Journal Entries

The view from Pitamakan pass of Old Man Lake. Bourbon and I hiked this section last year, but still nobody believes us when we told them how awesome the trail was.

Our crew for the last few weeks: Bourbon, Bugs, Coach, Maps, Obtuse... And me awkwardly wishing my arms were longer there at the front (Medic). We had a good crew.

I'll try not to spam you with too many photos of Glacier National Park, but it will be hard.

Glacier delivered everything we expected right from the start. A 2500ft climb right off the bat, sleet and strong winds at the top, but then a toasty campfire at two medicine campground (which also had fancy flushing toilets!!)

Because of the permit situation, we suddenly dropped to doing 15mile days (with one 26mile day and two passes, typical haha). It was actually a nice change of pace, because the weather was pretty dubious most days so it was good to be able to stop, camp, and warm up.

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.