On 6/26 I did 15.2 miles to Marias Pass. On 6/27 I did 28.3 miles to Elbow Creek. On 6/28 I did 28.1 miles to Dean Lake. On 6/29 I did 23.5 miles to Chinese Wall. On 6/30 I did 27.4 miles to the South Fork of the Sun River. On 7/1 I did 28.8 miles to a small stream in the side of an unnamed mountain. On 7/2 I did 23 miles to Cadoette Pass. On 7/3 I did 2.7 miles to Lincoln, MT
Check out “Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. I'm in big sky country and what ever spirit is up there cannot make up its mind about the wheather.
Unfortunately I hiked out of East Glacier without Fluffy. He hurt his IT band during all of the climbs in Glacier and needed to rest; it probably didn't help that we were sitting on a train for 33 hours before we jumped into some hard terrain. He is a strong hiker so I hope to see him down trail. I met up with Joe Dirte on the trail and the two of us pushed into the next section.
After leaving East Glacier I entered the Bob Marshall wilderness or as it's called "The Bob". The Bob seems to be a little confused because it doesn't seem to know what season it is. The wild flowers are in full bloom and covering the mountain sides but it is still hailing and snowing on us as we cross the ridges. The wind was so strong as I crossed the ridge near Running Owl Mountain it caused my hood on my jacket to shake so violently it sounded like a machine gun was next to my ear. I've heard people describe storms saying they are so bad the hail was flying sideways, but that's nothing because in the Bob the winds are so strong they shoot the hail upwards from the valley updraft and you are literally being hit from every angle. While I'm on my rant about the weather I should also point out that my feet haven't been dry for at least a week and it feels like I'm walking around with fish bowls for shoes and they currently look like a cadavers foot.
Okay now that I have done the mandatory complaining about the weather I must say the Bob is awesome. It is a very dense forest that gives way to fields of flowers and surround by small jagged mountain chains as far as the eye can see. We do occasionally get pockets of sunshine which allows you to locate every hiker in a 5 mile radius as they all let out an exaltation. There has been an abundance of water (for better or worst) and the trail is not highly used. The Bob feels very remote and wild. I would be suprised if anyone but CDT hikers are ever on this stretch because sometimes the trail just disappears into a bed of ferns or flowers or groove of trees and you have to kind of looks deep into the coverage to make out the trail which is kind cool.
I've been in Grizzly bear country since restarting in Glacier. I ran into one bear but it took off so fast I couldn't tell if it was a grizzly or a black bear. I have found a lot of
Grizzly tracks on the trail and I kid you not one paw print was as big as a football. I also run into piles of bear shit on the trail, and some are as big as a half sack of grain, so I am definitely hiking around some large Apex predators. Because of the concern with grizzlies I have to take special precautions; I carry bear spray with me, I dont eat food where I camp, I hang my food at night in a tree and when I hike by myself I constantly yell out "Hey Bear" to alert any bears to my pressence. Most bears dont want anything to do with humans so as long as you dont suprise them they will likely run off. If a bear doesn't run off and charges I have high powered mace that can shoot 30 feet and has been proven to work very well in stopping a bear attack. If the bear spray doesn't work I ask that who ever gets my tools takes good care of them.
We have are still going over a lot of snow covered passes in the Bob. None of them require spikes or axes and it is more of a novelty to be crossing snow fields on a ridgeline and 30 minutes later being in a lush green forest surrounded by an endless array of flowers and babbling brooks.
On top of one of the passes called Swtichback Pass, I got my first glimpse of a really cool geological feature called the Chinese Wall. The wall is 12 miles long and between 700-1000 feet tall. It is a cool site to see from a far and on the end of the 29th I setup camp in its shadow and climbed the scree field to touch its base. We woke up early the next day to catch the alpine light bounce off its Eastern face and were not disappointed with grandeur of the wall as it glowing orange from the rising sun.
After the Chinese wall we spent some more time following the river valleys through the wilderness. The valleys have extremely steep mountains sides which causes noise to echo off of them for a long time. I can hear a single thunder clap echo for over 10 seconds and when you give out a good yell you can hear your voice for about as long too. Right as we left the Bob wilderness and entered the Scape Goat Wilderness I left the trail to get a box I mailed to myself to a small outpost. It was a side trail that lead to a dirt road. It was a 5 mile road walk but I met a guy who gave me a ride to the outpost and handed me a beer. Within 30 minutes I was fully resupplied, had a few beers and was back on trail. That may have been the fastest resupply ever.
After crossing Dearborn river we left the valley floor for the last time and started to ridge walk the contiental divide. The ridges were awesome and exposed. We were only at 8,000 feet but there were no trees on the peaks and we were above the clouds. Occasionally a mountain would poke out of the clouds and it would look like a floating island in the sky. We had a few blue bird days as we were heading towards Lincoln MT but our luck ran out as we made the final push and we got caught in a lighting storm on a treeless pass. It was a less than ideal situation as Joe Dirte and I spread out and made for lower elevation so we could at least be among some short brush. We setup our tents with a haste and crawled into our tents as we were being destroyed by the rain and with lighting going off all around us. We woke up the next morning and packed up our drenched gear and made our way to Roger's Pass where we got a hitch from the second car that passed and were at a diner eating warm food by 730am and all was right in the world.
Feeling cute in a field of flowers
This is how you lunch
This is just a section of the Chinese Wall
Catching the Alpine Light on the Wall
Climbed up to touch the wall JD is not as dumb as I am so I had to take a selfie
JD climbing up Muskrat Pass
Alpine Light at Camp
Walking the ridges
Fred is feeling cute too
It's late June, why is it still cold when I leave camp?
Above the clouds
Walking the valleys before hitting the ridgeline