Month: June 2017

Hitching A Ride

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So, After getting out of The Bob, I sat at the side of the gravel road waiting for a car to pass. and there I waited………

It took around 6hour for one vehicle to pass. This is a dead end road, just a small carpark at the end of a 30mile stretch of gravel more likely to be used on weekends, and today was Tuesday. I was beginning to think no one would be leaving that day (there were 3 cars parked up, likely on camping trips for multiple days) when a lovely couple pulled out the car park, offered me a beer and let me join them to Augusta, they were in their 40’s and had given up the desk jobs to tour the country. I stopped the night in a RV park, got breakfast in a small cheap cafe for a few dollars, and decided to hitch to Missoula then Spokane as there would be more to do while my feet heel and I could have a proper catch up with Tribhu. I walked to the roadside at the end of the town and before I had even turned around an old F150 pickup pulls over, and a nice old man says ‘hop in’, he was a carpenter on the way to finish a house. He agrees to take me to the crossroad 20 miles further down where I would continue my hitch in a different direction. The second hitch took about 10 minutes. A shiny new 4×4 drove past before swinging onto a dirty side road and coming back for me, the driver was an ex-police chief, on his way to a wedding. He dropped me in Lincoln 30 miles further down. From Lincoln I had one small ride of about 10 miles west followed by the rest of the way to Missoula with a guy going to see a music act that night, I honesty wasn’t going to consider the car for a lift, I could see in the distance the front wing had been ripped off in an accident and I slowly lowered my hand trying to make myself less noticeable, but he pulled in and asked ‘Missoula?’. Taking that as a good sign I took the ride. Before letting me leave he insisted I take a 4 pack of beers for the road and wished me well, as he passed me the pack of beers he hesitantly asked ‘actually, would you mind if I took one for the road?’. Safely presuming due to the conversation we previously had he was high and myself not really interesting in the beers anyway i happily obliged. Oh America you never surprise.

The satisfaction of covering a decent amount of miles from the generosity of others is one everybody should experience, a great way to see the states and meet the locals.

In Missoula I would relax for the day and look around before heading to Spokane to see a good friend. I asked around for a good coffee/pastry shop and planned on sitting down with a little food and finding accommodation. When I arrived at the coffee shop, the staff enquired if I was on holiday. I said I’m hiking the CDT and taking a couple of days off. After buying a pastry the girl behind the counter said ‘take a seat and relax here for a while’. So I did, minutes later for her to come over and introduce herself. She was called Sarah and had cycled the CDT two years previous with her husband Josh, she said they received a lot of generosity from people along the way and they would like to return the favor. So arranged for me to come down after the coffee shop closed and I could have a lift to their house. I met the husband Josh who had just got back from a mountain bike competition finishing quite well. The thing that always surprises me in life is just how much other people want to help.  After a nice evening and a good breakfast of pastry and coffee the next morning Josh gave me a ride to the Greyhound Station to catch my Spokane bus.

I have been in Spokane for most the past week now stopping at my friends. My mangled up feet nearly good to go apart from one scabbed up blister that has decided to remain. So tonight I will head back to trail by catching the Amtrak back to Glacier and hitching back to where i left off. I have adjusted my pack to be as light as possible to accommodate better digital equipment for better photos, footage, and blogs. Here’s hoping i don’t need an umbrella, bear spray, ice axe, crampons, spare socks, wood burning stove, spare boxers or more than a 2 season sleeping bag.

On this trip so far I can count 9 hitches, 3 offers of accommodation overnight, free beer during the hitch, a nice pack of beers after another hitch, new friends to hike with, 2 grizzly bears, 3 black bears, moose, lots of deer, prairie dogs, mice, marmots, chipmunks, snow bridges, many river crossings, and probably a lot I have forgotten already. All good things. While this has been a slow trip to start I am looking forward to the next couple of months.

 

 

The Bob Marshall Wilderness

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Three and half days, around 120miles, Swollen Rivers, Downed Trees, Postholing in Snow and Blisters

The Bob Sounds Sweet and innocent, like and old friends coming to greet you, thats kind of what I expected, as I have been through before. But 2 years ago when I passed through it was a low snow year. This time it was heavy.

It starts with a pleasant easy trail through forest to lure you in. Then comes a river which is the start of it. Wading across the fun begins. There are about 14 crossings in the next 8 or so miles, spaced out with short walks on trail that has not received yearly maintenance yet. Because of the heavy winter snow the trail teams haven’t been clearing the fall trees yet. But as the day goes on and the crossings vary, some shallow and fast, some deeper and slow, all of them dumping copious amounts of stones in our shoes, and the legs beginning to numb up from the cold the excitement of another crossing fades quickly, we laugh though. Im hiking with Josh again, His supreme fitness pulling me though and my vague memory of the route making for easier navigation. Its not terribly hard in ‘The Bob’ but its nice not to consult maps. Towards the end of the day I begin to flag (around mile 32) but Keep pushing, As the light begins to fade we pitch out tarps at around 38 miles in. I cook up some noodles and stare down the game trail I have just pitched next too. Would any bears use this at night? Im too tired to care too much, finish tea, and climb into my bag.

