Bob Marshall Wilderness – backpacking over the hill

My Lake

Trip from Dean Lake to My Lake

(June 23rd)

During the night, Lucky said he heard a crunching sound. We camped near a 30 foot snow field. Some critter probably walked across. In the morning, however, it was clear we had a new, temporary teammate.

An old mountain goat was hanging out within 15 feet of our camp, walking calmly back and forth. As luck would have it, my camera battery had drained due to cold. So I frantically tried to charge it while the goat was so close. Eventually I got a couple pictures of the old guy. The Bob Marshall Wilderness does deliver.

Our first challenge of the day was getting over Switchback Pass. This was supposed to me a smooth series of switchbacks that led easily over a high pass. However, due to the snow fields it was precarious. The trail was high on the steep snow fields. Since I am naturally brilliant, I had reduced pack weight in East Glacier by getting rid of my micro-spikes and ice-ax. We chose to go along the bottom of the snow field. This was slightly more level and had less snow. Of course, the trade-off was a sheer drop off of 100 feet if we slipped in the mud.

Thus far, Lucky has been our main pathfinder. I am pretty good with balance (that ballast I carry in the middle comes in handy) and open area routing. As a result, I led us over to a point directly below where the pass was located. The only thing between us and the pass was a steep snow field of about about 150 to 200 feet. At that point, I decided the only logical thing to do was to yield the lead to Lucky. He had microspikes and the Trail Name to make it all possible. Eventually we got on top and were very relieved.

The rest of the day found me hiking alone. Lucky’s injury was clearly hurting him. There were a lot of blowdowns and I scraped the heck out of my shins. I arrived at the Forest Service back country cabin at Pentagon Creek. Not only did my current group show up, but also the first team I started hiking with. The Forest Service outhouse was unlocked and most of us took advantage of the opportunity and gave high marks to the quality of the privy. We have been in the woods awhile.

(Left to right) Crunchmaster, Grizzly, Snake Bite, and Lucky. Pentagon Cabin.

As the afternoon wore on, I eventually found myself getting ahead of Lucky and STD, but trailing Grizzly and the others. I enjoyed the time and really appreciated the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It just has a feeling of being in the wild. I had read some comments about it being boring, but I truly felt like I was in remote wilderness.

While navigating the many blowdowns, I eventually came to the last hill. It was a climb over Larch Hill to the day’s destination, My Lake. I chugged up the hill, my thighs protesting, my lungs working overtime. To take my mind off the challenge, I thought of what I would say when I reached the Grizzly group. When I finally staggered into the campsite, I told them “Look, you can camp anywhere you want, but I just want you to know that this is My Lake.” At first they thought I was insane, but quickly they realized the altitude had caused me to come up with corny humor.

Ironically, I fell sleep to the sound of jet engines as I was sleeping under some type of common flight path.

Strawberry Creek

Today was a real hiking day. Lucky, Steven the Destroyer (STD), and I left for a destination called Strawberry Creek.

Initially we walked along old 4 wheel drive roads. We ascended over some blowdowns (trees that have fallen down across the trail). The day saw us walk in environments ranging from open, recovering burn ares, to thick forests.

At one point we came to a meadow that sloped up and the morn I ng breeze blew down the hill. Lucky saw a black bear at the top of the meadow. It eventually heard us,got on it’s hind legs, and ultimately bolted away.

Towards the latter part of the day we came to a juncture. The map indicated a traditional route around a lake or an “alternative” that was shorter but of mixed quality. While Lucky and STD rested, I went ahead on what I thought was the traditional route. Quickly, I became aware it was the alternate.

I thrashed back and forth through a thick bog with a lot of down trees. My feet were soaked. Eventually, I just decided to climb up hill, relying more on common sense than electronics. Finally reached the trail and wanted to leave signs for the other guys. I made an arrow and wrote “Lucky” but hesitated to add “STD” to avoid the perplexion a traveller might have coming across a sign pointing to Lucky STD.

The trail took me through an area tha had just burned this year. It was eerie. Scarecly any green penetrated the harsh black, only ocaisionally broken by stark white rock. At last, coming over a pass I found a meadow which had fresh water, greenery, and campsites. I hoped that Lucky and STD would catch up, but was not sure. Eventually they did and we camped in a meadow for a night that was clearly going to get cold.

Slow miles

Note: I am way behind on blog updates. Have not had connectivity. Sending this from 8500′ mtn in Scapegoat Wilderness. Will eventually catch up.

I finally started climbing up. It was interesting to note the breathing difficulty the higher up I went. I was hiking with Lucky and Steve. However, there is a knot of southbound hikers so we passed and were passed by some.

Finally reached a beautiful glacier fed lake and camped for the night. Overnight a mountain goat entered our camping area and just hung out.