Posted by 19.3 miles
My ambition was greater than what I could achieve today on account of a very heavy pack, loaded up with 8 days of food, a later start on trail than usual and a crazy amount of climbing required today.
I left the hotel at 7am to coincide with the opening hours of the coffee shop. There I loaded up with a triple shot, 16oz coffee to kick start the day. Slowly sipping on my caffeine I headed across the road to try my luck hitching.
It didn’t take long, maybe 20 minutes, and I had a ride out with Jeremy on his way to work at Great Falls for the day. Like quite a few hitches I’ve had he initially drove past, turned around and came back to offer me a ride. He was headed right past Rogers Pass and could drop me off. We talked hunting pretty much the whole way and he had me back on trail by 8am.
I had mixed feelings for today. I was very excited heading out knowing I had less than 300 miles to complete on trail which should take around two weeks, and knowing I only had one more resupply to go. This would be my longest section yet, some 180 miles right through to East Glacier, and entering into the Bob Marshall Wilderness in a few days time. I was not looking forward to the huge carry out and associated pack weight. Loaded up with 8 days of food it is my heaviest load yet and today was going to be a hard day with pretty much constant climbing all day.
Most hikers will carry out 3 days of food out from Lincoln or Helena and then try to organise rides in and out of Augusta to resupply again, however the hitch to Augusta can be extremely hard, possibly a full day of waiting for a ride. Augusta is 30 miles off trail and there is not a lot of traffic on the quiet back country road that heads there. It just seemed like too big a distance and time to me to be bothered trying to hitch. It can potentially add an extra two days of travel; and it is almost impossible to get in and out of town in a single day.
Other hikers will send a food box to Benchmark Ranch, the exit point for Augusta, but this too is tricky. Given remote location of the ranch, boxes need to be mailed 3 to 4 weeks in advance. Then there is the postage cost of around $30 and an additional up front fee to be paid by cheque only for the ranch to collect and transport boxes to the ranch. Again, I couldn’t be bothered. I’d rather suck it up and have a few hard days with extra food weight, knowing that once food is consumed my pack weight will decrease to a standard carrying weight after 3 days.
The weight definitely slowed me down today with so much climbing but thats ok. I still put in a decent day with 19.3 miles. For many hikers a distance of between 15 & 20 miles is an average day.
It was great to be back on single trail right from the get go today and with cooler temperatures it made the uphill climbs a little easier. A consistent, cool breeze blew across the hills providing a nice cooling effect once up the top of a climb and once the physical effort could be backed off. I had to dodge a few storms late in the afternoon, thunder and lightning threatening on nearby peaks. Thankfully they did not head my way. Still, a close eye was kept on the clouds.
Rains in recent days have also put the smoke haze to bed which had been lingering on the hills for days. Views were open for business again.
The entire day was spent up high along ridge lines with few water sources. A couple of the marked locations were dry. I needed a refill at the end of the day and chose a spot at the base of a valley floor just prior to starting another ascent where I’d be back into the dry. Where the stream line crossed the trail it was bone dry. Following the dry stream bed upstream for about 0.2 mile I ran into some crystal clear pools deep enough to dip my bottles. The stream was still flowing but ran underground from here hence nothing found on the trail itself.
Still grappling with a heavy pack, made heavier by a fresh water top up, I started uphill again. I couldn’t go too far as I would reach a point where the next ridge line would ascend above tree line with few options to camp. Pushing steeply up and another mile I found an ideal protected camp site on the ridge with flatter contours and good tree cover. The views were epic and I’d be treated with an amazing sunset.
Mick Beckers 