Page 4C
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Solitude and majesty in Montana’s Beartooth Wilderness
By MIKE ECKEL
Associated Press
RED LODGE, Montana
— Crawl from your warm
sleeping bag out the tent
door, into the darkness and
pre-dawn wind whipping
across the plateau. Look
up at the cathedral of the
sky. Watch the whirlpool of
constellations spin overhead.
Hold your breath.
It’s hard not to feel
vertigo in the majesty of
Montana’s
wilderness.
Whether you seek the rocky
heights of a 10,000-foot
peak or an endless chain of
lakes, pastels in a mountain
meadow or the endless catch
of trout, trek into the one of
the state’s most magnificent
ranges — the Absaro-
ka-Beartooth Wilderness —
to find solitude and grandeur.
Don’t be put off by the
name of the best way to get
in there: the Beaten Path,
a 26-mile trail that climbs
up and over the Gallatin
National Forest watershed
divide, wending its way past
pond after lake, peak after
cliff, meadow after plateau.
The trail has a reputation for
high foot and horse traffic,
but in the five days we
backpacked through last
summer, my hiking partner
Ben Yeomans and I saw
just a handful of others and
embraced the solitude.
The trailhead sits at the
southeastern edge of East
Rosebud Lake. Accessible
by car from the north via a
14-mile road from Roscoe,
the lake’s shores are dotted
with cottages and cabins, and
make it an easy jumping-off
point for the wilderness.
We decided, however,
to access the path via Red
Lodge, a tourist town east
of the wilderness that is best
known as the jumping-off
point for the Beartooth
Highway, the breathtaking
drive that climbs to 11,000
feet (3,352 meters) while
winding along the border
with Wyoming.
After spotting a car just
west of Red Lodge, we
hitchhiked two-thirds of the
way up West Fork Road,
until we got to a trailhead
to climb north — and up —
out of the river valley and
onto the Red Lodge Creek
plateau. Much of the valley
and surrounding ridgeline
is a moonscape of charred
timber and ash on the forest
floor, the result of an intense
2008 fire. Our boots and
legs were gray and dusty
by the time we reach tree
line, and the parched vales
and streambeds on the way
up made us glad we packed
extra water.
Ben Yeomans via AP
In this Aug. 2016 photo, Mike Eckel tries his hand at trout fishing in Elk Lake, the first of several lakes that drain
north along the Beaten Path, a 26-mile hiking trail that crosses through Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.
Mike Eckel via AP
In this Aug. 2016 photo, the autumn colors burst out
from the grasses and bushes lining the Beaten Path.
Mike Eckel via AP
Impasse Falls, shown in this Aug. 31, 2016, photo, is
one of the most dramatic waterfalls along the Beaten
Path.
Ben Yeomans via AP
In this Aug. 2016 photo, Mike Eckel hikes above a lake
along the Beaten Path.
Up to 9,800 feet then down
off the ridge, we camped on
the marshy shores of Crow
Lake, hemmed in by a seam
of serrated peaks that turned
crimson at sunset.
The following day, we
climbed out of the valley and
crossed an amber meadow
carpet, then descended a
dusty switchback to arrive at
East Rosebud Lake and the
beginning of the north end of
the Beaten Path.
The path wound south,
past one lake after another,
following East Rosebud
Creek as it drains north.
The fishermen we passed
carrying trout in plastic
To make heavenly banana bread,
make it with vegetable oil
By ELIZABETH KARMEL
Associated Press
Everyone makes banana
bread. And most people
love it. A good friend of
mine always makes it with
chocolate chips because
her family will eat anything
with chocolate in it. I grew
up with my mother making
banana bread with butter and
pecans, and I thought it was
very good until I accidently
created the world’s best
banana bread a few years
ago.
Here is a little
background: Anyone who
bakes knows that there are
butter cakes and oil cakes.
Most of the cakes I make,
I make with butter, but my
Grandmother’s Apple Cake
is made with vegetable oil
and it is always the crowd
favorite. So, when I was
working on the recipes for
my upcoming “Steak and
Cake” cookbook, I decided
to see how banana bread
made with vegetable oil
would taste versus my
mother’s butter recipe.
I was visiting my sister
in Houston, and her twin
daughters wanted to bake
with me. To make sure
that everyone had a part in
making the recipe, I passed
out three bowls. One for each
of my nieces, and one for me.
I then divided the recipe into
three parts. Natalie mashed
the bananas with most of
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Banana bread
the sugar and the vanilla,
Olivia measured and whisked
the flour and remaining
sugar with the other dry
ingredients, and I blended the
eggs and the vegetable oil.
We mixed the eggs and
the flour together, added the
completely liquefied banana-
sugar mixture and added
toasted walnuts for taste and
texture. I decorated the tops
of the loaves with walnuts
and ushered the loaves into
the oven.
