Post by hikerjer on Aug 17, 2015 19:04:34 GMT -8
When I was in about the 5th grade I saw a photo in a geography book of the Chinese Wall in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. Ever since then I've wanted to see it for myself. Ironically, I've lived in Montana for almost all my life and have never made it to the Bob Marshall Wilderness, much less to the Chinese Wall. This August things worked out so I could take a 5 day trip into the Bob to hike to the Wall. Two introductory comments. First, it turned out to be one the warmest hikes I've ever been on with temps in the mid-90s every day. It didn't cool down at all until the sun went down around 9:15 .m. Secondly, it was just a plain long uneventful hike into the wall - two full days of walking.
Although I live in Montana, it's a big state and it was still a full day's drive to the Benchmark TH at the beginning of the hike. I camped in a FS campground that night and got an early start - 8:00 a.m., early for me, anyway. This was the first time I took my dog, a 3 1/2 year old border collie on an extended hike with her dog pack so I didn't know quite what to expect. More on that later. The trail started off in a heavily forested area along the Sun River and continued that way for about 4 miles after which I entered an extensive burn area. This was to be the pattern for much of the hike - thick forest and then extensive burn areas. The area was extremely dry and, of course, no open fires were allowed because of extreme fire danger. A prudent precaution given the conditions. In the burned over areas, there was absolutely no shade so hiking in 90 degree temps was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, most of the way, the side creeks were still running, at least in the early part of the hike, so water was no problem except for the purification hassle. The dog didn't seem to mind though. At every creek she drank her fill, waded around to cool off her paws and often just flat laid down in the water. That was to change later in the hike.
The constant forest canopy, where it wasn't burned, was in some respects somewhat disappointing since there really wasn't much to see besides trees - the green tunnel effect if you will. Even the open views were not that impressive. The other aspect that struck me was the amount of horse traffic. I knew that the area was known for it's outfitter's presence but I wasn't really prepared for the number of pack strings I came across, often more that 10 or 12 horses in a row taking "dudes" or supplies into the backcountry camps. There were far more horse packers than backpackers - at least a three to one margin I 'd say. Of course, the constant horse traffic ground the dry trial into a fine powdery silt that coated everything and raised clouds of a fine brown dust whenever the horses passed.
About five miles into the hike, I began to have concerns over Mattie, my dog. She began to resist walking and was limping somewhat badly. I thought I might have to turn around and abandon the hike because she wouldn't be able to make it. I decided to camp early and found a nice spot by the river. She immediately headed for the water and frolicked around in it showing no signs of discomfort. The next morning everything seemed fine and it was the last problem we had.
The second day was spent in alternating forest and burn areas although there were less burned out areas now. We continued a rather uneventful walk to our next campsite in thick forest next to a small but pleasant creek. Next morning we were up and ready to walk to the Chinese Wall, about eleven or twelve more miles in. I had planned on camping just before the base of the Wall since the meadows immediately below it are closed to camping and while this is disappointing, I can certainly understand it. Those huge horse camps would have made a real mess of the area. However, I ran into a problem at this point. The map showed a significant creek where I had planned to camp and the site would have been perfect except the creek was bone dry. I now faced the choice of back tracking about two miles to the last running creek or continue on hiking about five miles past the no camping zone to the next probable water source. But that would have put me far past my original goal and would have made for a three day hike in leaving two days to get out. Possible, but I didn't relish the thought of that long of a walk out. I decided to scout around and eventually found a meadow that had a small- very small - spring and while there was some water it was extremely shallow and of questionable quality, but it was all I had. Eventually, I was able to get enough water to make it through the night. I did both chemically purify it (tablets) and boiled it so I figured it'd be OK. This was about 2:00 p.m. After setting up my tent so it would be ready for my return, I headed up the to the pass to view the Wall. It was a relatively short hike to the top of the unnamed pass, at that point, the highest on the trip, and it was close to being alpine tundra so the lack of trees made for a fine view of the Wall which was spectacular. Very impresive, I must say. I spent a very pleasant two to three hours laying in the grass viewing the Wall and watching clouds. It turned out to be a great afternoon and I guess I fulfilled one of my life time hiking goals in doing so
The trip out was rather uneventful, just retracing my steps through the same forest and burned out areas although I camped in different areas. On the last night out, several fires broke out just north of the area I was in so I spent the last day hiking in a thick haze of smoke which only compounded the heat's discomfort. One of the highlights of the walk I guess, was coming across two pair of CDT through hikers. Two were in their 60s and the other two, in their 20s. I was particularly impressed by their packs which weighed 22-23 lbs. They insisted that they had never been cold or uncomfortable and were very near the end of the epic hike. Both groups were very friendly and more than willing to talk about their hike and when they went on, doing their 25-30 miles a day, I was suitably impressed. I did see some wildlife - lots of deer, a herd of about 20 elk and a black bear some distance on the other side of the river. Oh, one other thing that surprised me was how many people were armed to the teeth. Pretty weird IMO. But I guess I was too. I did have, after all, my SAK.
