backcountry

From missoula we drove through the smoky haze up highway 2 towards glacier. Our first stop was the backcountry office in apgar hoping to hook-up a pass for a few days. We’d heard mix reviews that all backcountry passes were taken for the season and some said they had a bunch. So as karma would have it the two people in front of us turned in their pass because they were unable to use it – too bad for them, lucky for us. So within a few moments we were preparing to go. Our route would take us twenty miles from gunsight trail head to sperry trail, our elevation would increase over 3000 ft (in the course of a day) to a peak of 6900 ft over two nights and three days.

I (sarah) was nervous and apprehensive as it had been a while since I’d backcountried and yoga doesn’t really work the same muscles. This manifested into a fight over how many cans of tuna one needs for three days in the woods. After one last night with the pups we stayed in the hungry horse rec area on the edge of the reservoir. Dined on black bean tortillas while the dogs rolled in every disgusting berry patch they could find. We organized for the trip and passed out and dreamt of bear attacks.

Woke up early to buy our bearspray and drop the dogs off at camp. Triple R Kennels is fantastic, much nicer than good old Kennelwood at home. They offered to teach the boys how to pheasant hunt if we left them for a few weeks. I then let them know that they are vegetarian. A huge area for the dogs to play with their twenty new friends which consist of a mix of labs and a few Burmese Mt. Dogs. Although we (ok maybe just me) had tears in our eyes the dogs didn’t even notice when we left.

DAY 1 BACKCOUNTRY

Great new thing in GNP is the shuttle it allows you to drop in one spot and pick up in another so you don’t have to retrace your steps. Still need to work a few kinks out but they’ll get there we suffered one of the kinks which is not enough room so the two of us and our huge packs had to sit in the emergency steps… so by the time we arrived at our destination we were quite nauseous.

Our packs were stuffed – dave claims his packed weighed 90lbs and I am sure mine was about 150lbs. Whatever, the real number they were extremely heavy way too much tuna.

The first day was relatively flat with up and down of only 500ft through a lot of brush and swag. Apparently the way to keep a bear away is to make a lot of noise – so we made up lots of new songs and solved the world’s problems. We were walking through a lot of huckleberry bushes which are very tasty but the perfect spot for a bear.

We made it to camp and started to set up for our first night. First, we had to hang our food, anything that has a scent, which is everything, to keep the bears at bay. I knew there were bears but I wasn’t sure how serious… until we were hanging up our bear bags and a huge black bear walked through the food prep area. I did everything you are not supposed to do – I panicked. Dave hung up the bags really quickly and in the process lost his wedding band (or so we thought). We ran (again, they tell you to stay still and calm) back toward the woods to watch the bear and his HUGE head check out the food prep area and then saunter back into the bush. No one has hurt and only one guy got a photo.

With one bear sighting under our belt I felt a little more confident and really never needed to see a bear again that close. And felt if karma really does work in a continuous circle we would not be attacked in our sleep.

We had a great first dinner with a group of guys from the Springfield, MO area - go figure. Everyone spent most of the evening looking for Dave’s wedding ring.

We watched a gorgeous sunset over gunsight lake, which is a glacier fed lake, crystal clear and very deep. Tucked in around 9p before the sun even fully set.

DAY TWO BACKCOUNTRY

If I only knew this day was going to be as hard as it was I may have stayed in my sleeping bag. Today was the pinnacle, peak or what you will of this hike. We went up 3000 ft in elevation and down another 1500 – amazing views but a hard day.

It’s days like this that make you question why you do this. Why is it fun to carry 50lbs on your back while shuffling up a mt. eating cold tuna for dinner? Why? Why did we decide to do this? Then you turn to blame – who’s idea was this? Who can I blame this bloody curse that has been brought upon us?

But then you get to the summit and realize why you’ve gone through the pain. It’s amazing. It’s just us, a few marmots, ground squirrels and us. We feel like we are on the top of the world. No one around, no cars, no city sounds, just us on the top of this mountain – that’s why we do this hiking thang. Huge waterfalls barreling down the sides of the canyons, wildflowers that have no place growing are in abundance, glaciers sliding down the mountain peaks.

The only sad realization is that despite not having city noises this place is being heavily affected by the way we treat our environment. The glaciers used to come down to the pass (our summit) now they only make it a few hundred feet down the side of the mountain. The National Parks guys predict in a few years there won’t be anything left. Makes you think about how much we drive our cars.

We ponder on the summit for almost an hour thinking we have so much time and down really is easier. Then reality sets in and we start down the seemingly unending switchbacks towards that night’s camp. After fifteen switchbacks I stopped counting and started focusing on the pain in my feet, toes, hammies, you name-it it hurt. After several hours of going down, yelling for bears and working through the burn we found camp.

Sperry camp site is on the edge of this huge rock overlooking Lake McDonald (our final destination). Actually it was about 3500ft above our final destination. We ate as much food as we could to lighten the packs. We dined on the rocks with two nice couples from the east coast and Ann Arbor, MI. That night was FREEZING but thanks to our great bags we were nice and warm.

DAY 3

Could repeat the first line from the last entry but you get the idea.

Ends up I have a broken toe and ripped another toenail off – so gross, sorry to even write that but it gives you a hint at the nightmare of a day we are embarking on.

Today was only 6 miles, all down. So with the toe situation every step slammed my toes into the end of my boot it was very painful. We were tired, snappy, hated our food and generally irritated that we didn’t have an escalator or wings to get us down the mountain. The six miles took us way longer than it should have about 4 hrs in total. Beautiful scenery that turned into dense tall pines and lots of hikers doing day trips… happy to be done we found our car around 3 that afternoon with the next mission of finding a place to stay that night.