NorthwestWanderer
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- Joined
- May 3, 2018
- Messages
- 291
Hello everyone
This was an awesome backpacking trip in Montana's mighty Bob Marshall wilderness.
7/15/22 - 7/23/22
The goal of the trip was to walk the top of the Chinese Wall. This was a phenomenal bug-free trip with some great friends. Every photo is just a screen grab from my video below.
7/15/22
The Gathering / Meet up / Shuttle set | Car Camping near the Benchmark TH
PRO of the DAY: A+ Sunset & friends chilling
CON of the DAY: Mega thunderstorm
THOUGHT of the DAY: Semi truck road raging with a prius @ Rogers pass was weird
Heading toward the Bob
Watching a thunderhead skirt around us out onto the plains
It did not skirt us, we got lit up.
Post-storm sunset
7/16/22
Benchmark TH to S. Fork Sun River Camp
8.56 Miles & 727 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Great first camp & campfire
CON of the DAY: Very hot, one of my buddies lost their water bottles and had to hike an extra mile to find it
THOUGHT of the DAY: It apparently gets very hot in the bob
Heading toward the Sun River
Great walk on a section of the CDT above the River after crossing it.
Red Butte 8590'
Looking for a good camp by the river
Pretty cool camp found. Must be an outfitters camp in the fall. Lots of flat, good water access and deer hangs.
Rocky mountain afternoon thunderstorm on time
Everyone turned in early. I went to watch the sunset.
7/17/22
Camp > W. Fork River Crossing > Basin below White River Pass
7.43 Miles & 2212 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: 2 Bears in 1/4 mile!
CON of the DAY: Lots of muddy trail
THOUGHT of the DAY: I could only think about Days 3 and 4 (our wall days)
There are no dry feet when hiking in the early season in horse country
Crossing the West Fork, boulders were SLICK
Massive beargrass
First bear of the trip
crossed the steep ravine like it was nothing then watch us pass
2nd bear sighting in 1/4 mile
Camp in the basin below White River Pass. The day before our Christmas. Tomorrow we will be up on the Wall. Had a good fire and some beers this night.
7/18/22
Basin Below WRR Pass > Haystack Mountain summit > "Sphinx Park"
5.41 Miles & 1766 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: On the wall
CON of the DAY: Only have 1 more day up on the wall
THOUGHT of the DAY: I wish we had more days on the wall
THE OFF TRAIL ROUTE BEGINS!
Getting up on the ridge to Haystack
Toward the summit
Notch around the corner of the last pic
Haystack Summit. We are dead center of the Bob Marshall. This is wilderness.
Next few days on the top of the wall would be a non-stop visual feast.
First view of the Chinese Wall
The walk of life
Looking toward what we would call "Sphinx Park", the "parkland" below Sphinx Mountain
No rushing. Only enjoying.
We were not welcomed here
Taking it all in before entering Sphinx Park from the other "park"
Our epic camp below Sphinx Mountain in Sphinx Park. A wall on a wall. Wall-ception
Sunset from near the real walls edge looking east toward the other half of the Bob
7/19/22
Sphinx Park > Cliff Mountain summit > Salt Mountain summit > Larch Hill Pass
12.09 Miles & 4075 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Cliff Mountain best vista of the trip
CON of the DAY: Very little water after Sphinx Park, hot
THOUGHT of the DAY: Side hilling in blown out boots isn't fun.
When the view at the start of the day looks like this, you know it will be a good day.
Wallception captured
Almost to Cliff Mnt summit
"She's a beaut' clark"
The wall with the ultra-remote Silvertip Mountain and the crowded Glacier National Park waaay in the distance
Looking back from which we came. The rest of the day was grand.
Walking the top of the wall is a deceiving amount of up and down. Worth it though.
Looking down the Moose Creek drainage, where we will exit.
Only picture I got from camp after Larch Hill Pass, a screen grab from me recapping the day on my video.
7/20/22
Larch Hill Pass > Base of the wall > Moose Creek
10.83 Miles & 931 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Easy relaxing hiking
CON of the DAY: Not a lot of camp spots in the drainage
THOUGHT of the DAY: If there is 10% of precipitation in forecast it hits us 100% of the time.
Now to walk the base of the wall!
