Cold, snowy, rainy, sunny, repeat. That is a Montana spring and this past weekend was no exception. Ryan Connelly, Sam Haraldson, Ryan Jordan, Mike Martin, and Chris Wallace of Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking School came together with Doug Prosser, Phil Barton, and Pat Starich to instruct twelve Boy Scouts of America scoutmasters from around the country in the ways of ultralight backpacking.
The starting point of our trek was near Dupuyer, Montana on the Eastern edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness and it’s 1,009,356 acres (4,085 km²). The focus of the weekend trip was mostly to instruct an already skilled set of scoutmasters in ways they can lighten their pack weights as well as ways for them to transfer these lessons to the scouts in their troop. This task was accomplished by a half-day of classroom instruction, two days and two nights in the field, and an indoor debriefing session.
The group split into two patrols consisting of nine members and set off into the Eastern front of the Rocky Mountains and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Our starting point was the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch owned by the Boone and Crockett Club. 
The first night was spent on the ranch followed the next day by travels into “The Bob” via the North Fork of Dupuyer Creek drainage.
A combination of ranch roads, trails, and off-trail routes was taken with the group exhibiting excellent skills in map and compass navigation. Both nights provided absolutely choice camping spots with excellent views, sources of water, and comfortable eating and sleeping options.
May in Montana requires quality gear choices as the group encountered nearly all possible weather types – – with warm and sunny being the least of our troubles. Blizzarding snow, cold rain, and sun were all to be dealt with at one time or another and most hikers wore a long-sleeve baselayer and windshirt or rain shell for the duration of the trip.
All in all the views were superb and the weather was kept at bay with quality tarp and pyramid pitches as well as a warming campfire in the mornings and evenings. Although inquisitive the participants skill-set was no laughing matter as all in attendance were well-prepared with both gear and intelligence. The conversations amongst participants and the ideas shared between them became just as, if not more important than the formal instruction taking place.
View the entire Flickr photo set at Wilderness Trekking – WS2-BSA – 2010-05-21.
The snowpack in Southwest Montana has been treacherous most of the winter which has kept me out of the backcountry and therefore out of backpacking or touring. I’m an active individual and I’ve been able to keep myself occupied snowboarding at the resort and doing a lot of cycling.
A group of friends and I decided to take the cycling thing off the roads and onto the trails due to some unseasonably warm weather the area has been experiencing. This group of cyclists has been heading to this location for years for winter riding as there exists an interesting micro-climate in area that keeps the trails relatively snow-free most of the winter.
We went riding on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 near Whitehall, Montana at a place referred to as Pipestone. It is known for it’s bike trails, ORV trails, as well as it’s rock climbing and bouldering. While riding we saw ATVs, dirt bikes, and even a couple climbers – all out to drink in the near tropical heat we’ve been having.
We rode for a couple hours stopping often to fix various mechanical issues – a common problem on the first ride of the year I suppose. I have no idea how many miles we put on but I’d venture to guess ten or more miles. The trails we were riding (and wrenching) on were a combination of frozen sand, ice, snow, and mud. We all ended up nice and dirty which is a sign of a quality off road ride.
Riders present were Casey, John, Katie, Sam, Seth, and Steve representing a varied cross section of abilities. I do not remember the last time I went off road cycling so I was very excited to be on the trail going fast (and very, very slow at times) through single track, dirt roads, and icy and snowy treads of all varieties.
To better memorialize the trip I put together a video montage of the day’s riding. My photo are also available from the day at my Flickr page, 
I’ve been doing some reading about DIAD activities lately. DIAD stands for done-in-a-day. The idea behind the type of DIAD hiking activities I’ve been researching is to pick a hike that might take two or even three days for typical completion and finish it in one day.
During the waning part of August, 2008 I had my sights on the Crazy Mountains, a small range in Southwest Montana better known for it’s grazing cattle and timber land than for backpacking. Using a combination of Google Earth, digital 7.5 min. quadrangle maps and National Geographics TOPO! program I determined the route I was too take through the Crazies. My plan was to head up the Trespass Creek trail, over a pass, down into the Sweet Grass drainage, then up a different fork of the same creek, over another pass (one without a trail), and finishing by walking down and out the Cottonwood Creek trail back to my car. This trip was twenty plus miles and I was hoping to summit Conical Peak in the middle of it so I knew it was going to be a stout set of miles.
I usually hike solo and because of this I prefer to be prepared, having no one to rely on in the event of an emergency or stranding. I decided I would attempt the hike in a one-day push but would carry a limited backpacking kit (shelter, insulation, cooking gear, et al) in the event the weather turned poor or I the terrain dished out more than my endurance could handle. 
I awoke at dawn, packed my bag and headed up the trail. I encountered a man and his son readying themselves for six days of mountain goat hunting, two groups of two backpackers, and a man as his four daughters outr backpacking. I didn’t expect much traffic but this was Labor Day weekend so then again it didn’t surprise me all that much. I made excellent time, hitting all the marks I was hoping to and as I approached Conical Peak I saw no reason I couldn’t summit it and still be back to my car before dark.
The sky had been having trouble making up its mind as to what the clouds wanted to do. Big, ugly, black, menacing looking things had been rolling in and out all day and as I began the couple thousand foot climb to the summit of Conical it became very cold and began to rain. As I progressed another hundred feet the rain was turning to snow and a white, blinding fog was enveloping all around me. I realized very quickly that a summit of a mountain doesn’t mean a lot to me without a view so I turned around and headed back to lower ground. If it did start snowing seriously I knew I was going to either have to make a dash over the trail-less pass I needed to cross to get back to my car, or camp below Conical Peak and hope the next day was warm enough to melt the snow which would have made the off-trail crossing difficult.
As I lost elevation the weather decided to be silly again and the sun came back out and warmed everything up. I made my way toward the steep, loose, rocky pass that from my vantage appeared to have some class 3 and 4 sections required for crossing. The group of backpackers consisting of the man and his daughters had told me they had made their way over this pass the day before (only in the opposite direction) and considering that these were kids aged in their pre to teens I figured I could probably do it successfully as well. I headed up the pass and made a couple poor route decisions which put me into about ten minutes of climbing that was a bit over the edge of safety. It wasn’t anything I’m incapable of, but it was certainly stuff that could lead to danger had I made a wrong move.
Driving along the fifteen mile gravel road back to the highway the weather really decided to kick it up a notch. A heavy rain began to fall complete with thunder and lighting. I drove slowly home thinking how nice it was I’d finished the loop in a day and not having to deal with the weather. But all the while a parallel thought was coursing my synapses, and that was that I just knew the next morning would have provided me a brilliant covering of snow and I would’ve awoke to the glistening beauty of a snow-covered alpine lakeshore. Alas, the time will come soon enough for lots, and lots, and looooots of snow. I’m curious, what would you have done? 
