My wife and I recently set out on a backpacking trek into The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The Bob is a wilderness area south of Glacier National Park that consists of over 1 and a half million acres of wild forest with no access to motorized vehicles or even bicycles, leaving the trails to only be explored on foot or horseback. It is most uncomfortably known for roaming Grizzly Bears throughout it’s landscape.
We packed our bags for a five to six night adventure out to The Chinese Wall (a five mile snake like rock wall) and continuing on through the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) and eventually out of the South Fork of the Teton Trailhead, overall a 56 mile stroll in the woods.
The first day consisted of early morning driving and logistics to drop off my dad’s rusty bronco and car pool down to our starting point. This fairly short drive took about five hours of driving due to squirrely gravel roads on washboards with constant reminders of the recent road closure from previous flooding. Once we eventually made it to the trail head we began our hike.
We set out from the Benchmark Parking lot feeling not so alone as we passed backpackers and cowboys on horseback for the first couple of miles. We stepped to the side of the trail as a group of about twenty backpackers from Hawaii dragged themselves along, coming back from the Chinese Wall. They were decorated with bright wild flowers in their hair and mud painted on their faces, as if it was just another day surfing on the beach with friends drinking coconut juice.
Kaytlon and I exceeded our idea of a laid back first day and hiked about 8 miles into the wilderness until some dark clouds and thunder encouraged our search for a camp site. At this point we were tired, I was grouchy and not the most fun person to be around. We found an awesome looking spot that was already claimed by a couple that seemed to be having a nice romantic evening to themselves. I found another nice spot but found it occupied by an uncomfortable adolescent swearing at his stove as he cooked fresh fish next to the river in Grizzly Country.
Eventually we settled down and the rain began to fall. After eating a nice warm meal over the stove, I began preparing to hang up our food sack in a tree away from our tent and out of reach of any hungry beasts. Kaytlon watched as I attempted to throw the wet paracord over a spikey fallen tree. This task felt to me as if I was attempting to tie a string leash onto a porcupine. Any movement left the cord caught on a different branch and tangled into another bush. After falling onto my back and unsuccessfully pulling the apparently excessively heavy bag with a useless cord, we decided to launch the bag as high up as we could and use the slack to pull the bag a high enough distance into the tree. As I am squatting down with our food bag in the rain like a awkward weight lifter in the rain, I hear three guys walking the trail up above us. They seemed to be “through hikers” ,(hiking the CDT from Mexico to Canada), one guy waves down and says, “Hey! Gotta love this liquid sunshine!” Making me feel like a dramatic mess. Shortly after I crawl into our tent to take a quick nap and potentially fish the Sun River before sundown. Once my head hits my small unraveled pillow my ten minute nap quickly becomes just shy of a twelve hour night of deep sleep.
Day two:
We hit the trail quickly the next morning and continue deeper and closer to the Chinese Wall. We are feeling good and rested and a couple of hours hiking feel like nothing. We are ahead of schedule and far away from people. The trail seems to be ours and the people from the day before seemed to have disappeared into the forest onto other trails or back towards civilization as we continued farther away. We talked loudly looking at bear habitat in every direction and clinked our metal coffee mugs together every step. Our backs are now sore and our packs not feeling so comfortable.
We began a steep ascent and saw the beginning of the obvious Chinese Wall creeping up behind the trees. This massive wall of rock was astounding and seemed to be never ending. Our expectations of seeing other people at this unique destination was denied. We continued walking with a strong desire to set up camp for another turn in the trail and another and another. Along the Chinese Wall we walked without seeing anyone, without seeing water without seeing animals. It was just us and a large unending wall for as far as the eye could see. Eventually we found a creek high up along the wall and turned in for the night, thirteen more miles behind us and heavy packs upon us, we set up our tent, sprayed a force field of bug spray, and ate our chicken salad packet with a pot of instant potatoes each before drifting off.
Day three:
Still no other signs of life despite the apparently popular destination along the International Scenic Trail. We made breakfast as we listened to an animal that we never identified squeal and yelp echoing off the wall throughout the morning. We packed up and continued along the wall for three or four more miles. We felt refreshed again, like being regenerated after your character dies in an old arcade game. We walked fast with wooden walking sticks knocking the ground every step. As we walked away from the wall for a couple of more miles, distant in our own thoughts we heard someone yell, “humans!”
A bearded mountain man with a bug net draped around his face from his brimmed hat approached us from up ahead. He was accompanied by an older couple, probably in their sixties. The bearded man was hiking the Wild Wild West Route which attempts to hit the most remote area’s in the country. The older couple told us they were hiking from Canada to Helena. When they asked what they needed to do once they arrived in Helena, Kaytlon told them about Park Avenues’ Earl Gray Chocolate Cake and the couple just about salivated a river to float down to Helena rather than hike.