Overall, I'm glad I did the hike since I did accomplish my goal of seeing the Wall but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again. It's a long hike through some wild but not particularly spectacular country, the Wall being the exception, of course. It was quite impressive. And of course, the heat and dust didn't add to it.
The drive home was long but pleasant as the weather cooled down considerably and I even went through some pretty heavy rain storms and experienced what was perhaps, the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen.
Although I live in Montana, it's a big state and it was still a full day's drive to the Benchmark TH at the beginning of the hike. I camped in a FS campground that night and got an early start - 8:00 a.m., early for me, anyway. This was the first time I took my dog, a 3 1/2 year old border collie on an extended hike with her dog pack so I didn't know quite what to expect. More on that later. The trail started off in a heavily forested area along the Sun River and continued that way for about 4 miles after which I entered an extensive burn area. This was to be the pattern for much of the hike - thick forest and then extensive burn areas. The area was extremely dry and, of course, no open fires were allowed because of extreme fire danger. A prudent precaution given the conditions. In the burned over areas, there was absolutely no shade so hiking in 90 degree temps was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, most of the way, the side creeks were still running, at least in the early part of the hike, so water was no problem except for the purification hassle. The dog didn't seem to mind though. At every creek she drank her fill, waded around to cool off her paws and often just flat laid down in the water. That was to change later in the hike.
The constant forest canopy, where it wasn't burned, was in some respects somewhat disappointing since there really wasn't much to see besides trees - the green tunnel effect if you will. Even the open views were not that impressive. The other aspect that struck me was the amount of horse traffic. I knew that the area was known for it's outfitter's presence but I wasn't really prepared for the number of pack strings I came across, often more that 10 or 12 horses in a row taking "dudes" or supplies into the backcountry camps. There were far more horse packers than backpackers - at least a three to one margin I 'd say. Of course, the constant horse traffic ground the dry trial into a fine powdery silt that coated everything and raised clouds of a fine brown dust whenever the horses passed.
About five miles into the hike, I began to have concerns over Mattie, my dog. She began to resist walking and was limping somewhat badly. I thought I might have to turn around and abandon the hike because she wouldn't be able to make it. I decided to camp early and found a nice spot by the river. She immediately headed for the water and frolicked around in it showing no signs of discomfort. The next morning everything seemed fine and it was the last problem we had.
The second day was spent in alternating forest and burn areas although there were less burned out areas now. We continued a rather uneventful walk to our next campsite in thick forest next to a small but pleasant creek. Next morning we were up and ready to walk to the Chinese Wall, about eleven or twelve more miles in. I had planned on camping just before the base of the Wall since the meadows immediately below it are closed to camping and while this is disappointing, I can certainly understand it. Those huge horse camps would have made a real mess of the area. However, I ran into a problem at this point. The map showed a significant creek where I had planned to camp and the site would have been perfect except the creek was bone dry. I now faced the choice of back tracking about two miles to the last running creek or continue on hiking about five miles past the no camping zone to the next probable water source. But that would have put me far past my original goal and would have made for a three day hike in leaving two days to get out. Possible, but I didn't relish the thought of that long of a walk out. I decided to scout around and eventually found a meadow that had a small- very small - spring and while there was some water it was extremely shallow and of questionable quality, but it was all I had. Eventually, I was able to get enough water to make it through the night. I did both chemically purify it (tablets) and boiled it so I figured it'd be OK. This was about 2:00 p.m. After setting up my tent so it would be ready for my return, I headed up the to the pass to view the Wall. It was a relatively short hike to the top of the unnamed pass, at that point, the highest on the trip, and it was close to being alpine tundra so the lack of trees made for a fine view of the Wall which was spectacular. Very impresive, I must say. I spent a very pleasant two to three hours laying in the grass viewing the Wall and watching clouds. It turned out to be a great afternoon and I guess I fulfilled one of my life time hiking goals in doing so
The trip out was rather uneventful, just retracing my steps through the same forest and burned out areas although I camped in different areas. On the last night out, several fires broke out just north of the area I was in so I spent the last day hiking in a thick haze of smoke which only compounded the heat's discomfort. One of the highlights of the walk I guess, was coming across two pair of CDT through hikers. Two were in their 60s and the other two, in their 20s. I was particularly impressed by their packs which weighed 22-23 lbs. They insisted that they had never been cold or uncomfortable and were very near the end of the epic hike. Both groups were very friendly and more than willing to talk about their hike and when they went on, doing their 25-30 miles a day, I was suitably impressed. I did see some wildlife - lots of deer, a herd of about 20 elk and a black bear some distance on the other side of the river. Oh, one other thing that surprised me was how many people were armed to the teeth. Pretty weird IMO. But I guess I was too. I did have, after all, my SAK.
Overall, I'm glad I did the hike since I did accomplish my goal of seeing the Wall but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again. It's a long hike through some wild but not particularly spectacular country, the Wall being the exception, of course. It was quite impressive. And of course, the heat and dust didn't add to it.
The drive home was long but pleasant as the weather cooled down considerably and I even went through some pretty heavy rain storms and experienced what was perhaps, the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen.