The next day I wake feeling brilliant like the trail has brought me back to life, the blisters I have don’t seem to cause any hinderance in walking, I recall the route from last time and we do a short bit of cross country through forest to find the trail a bit higher, over a small pass and into Strawberry Creek, the last time I was here the trails had been cleared, this time it was clambering over one tree after another. At the bottom of the creek, a trail team has just entered the valley, I can’t help but feel if I set off 2 weeks later, it would have been an easier walk. The team warns us about the river level and that they wouldn’t do the crossing lower down. But we have come so far and not wanting to be deterred push on. The crossing was at an island, at the far end a cluster of blown down trees and branches washed together and holding under pressure from the water provide access to the island, Crossing this I could hear the water rushing below. On the island we go through some bushes and reach the second crossing, its high, fast flowing, and plenty of downed trees with branches pointing down to create traps and nasty endings if you were swept off your feet. Slightly higher seemed the best bet. Its the only crossing I did not photo due to the more real danger. Over this river and the Bob goes wilder.

We meander our way up the next valley, sometimes walking up the waist deep stream where the path has been washed away. Its snow melt water and very cold. Climbing higher we enter the snow line. I had planned on having lunch at Davis Lake but after slipping, sliding, potholing the way there, along with the wind beginning to howl, and arriving to a half frozen lake, we quickly eat some snacks, put on extra layers and push on to Switchback Pass. I am glad I kept my ice axe now as this required a steep traverse of a few hundred meters followed by a short enjoyable ascent up a slope to gain the pass.  We are aiming for a ranger station in the next valley. Its cold, my feet hurt with blisters, and as we descend it begins to rain on and off. 7 miles, doesn’t seem far. By the last mile and a half I’m slowing, Josh is ahead. The downed trees here are humbling, the physical effort required at the end of a long day really push me. As I clamber over and through the only way I can see possible my pack snags and pulls. 1 Mile to go I tell myself, as around every corner even the smaller trees seem bigger hurdles,  half a mile, and the kind of agitation hearing a dentist drill causes sets in. As the station comes into sight I see Josh gathering fire wood. Im relieved, I join him. We camp with out sleeping bags lay out on the porch saving the effort of pitching tarps for another night.

In the morning I wake, turn on my stove for hot coffee and drain my blisters with a pin as I wait, the drop in pressure instantly relieves the dull pain. This morning starts with a river crossing within seconds, followed by a long gentle ascent up a valley, at one point we can’t see the trail for downed trees, so we scramble down the hillside, clamber along the valley floor and climb back up further along. We head for Chinese Wall, an impressive cliff we will follow for 5 miles. When we gain sight all we can see is the snow we will have to get over. Its been a sunny morning and this makes the going hard, potholing at 1mph for around 3 miles. But the snow clears and progress speeds. Along the footpath I can see big bear prints and wildcat prints. I wonder how recent they all are. After 3 full days of hard work and battered feet I’m tired. We descend the final time towards the Augusta Hitch, I have already said I’m getting off here to rest. Josh is ahead but I see no sense in tiring myself to catch up. I sit down by a river eating trail mix, pitch my tarp and sleep. The next morning I have 10 easy miles of good trail to the trailhead. Im kinda glad ‘The Bob’ is over, pretty as it is.

Towards the top of Switchback Pass
trees over the trail for miles
the half frozen Davis Lake
river crossings- one of over 25 that day
Chinese Wall

GLACIER PARK, COLD WET AND HAPPY- Part 2- round 2

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After bailing out of our original plan I had a day off. My good friend Tribhu from Spokane came by the hostel to surprise me. I had bad blisters which had opened up and bled the day before so getting a new pair of light weight trainers from him was just about the best present possible. We headed upto St Marys’ campground to be in position for hitting the trail again, pitched our traps and sat around a couple of hours drinking beers enjoying life.