After the quick conversation we continue on more quickly, encouraged by seeing others and the fact that their hikes were much farther and ambitious than our own. We were feeling good and our pace became a rhythm. We arrived at potential destinations looking back at the Chinese Wall which was now blending in with the rest of The Continental Divide in the distance. We had lunch next to a waterfall deep in the woods at a ranger station locked up with tips and recommendations of how to avoid being mauled by bears and how deep your poop holes need to be dug. We filtered water at the creek, ate some nuts and fruit while we became the main dish for what felt like thousands of different bugs. We packed up and charged through a dense rainforest like trail that seemed much different than the rocky dry terrain that we had become used to. We got to a split in the trail and for the first time we branched off of the Continental Divide Trail. We said our goodbye’s and began hiking west onto a less managed trail toward the crystal clear Sun River.
Shortly after we joined our new trail, looking more like bear territory than ever we came up a large open area, Gates Park Ranger Station. It was completely vacant and consisted of a large open field with two Egret’s calling back and forth to each other in a strange eery manner, sounding like a couple of dinosaurs revving up for a battle. We watched the birds encounter as we walked onto a leisurely boardwalk and looked down to our dismay of small snakes slithering off in all directions as if we were walking on Medusa’s head. Shortly after this strange section we came upon the Sun River, a beautiful bridge awaited with a wonderful vacant campsite along the water. After a 20 plus mile day. We set up camp, slurped up some hot Raman Noodles and went to bed.
Day four:
Ahead of schedule and at a dream location we decided to post up for the day rather than putting on our packs like a couple of turtles hauling along their shells. We slept in, caught brightly colored cutthroat trout on dry flies endlessly, and cooled off in the river attempting to rid ourselves of the solid layer of grime and stink.
Before dinner I decided to hike up river to find some more fish, Kaytlon stayed behind to watercolor paint some flowers she had picked. Alone I walked a short ways from the bridge and across a heavy flowing stream when I looked directly across the 10 foot flow at a large cinnamon colored hairy bear. There it was. The thing we constantly thought about, attempted to avoid as well as curiously longed to see. He sat on his big rump and hind legs, paws up next to his face as he buried himself into a bush full of juicy berries. I felt my heart thumping the blood throughout my body. I ducked behind my own bush and watched for a fascinating moment, not able to identify if he were a grizzly and no camera available.
I slowly pulled out my walkie talkie and told Kaytlon what I was seeing. Her simple response was easily received, “Please come back right now!” Like a curious dog wondering into the neighbors yard, I snapped back to attention and quickly ran back across the creek as sure footed as I could, across the bridge and to my concerned and very much alert wife. We sat, talked about what to do for the rest of the evening and the next day. A leisurely day just became a bit stressful. To wrap up our day and for our own conscience we walked to the bridge and yelled loudly down the river. We told the bear in the most appropriate way that we would like him to leave us alone for the night and we knocked our comforting mugs together for a lousily terrifying effect. We retreated to our base, hung up our food to the very tip top of the slanted log and retreated for a restless night.
Day five:
After surviving the night, we continued on the next morning walking directly by the bear sighting and did not linger long. Small aspen tree’s and berry bushes that seemed to be lacking berries, headquarters creek along the way, everywhere we looked seemed to be infested by a bear longing to bite our tiny heads. We yelled together throughout every section, mile after mile throughout the burned tree’s and healthy new growth.
We stopped and observed a Golden Eagle perched on the tip of a sharp burned tree. As we approached he swiftly flung himself off and soared through the valley with a wingspan crafted by a creative and powerful God. After miles of cool weather in a ravine between pointy rocky mountains all around us, we eventually began ascending up Headquarters Creek Pass, the last section of our hike.
As we hiked along rocky switchbacks, we came across a large guy and what appeared to be his dad. We were excited to see them after so many hours without human contact, but the feelings were not well received. They awkwardly shook their heads for every question we asked and seemed rudely uninterested. We hiked on feeling like annoying mosquitoes until we ran into two more hikers. This time there was conversation and we learned the two young dudes were from Switzerland attempting a ten day hike down to Lincoln, MT. One guy had a whicker looking gardening hat on and the other with different colored eyes. They definitely seemed foreign but prepared non-the-less with a bear bell, bear spray and massive packs on their backs. They talked of Montana being much more wild than a trip that would ever be possible back in their home country.
We slowly trudged up the pass and by a couple of guys working for the forest service on horseback with a line of depressed donkey’s carrying much more than what seemed to be possible. We continued over the pass and down to a group of mountain goats observing us with interest and curiosity. Once over the pass we hiked along the stream for a couple of miles until we hit the boundary for the Bob Marshall Wilderness, we abandoned our dearly loved hiking sticks next to the sign and proceeded to the fresh old bronco, looking in much better shape than ourselves.
