Journal Entries

If only we could have slack packed the whole way! We had actually never managed to do this before, so we thought we should get one section in before we finished. Hiking is lots easier without 20lbs of food, water and gear strapped to your back! Who would have thought!

Trail signage in the Bob. Just a snapshot of one of the many, many burns.

Alas, I didn't really enjoy the Sacpegoat and Bob Marshall wilderness'. There were a LOT of burn scars (I think at least 80% of what we walked through would have been burnt in the last 10years). Luckily, we only had a handful of deadfall to deal with. This must be a huge problem at the start of every season, although for us it had been recently cleared. The trail also took an absurd amount of pointless up and downs (PUDs) on trail that was eroded, and didn't have any views. It feels like that area could really do with some actual re-routing until some of the burns recover, but also just because the track makes no sense. The constant 300-400ft ascending/descending just made me want to scream. We were still doing 25+mile days, but they were no fun.

There were active fires that re-routed us away from the Chinese Wall too. The fire closure route took us up trails that didn't appear to be marked on any maps I could find except the CDTC ones released for the fire closure, which was a little frustrating because the mileage was definitely out. On an already long section (120+miles) an extra 5-10 miles makes a big difference. There were a few spots that were beautiful and worth a visit, but much of it was just miles to be walked to get us to Glacier. I was so tired and sore we even hitched up to East Glacier Village from Marias pass, and then slack packed back to there the next day (I sprained an ankle on our first day out of town, then proceeded to do 28/26/27 mile days on it which was absolutely zero fun). BUT! We had made it to Glacier NP, which felt pretty darn good.

It started regularly freezing over night when we were just south of Lincoln. This meant that often in the morning our tent would have fine sheets of ice all over it, and we would have to pull it out in a sunny moment during the day. It also started getting so cold that it wouldn't warm up until the sun had been up for several hours. The winds picked up, and we would often hike on and off all day in our rain jackets in a vain attempt to stay warm whilst we walked. My gloves got a massive work out, and so did my buff and my wool headband. It felt important to share a photo of just how trendy thru hiking is.

Just North of Lincoln we were hoping to sleep in a Yurt that is right beside the trail (trust me, on a thru hike you get excited about these things). Sadly, we got there and the yurt was locked. So, naturally, I sat and enjoyed the view and ate crisps with a spoon. #traillife heh.

As we hiked out to the Helena hitch point, the clouds were so low and the fog was so high it felt completely other worldly. We were freezing and soaked from the super fine rain that was falling although, it may not have been falling. It mostly felt like we were walking through the rain whilst it was still trapped in the clouds. But luckily an awesome trail angel (hey Masshole!) happened to be doing the rounds and picked us up 5 minutes after we got to the hitch point at the highway.

Also I want to give a shout out to whoever cleared all the deadfall along that section of trail. Honestly, looking at the amount that had been cut back, it seemed like they must have been cutting that for at least a month. Mad props to the trail crews that got that done.

Well, we hitched to Big Sky and got back on the trail. The Spanish Peaks were beautiful. Not on par with the Winds, but right up there with Colorado (without being right up there in elevation, hah). Another hiker told us the trail was maintained by the local back country horsemen group, and they have done an amazing job. It was great trail, beautiful views, and the miles just rolled on by. There were a few frustrating segments (not many campsite options as a lot of it was quite steep, a fair few mosquitoes in a couple spots, and one section where I think new trail had been built but not mapped so it took us a little while to find it). Generally though, it would be a great spot to go hiking, and it was much quieter than the rest of the mountains in Montana. Definitely worth a visit.

That feeling when you feel shitty about having to hitch around a fire, but then realise you are literally hitching THROUGH the fire. Further up the highway the flames were right beside the road in the scrub, but I only have video so I can't show you! This lot of flames gave me pause for thought though. I am glad we made the safe choice.

From the Winds, you hike up through the Bridger Teton National Forest up into Yellowstone. Here we diverged from the trail. As a group, we decided to take the the Big Sky alternate/Super Butte Alternate. We liked the idea we would get longer in Yellowstone, and we wanted to hike the sky rim trail and the Spanish Peaks Wilderness area. I know many people will now discount my blog and my hike, but we did what we did. The Spanish peaks were worth it.

Yellowstone was unfortunately my least favourite section. The trail was in bad condition, hot, dry and exposed. We came up the East side of Yellowstone River/lake and followed enormous, fresh grizzly tracks almost all day. The exception to the hot and dry were the massive wet meadows we hit on day two and three. These meadows were placed far enough apart that just as you'd think your feet were dry, you'd hit gross, oily, muddy marshy meadow again. So somehow we had both wet feet and serious risk of dehydration. The "campsites" were slopy, poorly signed and poorly organised, so the nicest spots to camp always seemed to be directly under the bear hang, and everywhere else nearby would be wet or on a 30degree slope. There is a lot of flat space in Yellowstone, so I'm not sure how it's possible we got so many sloping campsites, but there you have it.

Then, the North West corner of the park caught on fire just as we were heading up there, and the Rangers pulled us back. We couldn't even walk the road because the fire was literally metres from the edges of it as we got our hitch through there. So, sadly, we missed the sky rim trail, which I'm a bit bummed out about.

Ok. Last photo of the Winds. Square too Mountain across Green River Lake. The obligatory northern winds photo. The night before this, it rained HEAVILY on us for many hours, and as we were sitting in a torrential downpour eating Mac and cheese (again) I found myself reflecting on the way that no matter how wet and cold you get, you always seem to be able to get wetter and colder. Luckily the next morning dawned bright and clear, and we enjoyed sunrise as we hiked along the Green River, on identifiable trail, whilst we spotted lots big moose. It was a good morning.