Day 4- Because we stopped early on trail a couple of days before we had an extra 14miles to our journey. We added river crossings over downed trees for fun. After the 14miles began our 6 mile to the top of Triple Divide pass. The snow was heavy and ice axe and crampons were essential to gain higher areas. I’ll admit using crampons in soft trainers was a bit unusual but progress was fast. Instead of using switchbacks to the top of the mountain we decided to ascend straight up a snowslope for the last 300meters, topping out were the trail could be seen. We expected the other side of the mountain to be clear of snow(south facing). What we found was even more snow. This was a ‘Yikes’ moment. Its potentially dangerous to go on snow slopes late in the day on southern facing aspects when in the sun due to avalanche risks. We scrambled along the ridgeline to gain snow free talus to descend. After a few hundred feet we found the descent path and to our relief it was snow free. The walk down the valley had a few more interesting stream crossings banked out with snow. By the valley bottom we had covered 30miles and decided to take an easy road walk the next day due to rain forecast overnight. It did rain. And to my joy my tiny tarp sheet held up and kept me dry, allowing me also to dry my socks and gloves.

The next morning we covered the 22miles back to the hostel. I’m now getting ready for approx 200miles of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. P.S. My feet hurt and are very blistered.

Glacier Park- Cold, Wet and Happy part 1

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So, Me and my friend Josh have just finished hiking Glacier park.

Day 1…..  After getting permits we started from Chief Mountain on the Canadian border crossing. Walking through long meadows, and hiking to the top of Red Gap Pass, which was clear of snow, the descent down made easier by glissading a snow field on the other side instead of walking the switch back path. At the bottom of the valley as we come through a clearing a grizzly bear pops up and runs a few metres, we hear what we think is another bear in the trees and walk quietly on. From half 1 to half 8 we cover 20miles and feel like progress in the park will be good.

Day 2….. The morning starts well with a black bear encounter , Josh leading the way and the bear jumping up about 10meters away and sprinting to a safer point away from us(see pic). We take this as a good sign and keep hiking. Around 8am it starts raining, heavy. As cold as it is we push on, occasionally climbing over the downed trees from the winters avalanches, the forces involved in stripping the hillside and tumbling and splintering them to pieces must be immense. A few hundred feet up the valley we hit the snowline. The path cannot be seen so we make our own route, crossing snow bridges and keeping in awe of the tree tops pointing out of the snow. Because of the heavy rain we decide to scramble out own line up the pass instead of risk unstable snow slopes. The wind cuts to the bone through our wet layers so stopping is no option. We push as fast as we can to the top and descend over the other side, crossing snow slopes at pace axe in hand to arrest and falls. As we descend we pick a route carefully to avoid the cliff edges and weakening snow bridges, some looking no more than 6inches thick and spanning metres over icey rapids we hear running below. By the time we descend to the going to the sun road we are struggling to stay warm, shivering and jaws chattering. We decide the safest call it to bail out route and come back with dry gear. 7 hours of continuous rain and wind whilst winter mountaineering was not the original plan. 25miles covered this day. Finished by 3pm.

crossing streams and ice
the view from the top of triple divide pass
start of a gentle snow slope
river crossings by downed trees
a collapsed snow bridge over river
a black bear we startled early in the morning

Arriving in East Glacier

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So after nearly looking at mortgages I have come to my sense and decided to travel. Over the past week I’ve sorted flights, insurance, maps, flown to Las Vegas, had 2days relaxing, flown to Kalispell and hitchhiked to East Glacier ready for a jaunt down the Continental Divide trail. I’m sat back on the hostel balcony looking at the end of the first 100miles of trail I’ll be hiking in a few days.

Vegas was a cool city to visit. Everywhere smelled like carpet cleaner and there were miles of conveyor belts carrying people into the casinos, like a giant slaughter house mouth swallowing up cattle with tourists wilfully going along to have their pockets emptied.  Something about it was quite brilliant, the owners of these establishments making it as easy as possible to funnel people the right way, ensuring your well fed, you have plenty to drink, taking away any excuse to leave and go else where.  A real city of excess, casinos fighting to be the biggest, the most ornate, big pools, miles of indoor air conditioned shops, shows, bars, if you can imagine it its probably already there.  On the final morning I was questioning my sanity giving up the comfortable king-size deluxe room bed on the 29th floor,  and changing it for a sleeping bag and camping mat. But I’m glad I have. The view of the mountains lures me in.

I had a dream the other week I was on a plane flying through clouds and I could see the mountain side getting closer, the plane swings violently, the pilot tries to pull up, but it’s too late, I know its over. I woke up on impact. A week on and I’m flying into Glacier Park. As we approach I can see through the clouds the remains of winter, the steep glaciated profiles. The mountains are a more  comfortable distance away than the ones in my dream. But it gave me the chills when the plane did bank for its final approach. I hike out the airport to the roadside , stick out my thumb and catch a ride almost instantly. I forgot how friendly Montanans’ are.

The strong smell pine trees has made me feel right at home as I collected my first supply of noodles and chocolate bars in prep for what’s to come.