Bismarck Peak caught my eye during my big loop of Nelson Ridge last weekend. At the last minute, I had a weekend day with no plans, so I decided to head back to the "Billodou" and hit it it up. The old trail diverging from the Pear Butte trail is easy to follow for most of the ridge, when you get to the forested area near the final approach to Bismarck, simply ignore any switchbacks/elk trails that cut back to the right and follow the fading remnants of the trail into the open basin below Bismarck (this is the route I took on the way back, saving a bit of elevation gain over the 6816 ft. knob). The trail will eventually cut back upslope to the gap. On my way up to Bismarck, I stayed close to the ridge, starting with a dirty chute on the north side. Nothing was more than class 2, but the mix of scree, and various sizes of larger rock on top of bedrock made it not the most pleasant of approaches. My return route was better, and seemed to more closely follow goat and social trails. I detoured to Pear Butte on my return trip, running out of water near the summit. It was a long walk back to the car on this very hot day.