James and I biked the eight km cart trail to Snowshoe cabin campground from Redrock Canyon. Since bikes are only permitted as far as Snowshoe campground, we stashed our bikes at that point and hiked up the trail to Twin Lakes. The plan was to continue along to South Kootenay Pass and follow the ridge to the summit of Kishinena. In the end, we didn't hike all the way to S. Kootenay pass, as we found an easy scramble up to the summit from the col between Bauerman and Kishinena (nothing harder than class III).
Kishinena's summit was just high enough to be sticking into the cloud ceiling, so views were obscured right at the top. Dropping down from the peak along the ridge, we were rewarded with the views we were seeking, looking west into the Flathead. We descended back via the Sage Pass hiking trail.
There was a well worn path along the ridge and I was surprised by the amount of human tracks. Kishinena must be a popular peak bagging destination for the back country campers at Twin Lakes.
The bike back to Redrock was a blast and didn't take too much effort, with gravity doing most of the work. Round trip time was 7 hours at a moderate pace with a short break at the summit and lots of photo breaks along the way.
Note: Maps show Kishinena peak located south of the highpoint (at a lower elevation... below the summit, at what appears to be a bump along the ridge just up from S. Kootenay Pass). Waterton park's summit list from GMS (Glacier Moutaineering Society) shows the elevation of Kishinena peak as that of our scramble's highpoint (7992'), as does peakfinder, so I guess that most people consider this the 'true' summit, although it is not the 'official' summit. See screenshot from GE or bivouac.com's link http://bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=8670
The last couple of images are of Kishenina Peak, as seen from Bauerman (taken last summer), with S. Kootenay pass circled in red in the other.
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