After leaving the wall and headed down the very wooded Moose Cr Drainage we found a good camp spot. Set up. Then promptly got lit up by a thunderstorm
Post thunderstorm vibes
7/21/22
Moose Creek > Cross Sun River > Sun River Camp
6.57 Miles & 870 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Laundry at the river!
CON of the DAY: Hot burn section
THOUGHT of the DAY: How big was the grizzly that took the mega shit?
Saw the largest pile of bear (grizzly) shit I've ever seen in my entire life. Almost the size of a small car tire.
My friend approves of the cold water on this 95 degree day
Camp was nothing special nor too scenic. It had great river access and we just lounged in it all day / did laundry. Had a great evening talking about cryptids, murders, backpacking trips, areas we want to see and even some cool stories of "the last remaining cave hyena" sighting in the early 1900s in the Nahanni.
7/22/22
Walk along the Sun River > Sun River Camp #2 (Arsenic Creek)
6.37 Miles & 308 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Amazing final camp spot
CON of the DAY: Had to walk very very far to find a suitable place to go #2, ran out of TP and had to use leafs.
THOUGHT of the DAY: Bring more TP
Our camp at sun river camp #2 is a popular take out spot for pack rafters, we camped there hoping to bum a beer off of them before they hiked out to the wilderness lodge. There were no packrafters or beers though.
Off trail to find a trail
tons of grizzly bear sign in this area
Cloudy and cool meadow walk
The sun river
Camp at the pack raft takeout before some crazy rapids
7/23/22
Arsenic Creek > Gibson Reservoir > OUT
7.79 Miles & 855 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Ending on a good note for a fantastic trip.
CON of the DAY: Drank lots of beer and felt like puking
THOUGHT of the DAY: How far can a low fuel warning vehicle really get you if you are on your 'A' game with driving?
Hiking out
Gibson Reservoir
I was here doing a day hike in early May and this bay was all sand.
The car ride back to the Benchmark TH was very scenic. But the adventure wasn't over...
... our shuttle vehicle was almost out of fuel. We should have fueled up before enduring 80 miles of forest service roads. We made it back to the Benchmark and my friend started to head to town with the car running on fumes. He made it into the gas station at the emergency level low fuel warning.
Another great trip in the books
THE END
This was an awesome backpacking trip in Montana's mighty Bob Marshall wilderness.
7/15/22 - 7/23/22
The goal of the trip was to walk the top of the Chinese Wall. This was a phenomenal bug-free trip with some great friends. Every photo is just a screen grab from my video below.
7/15/22
The Gathering / Meet up / Shuttle set | Car Camping near the Benchmark TH
PRO of the DAY: A+ Sunset & friends chilling
CON of the DAY: Mega thunderstorm
THOUGHT of the DAY: Semi truck road raging with a prius @ Rogers pass was weird
Heading toward the Bob
Watching a thunderhead skirt around us out onto the plains
It did not skirt us, we got lit up.
Post-storm sunset
7/16/22
Benchmark TH to S. Fork Sun River Camp
8.56 Miles & 727 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Great first camp & campfire
CON of the DAY: Very hot, one of my buddies lost their water bottles and had to hike an extra mile to find it
THOUGHT of the DAY: It apparently gets very hot in the bob
Heading toward the Sun River
Great walk on a section of the CDT above the River after crossing it.
Red Butte 8590'
Looking for a good camp by the river
Pretty cool camp found. Must be an outfitters camp in the fall. Lots of flat, good water access and deer hangs.
Rocky mountain afternoon thunderstorm on time
Everyone turned in early. I went to watch the sunset.
7/17/22
Camp > W. Fork River Crossing > Basin below White River Pass
7.43 Miles & 2212 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: 2 Bears in 1/4 mile!
CON of the DAY: Lots of muddy trail
THOUGHT of the DAY: I could only think about Days 3 and 4 (our wall days)
There are no dry feet when hiking in the early season in horse country
Crossing the West Fork, boulders were SLICK
Massive beargrass
First bear of the trip
crossed the steep ravine like it was nothing then watch us pass
2nd bear sighting in 1/4 mile
Camp in the basin below White River Pass. The day before our Christmas. Tomorrow we will be up on the Wall. Had a good fire and some beers this night.
