 11,00 feet. And finally, I hadn't met or spoken to anyone that has actually hiked Missouri from this side so it was fun tackling a mountain "blind" in some sense. Not to mention, driving up the 4x4 trail on this side of the mountain was the only way I would have been able to steal this beautiful picture below after the hike! After the hike, on the way back down the 4x4 road, loving the fall colors!
Here is a picture I took of Missouri's West face on a hike of Huron Peak several years ago. I have drawn in little captions and markers to help those deciding on this route in the near future.
Hope this helps!
West Ridge Route Overview
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
And great route! I did the west ridge at the beginning of Sept, on a Saturday, and didn't see a single person until we hit the standard route; a rare on a normally busy peak. I think there is a direct correlation between the number of TRs and the number of people on the trail.
Was there an obvious way to traverse over to Mt. belford and Mt. Oxford, maybe via Elkhead pass?
I’m planning a 14er trip this summer and thinking about making the three of those one long day hike starting where you did.
We have planned to do this route too and looks like the right choice. You mentioned it was the right choice to not bring your dog. Does it look like a dog couldn't make it up that crux? Or why did you think it wasn't good for a dog?
Arianna2, I really felt like the crux would be pretty challenging for most dogs since there is some down climbing and steep, loose scree that I'm not sure how they would navigate. It's definitely not impossible for a dog but I know mine could not have made it. The rest of the hike most dogs could make though. Just very steep. Hope that helps!
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