I gave my car away a couple years ago and biked everywhere I could.  I have another car now but since my 1,000 mile move to Montana I’ve only put a few dozen miles on it.  These precious miles are devoted to allowing myself the freedom of the hills.  In trying to further minimize my impact of even these few dozen miles I concocted a nifty route for my backpacking trip on the weekend of August 15th, 2008.

On Friday I threw my bike into my car and drove the twenty miles into Hyalite Canyon to the Hyalite Creek trailhead.  I parked my car and rode my bicycle the twenty miles back to town.  I packed up my gear, got the rest of my groceries all trip-ready and went to sleep peacefully in my bed.  A 6:30am alarm woke me and I grabbed my pack and walked out the door headed for the Gallatin Valley Mall.  A weird place to start a backpacking trip I’m sure you’re thinking.  About 7:20am a large bus pulled up and I boarded along with a half dozen others and we set off South down the Gallatin River Valley.  Upon reaching the turn off to Big Sky Ski Resort I asked the bus driver for a whistle stop and he obliged.  My backpacking trip had begun.

The first leg of my trip was a three mile walk South along the highway to the Porcupine Creek trailhead followed by a grueling ascent of multiple thousands of feet to gain the Gallatin Divide and it’s meandering Gallatin Crest Trail (also commonly referred to as the Devil’s Backbone).  By afternoon I was on the Divide and making my way Northward toward Hyalite Canyon where my trusty Subaru was parked.  I hiked from 9:00am until 8:20pm covering something along the lines of twenty-five miles and ascending an elevation of 6,500ft.

The Gallatin Divide is out of reach of any creeks or lakes so I was out of water by the end of my hiking day.  I had noticed snowbanks along the route and was relying on finding a camping spot where this would be available.  This and some other factors were what prompted the spot I did choose.  I camped at a lovely spot along the Divide at 9,500 ft above sea level and while melting snow for drinking water was treated to a sunset my photos will have trouble doing justice.

At dawn I awoke to the sound of a family of mountain goats click-clacking their way across the opposite side of the canyon I was sleeping near.  The sunrise and moon-set were equally as delightful as the opposite occurrence the evening before.  I quickly packed having not set up a tent or tarp the night before and headed off to find more water and ultimately my destination.  Hiking in the early hours of the day is always a treat as this is when wildlife is most frequently visible.  I had the rare opportunity of witnessing two elk from a distance of only a few dozen meters while I was collecting water from a stream.  A handful more mountain goats also made their appearance high up on a canyon wall.

I summited Hyalite Peak that morning and enjoyed the view of the surrounding landscape – a view only barely topping the full-day of delightful views I had enjoyed during the previous days’ hike.  I can with all honesty say that the hike along the Gallatin Crest Trail No. 96 ranked second only to the high country in the Pasayten Wilderness I experienced the summer before on my 2007 PNT thru hike.  If you are ever in the Bozeman area and in need of a quality trip, consider the Gallatin Divide Trail at the top of your list.

I descended from Hyalite Peak through Hyalite Creek and back to my car at the busy trailhead as just another hiker out in the woods – no different than the scads of cotton-clad families with half-full Nalgene bottles in tow walking up or down the creek.  I smiled to myself at the grandeurs I had witnessed and groaned a bit at the toll the twenty-five miles the previous day and the dozen or so miles the current day had taken on my body.  Endurance, limits, toughness.  All things I like to test – and seem to do so on a regular basis.  Stay tuned for next weeks’ grand adventure…

View this trip’s concurrent photo set here

http://picasaweb.google.com/sam.haraldson/UltralightBackpackingGallatinCrest

A new career called and I headed back out to the mountains, this time in Southwest Montana where the list of peaks to climb is nearly endless.  The Bridger, Crazy, Tobacco Root, Madison, Gallatin, Abaroka, Beartooth ranges are all within one hundred miles, and the list goes on.  Having set my sights on Ross Peak in the Bridger Range before even arriving in Bozeman I quickly set out to attain that in my second week here.  Next my perusing of the pages at Summit Post put me in a mindset of the Absaroka Range and particularly Black Mountain.

Thursday Night - For those weekend warriors it is important to spend the week previous to your trips planning routes, attaining maps, checking off gear lists and preparing food.  I had all taken preparations made by Thursday evening and my pack and trekking poles were readied by the door of my room.

