On Labor Day weekend, 1993 I visited the APW for the first time. Part of a group, we traveled the five miles to Johnson Lake from the western edge of the wilderness. Compared to the 1.3 million acres of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness 30 miles west of it, at 160,000 acres the APW is small. Yet its jagged peaks and rugged beauty make it a favorite haunt for Western Montanans. In spite of what I just said, my next visit came in the early days of June 2006. Traveling alone, I saw no one and returned for another trip nine days later. During the following 2 years, I visited the wilderness 10 times, 5 of them through the low snowpack El Niño winter of 2007.
The lowest elevation trailhead I found was still over 6000 feet, and that was only because it was a lower elevation winter trailhead, located on the western side of the wilderness at Moose Lake. From there like the rest of the trailheads of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, within a short distance one could ascend more than 4000 feet.
Through the years, most of the summer trips have been a prep or scout for upcoming winter trips. Like other wildernesses during the winter, this area is nearly devoid of people. However, the only time I have encountered people during a backcountry winter trip was here, three of them in a single party near Johnson Lake.
My most recent excursions into Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness concerns the upcoming winter trips along the Continental Divide, which runs the entire length of this wilderness. More information about the Continental Divide trips is available on this website.
