OK I need to set the stage a little here. I had given myself the impression that i was venturing to a quiet corner of the state. I haven't been by steamboat since around 1996-98'ish. But I felt like I was getting ready to have a "Montana-like" experience in a forlorn mountain range off the beaten track. Pretty much thought it would be me - a few hunters -- and maybe like 1-2 other hikers...

But - when driving up what I thought was pretty early'ish for a friday - 4pm - the trailhead was totally jammed! Most car camping spots also jammed!!

I ended up making a very rapid adjustment to initial game plan - which was to bust a right from trailhead for dayhike to Gold Lake -- instead I got back in car drove to road 434 and hiked up to 3 Island Lake instead -- so as to allow myself access to better car camping inventory of spots along the side road. Plan worked out - but road 434 was also jammed! I barely found a good spot -- with a sundowner view of Little Agnes and something on the right there?

So I had planned to hike Big Agnes - but fates would conspire to drive me to the Little instead. Factors include: not finding my water pump when leaving down - being on my "milk jug" resupply technique instead; also the cliffs of the southern end of ridge looked intimidating and the whole valley was rockier than I had anticipated. If I had held on to original plan to head way up valley and then bank back to right to get up it would have worked.

BUT - Little Agnes also offered an obvious route - so it was essentially a path of least resistance up there.

I was blown away by the north side of Big A. I thought some of those cliffs were the side of Zirkel poking out - but I guess not. Visibility for the day was all around not so great for distance views.

and I will admit - it was bugging me that I had settled on the "Little". it is by definition kinda lame. BUT - I was able to pull a classic Jibler navigational maneuver to help make every thing alright....

I took this above ridge all the way down to the end and just banked hard left back into the Mica Lake valley at the end there!

Bottom line - the mystique of a Montana-like thing was blown - but that could be due to some add on factors like full moon, and leafers (even though it was not turning yet - at all). But seemingly this area is just way more popular than I understood. and perhaps a lesson there - you should likely go on a weekday if you're looking to truly thin out the crowds.

AND - Big Agnes pretty much controls the North as far as I 'm concerned. It is the Great Mountain of the North. I don't know if I would have really grasped how cool it was if I wasn't on the other ridge.