2025 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

If anyone is looking for a bite to eat Friday evening, several of us are going to stop at Buffalo Joe’s in Dupuyer. Pretty decent food (and drink).

Like Pat, I’m also trying to figure out car logistics on each end (Pat, I sent you a PM.)

I plan to be in Lincoln tomorrow afternoon as well. If anyone wants to meet up and sort out some carpooling give me a shout.

We’ll probably be there a little before 6, but will be there for quite awhile. See you guys tomorrow.

Here is Keith and I’s link (and maybe Kyle if I can convince him last minute) > https://share.garmin.com/RobertsonBobOpen2025

https://share.garmin.com/kpucko

I made it to near the bottom of Stadler Pass on day 2 and bailed back towards benchmark the following morning.  I enjoyed hiking and socializing with many of you! Special thanks to Kaylee, Allen, and their pup Lucius who gave me a ride all the way back to my car in Lincoln.

Congrats Kyle—not easy route on foot this year!

The heat sapped us pretty bad, never in the last eleven years have I seen heat being an issue (hopefully never again!).  We had two bail at Gibson, the rest of us bailed at Benchmark.  Next year :)

Another congrats!

I finished at 7:45 this evening. It was somewhat foolish sticking to my plan to packraft with water so low; I regretted carrying the boat a lot. But the North Fork was lovely, and finishing down Landers Fork and the Blackfoot was such a cool way to end a trip. I’ll post a trip report in the next few days.

Rosie and I finished on Wednesday (5/28) at around 7pm! It was certainly a unique year, and just before starting out we opted not to bring the snowshoes, which ended up being a sensible decision. Like others said, the heat was a novel factor this year, which made some of the longer valley stretches go on for quite some time. (I’ve had it snow on me more times during an Open than times where I’ve been too hot!) But the weather was remarkably favorable, with a number of fairly obvious routes to the finish, without much need for going off of the beaten path. It was also a special year because we walked by our family cabin on our route, resisting the temptation to stop in for food and a bed.

After heading off with everyone else, we were aiming for Phone creek, to then jump over into the north fork of the Teton river. However I was enjoying the scenery so much we walked a mile and some change down the south fork of Birch creek before I realized we had missed our junction. So after two *bonus* miles, we were back on track. The pass between Phone creek and the NF Teton was manageable without snowshoes, with only moderately rotten snow. Things went smoothly down the NF and up the WF of the Teton, before turning south again for the Olney/Nesbit pass. Here snowshoes might have been advantageous, because while the north side of the pass was easily approachable, the south aspect held snow for three miles from the pass down, which resulted in some continued post hole battling in the dark! We slept at the packers camp at the bottom of Nesbit the first night. The second day we trudged down Route creek, and followed the NF Sun valley south on the east side trail, before fording the river at Circle creek. I was very pleased to see that a fording stick I had left there from a few weeks earlier was still lying on the bank. We continued over into the SF sun valley on the west side and camped a bit before Pretty Prairie. The third day, feeling a bit more well-rested, we cruised up the SF sun to the packers ford, where I took an accidental plunge on the second crossing of the SF Sun. But, given that it was so warm, being soaked actually proved to be pretty enjoyable. Near Benchmark, we saw Andrew and his crew, before continuing on to the Straight creek TH. We continued the march up Straight creek, over the pass, and made it to just past Welcome creek where we spent the night. Day four and our bodies were hurtin’. So we continued the limp down the Dearborn, and crossed the continental divide on the CDT Landers fork/Blacktail creek pass. Here I opted to continue down the Landers fork drainage, instead of cutting up and over to Bighorn creek, despite it being fewer miles, because of our lack of snowshoes. The upper Landers fork, with its continuous Lodgepole regrowth, seemed to stretch on forever. So by the time we reached the east fork of the Blackfoot, we were whipped, and hobbled to just before Heart lake before calling it a day. Day five we headed out early and made it to the Indian Meadows TH, and walked the road out to the Snowbank/Sucker creek trail. Up and over we went, with only minor slide alder schwacking. And the top out on the pass proved a very classy end, as we could look down on Lincoln and the conclusion to another Open. So we stumbled down the Sucker creek trail, through some blowdown, to the road, and walked the remaining four miles to the ranger station!

This was Rosie’s second year completing the Open (first was 2023)!!! And my fifth. ~125 miles, 16k of elevation gain and five passes. Gorgeous country and plenty of time for self-reflection and contemplation. Absolutely looking forward to next year! Long live the Bob Open.

Nice work Jacob and Rob!

Hey y’all. I  recently complete this year’s Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic. It was an awesome opportunity to take everything I’ve learned from the Bob Open and apply it to a new venue.

If you’re interested, below are links to my track and a video I made. Holler if you have questions.

https://share.garmin.com/RobertsonAMWC2025

“Rob— Nice work!”

Interesting response. Listening to and watching the video, my response was…

–thank god everyone got out without a major injury. This speaks to the skill and experience and toughness of all involved

–every part of this journey qualifies as torture

–sleep deprivation, swollen hands, endless snow cups followed by thick brush followed by icy cliffs followed by horrible endless rocky terrain followed by yet more dangerous river crossings followed by knee deep soft snow plunges…I could go on. wait I will! the horrible heavy packs.

–sure the vistas are nice but no one is “taking in nature”. they’re trying to survive. Nature is trying to kill this crew. Or anyway saying “you don’t belong here.” this isn’t John Muir in Yosemite, or Thoreau. No kidding! Maybe nature has a point

–all that said, it’s a great video and if anything I would appreciate slowing it down and lingering on a lot of great moments. By my lights, this could easily be spun out over another half hour at least. I was laughing in a lot of places, maybe sadistically, because I saw how incredibly tough the brush and terrain really was. Glad I wasn’t there!