7/18/22
Basin Below WRR Pass > Haystack Mountain summit > "Sphinx Park"
5.41 Miles & 1766 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: On the wall
CON of the DAY: Only have 1 more day up on the wall
THOUGHT of the DAY: I wish we had more days on the wall
THE OFF TRAIL ROUTE BEGINS!
Getting up on the ridge to Haystack
Toward the summit
Notch around the corner of the last pic
Haystack Summit. We are dead center of the Bob Marshall. This is wilderness.
Next few days on the top of the wall would be a non-stop visual feast.
First view of the Chinese Wall
The walk of life
Looking toward what we would call "Sphinx Park", the "parkland" below Sphinx Mountain
No rushing. Only enjoying.
We were not welcomed here
Taking it all in before entering Sphinx Park from the other "park"
Our epic camp below Sphinx Mountain in Sphinx Park. A wall on a wall. Wall-ception
Sunset from near the real walls edge looking east toward the other half of the Bob
7/19/22
Sphinx Park > Cliff Mountain summit > Salt Mountain summit > Larch Hill Pass
12.09 Miles & 4075 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Cliff Mountain best vista of the trip
CON of the DAY: Very little water after Sphinx Park, hot
THOUGHT of the DAY: Side hilling in blown out boots isn't fun.
When the view at the start of the day looks like this, you know it will be a good day.
Wallception captured
Almost to Cliff Mnt summit
"She's a beaut' clark"
The wall with the ultra-remote Silvertip Mountain and the crowded Glacier National Park waaay in the distance
Looking back from which we came. The rest of the day was grand.
Walking the top of the wall is a deceiving amount of up and down. Worth it though.
Looking down the Moose Creek drainage, where we will exit.
Only picture I got from camp after Larch Hill Pass, a screen grab from me recapping the day on my video.
7/20/22
Larch Hill Pass > Base of the wall > Moose Creek
10.83 Miles & 931 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Easy relaxing hiking
CON of the DAY: Not a lot of camp spots in the drainage
THOUGHT of the DAY: If there is 10% of precipitation in forecast it hits us 100% of the time.
Now to walk the base of the wall!
After leaving the wall and headed down the very wooded Moose Cr Drainage we found a good camp spot. Set up. Then promptly got lit up by a thunderstorm
Post thunderstorm vibes
7/21/22
Moose Creek > Cross Sun River > Sun River Camp
6.57 Miles & 870 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Laundry at the river!
CON of the DAY: Hot burn section
THOUGHT of the DAY: How big was the grizzly that took the mega shit?
Saw the largest pile of bear (grizzly) shit I've ever seen in my entire life. Almost the size of a small car tire.
My friend approves of the cold water on this 95 degree day
Camp was nothing special nor too scenic. It had great river access and we just lounged in it all day / did laundry. Had a great evening talking about cryptids, murders, backpacking trips, areas we want to see and even some cool stories of "the last remaining cave hyena" sighting in the early 1900s in the Nahanni.
7/22/22
Walk along the Sun River > Sun River Camp #2 (Arsenic Creek)
6.37 Miles & 308 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Amazing final camp spot
CON of the DAY: Had to walk very very far to find a suitable place to go #2, ran out of TP and had to use leafs.
THOUGHT of the DAY: Bring more TP
Our camp at sun river camp #2 is a popular take out spot for pack rafters, we camped there hoping to bum a beer off of them before they hiked out to the wilderness lodge. There were no packrafters or beers though.
Off trail to find a trail
tons of grizzly bear sign in this area
Cloudy and cool meadow walk
The sun river
Camp at the pack raft takeout before some crazy rapids
7/23/22
Arsenic Creek > Gibson Reservoir > OUT
7.79 Miles & 855 feet of Elev. Gain
PRO of the DAY: Ending on a good note for a fantastic trip.
CON of the DAY: Drank lots of beer and felt like puking
THOUGHT of the DAY: How far can a low fuel warning vehicle really get you if you are on your 'A' game with driving?
Hiking out
Gibson Reservoir
I was here doing a day hike in early May and this bay was all sand.
The car ride back to the Benchmark TH was very scenic. But the adventure wasn't over...
... our shuttle vehicle was almost out of fuel. We should have fueled up before enduring 80 miles of forest service roads. We made it back to the Benchmark and my friend started to head to town with the car running on fumes. He made it into the gas station at the emergency level low fuel warning.
Another great trip in the books
THE END