Of course, they smelled
heavenly as they baked
— all banana bread smells
heavenly. But once the loaves
were out and cooled enough
to taste, it was a whole new
world.
There was even
caramelization all the way
through the loaf, which is
significant because many
loaves of banana bread are
darker on the bottom than
the top. And, the crumb of
the cake was soft and silky
but very light and moist.
Dry banana bread is also a
common complaint and this
was the opposite of dry. Best
yet, the loaf stays moist and
flavorful for days after you
bake it.
The walnut encrusted
top is both decorative and
adds a welcome crunch. If
I have any bread leftover, I
love to toast a slice on day
3 or 4 and eat it with a thin
spread of peanut butter on
top — heaven.
———
Elizabeth Karmel is a
barbecue and Southern
foods expert. She is the chef
and pit master at online
retailer CarolinaCueToGo.
com and the author of three
books, including “Taming the
Flame.”
bags provided reassurance
that even novice anglers
like ourselves could catch
something. At Elk Lake that
night, we did not.
The next day we climbed,
alternating between switch-
backs and scree fields
perched over the creek
scouring the valley walls.
When the trail widened
again, along Rainbow Lake,
the sun had turned the waters
into a sea of floating jewels.
We took a couple of cliff
dives from the overlooking
ledges into the frigid alpine
water, then apologized to the
guy patiently casting flies
just around corner.
One of the beauties of
the Montana alpine terrain
is how easy it is to wander.
That night, we bushwhacked
off trail, upstream to Echo
Lake. Pika Peak, named for
the small, furry rodent that
we saw occasionally darting
along the trail, was bathed
in a tangerine sunset, and
we were astounded that,
literally, with every cast of
our reel, we pulled in brook
trout well in excess of a foot.
Pan-fried trout for dinner
and for breakfast.
We reached the headwa-
ters of East Rosebud Creek
the next day, after a gradual
climb up and across meadow
after meadow, past Impasse
Falls, the highest cascade
along the path.
We topped out at the
divide, at 10,200 feet (3,100
meters), at Fossil Lake. After
being baked red by the sun
for three days, we welcomed
the wind but not the spitting
snow and hail. We bundled
up and descended.
At Fulcrum Lake, above
tree line but in the lee of a
rocky knob, our luck with the
trout was gone. Our conso-
lation was eating dinner
perched on a rock at water’s
edge. Below us, mountains
stretched to the horizon.
And when the winds quieted
at dusk, the lake’s surface
swallowed the port sky.
Pinprick starlight bounced
back into the heavens from
where it came.
On the final climb down,
we passed so many lakes,
we had to resist trying to fish
every one of them. The lake
names themselves are things
to behold: Anvil, Sourdough,
Stardust, Courthouse, Fossil,
Fizzle, Froze to Death, No
Bones, Dude. Gradually the
forest pines closed in, and
the trail felt claustrophobic
after spending so much time
open to the sky. The riot of
wildflower reds, oranges
and yellows beneath our feet
took the edge off our wilder-
ness farewell and re-entry to
civilization.
THREE-BOWL BANANA BREAD
Servings: 2 loaves, each makes 10 generous
slices
Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes (Active
time: 15 minutes)
Pan: 8 x 4 x 2.5 -inch loaf pans, disposable
aluminum pans work very well.
• 3 large and very ripe, “brown” bananas (you
can use 4 small bananas)
• 1 ½ cups granulated white sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup Crisco all-vegetable oil
• 1-2cups toasted walnut halves, coarsely
chopped plus more halves for decorating
• Flour and Oil Baking Spray
Toast walnuts in the oven at 250 F for about 15-20
minutes. Remove and let cool. Get oven to 325 F.
Meanwhile, mash bananas with a fork and add
all but ½ cup of the sugar. Mix and add vanilla.
Continue mixing until the mixture is completely
smooth.
In a separate large bowl, measure flour and
stir with a whisk or fork to aerate. Place ½ cup of
sugar in the bowl. Add baking soda, salt, cinnamon
and whisk well.
In a third bowl, mix eggs and oil with a
blending fork until emulsified.
Using a fork, mix eggs well with the flour
mixture. Add banana mixture to the egg-flour
mixture and stir with a fork until completely
combined. Add chopped walnuts and pour batter
into prepared loaf pans, using a baking spray so
that the bread doesn’t stick to the pan. Decorate the
top with walnut halves.
Bake for about 60 minutes or until the cake
pulls away from the sides of the pan and a
toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let sit in the pan for 5
minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Can be served warm or completely cooled.
Nutrition information per serving: 256 calories;
133 calories from fat; 14 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g
trans fats); 32 mg cholesterol; 163 mg sodium; 27
g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 17 g sugar; 3 g protein.