Friday Afternoon - Out of work, back home and into the Subaru for the fifty mile drive to the Pine Creek Lake trailhead.  I arrived by 18:30 and made the thousands-of-feet-over-five-miles-climb along a nice Forest Circus trail to Pine Creek  Lake wherein to find the place to myself.  Downing a canned-pint of a local Montana-brewed scotch-style ale I nestled into my quilt by about 22:00.

Saturday Morning - I awoke to my alarm at 05:45 for a semi-alpine start at Black.  The weather was to be hot so I wanted to make the climb before too much sun was shining over the peaks to the East.  I climbed and made the summit by 08:30 (read trip log at Summit Post).  My plan was to follow the peaks ridge around the Pine Creek valley, summit McKnight Mountain and drop Eastward to McKnight Lakes and then a trail-less descent Northwest-ward the next day to the trailed South Fork Deep Creek trailhead.  I was quickly thwarted by fear and rationale by some nasty exposure on the knife edge ridge off the East flank of Black Mountain.

Saturday Afternoon - Rather than risk life and limb on the alpine ridges I re-traced my steps down Black Mountain and headed off cross-country through the wilds of the Pine Creek drainage.  I made my way across the mid-elevations and climbed again to the saddle between the ridges I was on previously and McKnight Mountain.  I could look downard onto McKnight Lakes but seeing no obvious, safe route downward I opted instead to stay in the Pine Creek drainage.  I wandered all over it, climbing and descending some 3,500 feet that day eventually settling on a nice campsite on the East side of the lake.

Saturday Evening - The lake was anything but mine that night as six other sets of backpackers showed up to camp.  I joined one group, a father and his two sons at their campfire that evening for good conversation and a gorgeous sunset before heading back to my tarp for a cold slumber.  Temperatures were hovering around 40 deg. F by 04:00.  I was pushing my superultralight setup that night and awoke to do warming sit-ups a number of times before the sun shone.

Sunday Morning - Awake at 06:30, packed and down to the car in time to catch biscuits and gravy at a little joint with good, fresh, organic coffee.  Home before the afternoon for relaxing, reading and enjoying my new home in Bozeman.

I recently made a career change which has taken me away from the beautiful Arrowhead of Minnesota and placed me into the grandiose peaks and valleys of the approximately 4,000,000 acres of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Upon arriving into my new hometown of Bozeman, MT and unpacking my Subaru of my belongings I immediately dove into my new roomates map drawer to find a couple day backpacking loop to satisfy my lust to enjoy the freedom of the hills.

I contemplated heading back up to my old haunt at Glacier National Park but decided that can wait until I’ve explored my new area a bit. Next I considered heading down to Yellowstone National Park but decided against it because of how busy it would be as well as the hassle of the permit system. I had read about the Lee Metcalf Wilderness briefly in some outdoor blogs and it looked to be perfect for my needs - close to Bozeman and high in elevation.

I opted to start hiking along the South Fork of Spanish Creek, head about ten miles up to Jerome Rock Lakes, spend the night, travel a short distance over a 9,000 ft. pass and down to Upper Big Brother Lake to spend the second night and then awake on the third day to descend a different drainage back to the trailhead and my waiting Subaru.

Montana welcomed me back with open arms. Although I’ve been a flatlander living in Minnesota for the past two years I was still able to climb the 2,400 ft to Jerome Rock Lakes and it’s 8,000+ ft elevation without too much light-headedness. Two bears along the trail reminded me I was back in very wild country again. I arrived at the lake just as a thunderstorm was moving in fast. I peered over the lake to see a Bald Eagle swooping low along the lake heading for cover. I had read the upper lakes were nicer than the lower so I quickly began bushwhacking upstream but reaching two plateaus and no lake I decided to head back down to attempt to set up camp before the rains came. I had my shelter laid out when it started pouring. All was well however as I got everything situated and myself under the tarp to hear the thunder rumbling overhead and the lighting crashing around me. The rain didn’t let up until much later so I spent the better part of twelve hours under the tarp that night.

The next day was short on miles but I awoke early and headed out hoping to arrive and do some exploring. This also offered me the opportunity to hike slow at these high elevations to be sure my un-aclimatized body could handle it all. I had my ice axe with me as the Forest Service reps couldn’t give me solid beta on what the snow situation would be at 9,000 ft. There was patchy snow but nothing with dangerous exposure so I never used the axe. The high alpine country of this area is stunning. Rugged peaks, broken scree slopes, raggedy old-growth conifers. Being that this is a wilderness area the trail maintenance is at a minimum. The trail disappeared and hikers are forced to follow rock cairns through the pass. Route-finding was moderate to difficult between finding the cairns and moving through the snow.

I followed the cairns down to what I thought was Big Brother Lake, set up camp, had a snack and took a nap as it was still only 9:30 a.m. and I had plenty of time to explore later. Awaking from a wonderful slumber I headed out around the lake to climb the prominent knob in the cirque. Upon reaching the top I noticed there were three lakes in the drainage and not one as denoted on the map I was carrying. I determined that I was actually at an upper lake and that Big Brother was another .25 or .5 miles downstream. I lazied around the rest of the day and waded all over the freezing cold lake until anotehr thunderstorm came speeding in. I had to push my tarp walls out to keep them from blowing in for about ten minutes while the storm raged. When it let up a bit I went out, re-set all my tarp stakes and reinforced them with big rocks. This provided a bomber set up and the rest of the storm had nothing on my shelter.

6:30 came and I awoke as my body seems to do lately. I packed up, ate some granola and began bushwhacking down to the other lake, hoping that upon arriving there I would be able to find the trail again. I was in luck and I was sailing downhill on good trail in no time. Aside from the 250 downed trees I encountered it was good hiking. I arrived back at the Subaru around 11:00 and was back in Bozeman by 12:00.

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Early June, 2008. My buddies and I decided to do a couple days on the North Country National Scenic Trail in Northwestern Wisconsin. We planned, we mapped, we discussed. All was going well, a car shuttle was arranged and we were amped. Then one guy hurt his back and the other got very ill. This left me to figure out my plan on the afternoon we were set to leave. I quickly laid out my maps, assessed the situation and decided to go backpacking solo. I rearranged my food stash so as to only carry eats for one and changed out some group gear with solo gear. This put me behind schedule by about an hour but alas the long daylight hours are upon us and I have a trusty headlamp.

I arrived in Solon Springs, WI at a trailhead in the Brule River State Forest around 19:30. I was out of the car and moving fast to stay ahead of the mosquitos. I hiked until approximately 21:00 and arrived at the Jesseth Creek Bluffs campsite just as the sun was setting across the Brule River valley - - gorgeous.

I picked off thirty wood ticks upon arriving at camp and decided to pull my socks up over my pants legs, set up the Dancing Light Gear silnylon tarp I had brought along and have some nuts and chocolate for dinner. After that I strung up my bear bag, built a smokey anti-mosquito fire using my firesteel and relaxed before turning in at 22:00.

Morning came and I awoke around 5:00. Without my buddies there I just wasn’t feeling the need to continue on to another campsite. I opted to hike the three miles to the next trailhead and then wandered logging roads and ATV trails that paralleled the NCT back to my car which ended up being another eight or nine miles. It was kind of fun just using my compass and following random trails not really knowing exactly where I was on the map. I spotted lots of deer, moose, bear and turkey tracks and only saw two cars.

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While hiking I kept my camera handy and put together a short video blog for your enjoyment.

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Chad and Sam headed up to the Split Rock Wayside, Sam with his pack and Chad with his pulk sled and hiked the six miles to the Gooseberry State Park headquarters. They arrived around 14:30 with plans to meet Jim, Kat and Todd at 15:00. Food was consumed outside the headquarters in the sun and the rest of the group arrived in a timely fashion. Everyone quickly gathered their gear and hit the trail for the 2.7 mile jaunt to the campsite.

The trail was packed powder having seen dozen of pairs of snowshoes previously in the season and made for easy walking. Chad vocalized he wished he hadn’t added the fins to his pulk sled but seemed to maneuver it well regardless. Snowshoes weren’t necessary but the crampons on them were handy for the ups and downs.

Arrival in camp was around 16:30-ish and everyone immediately set up their camps. Kat and Todd put up their respective tents, Jim rigged up his tarp and Sam and Chad laid down their bivies. All was set before dark and next, out came the cooksets. Food was warmed and snow melted for the evening and next day’s water. Chad and Todd masterfully created a fire around which everyone sat, warmed and conversed for a couple of hours.

Winter camping is synonymous with early bed times and most hit the hay around 20:30. The stars were brilliant and the moon was very, very bright. No headlamp was necessary for potty breaks in the night. But the lack of clouds brought tempertures into the teens.

Eleven hours later the sun was peeking through the trees to the East and bodies climbed from their cocoons into the crisp morning air. Oatmeal, granola and coffee was warmed up, warm clothes were donned and the warmth of the sun put smiles on the campers faces. Everyone had eaten and packed for the trail by around 9:45. A little over an hour later we arrived back at Gooseberry headquarters, did some car shuttling, took a final group photo and were on our way home.

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