one tough trip- snowshoe across the Bob Marshall Wilderness

[Mike M]

This was a trip that Tom and I have talked about a couple of years now, but were finally able to pull it off last week.  Our route would start on the east of the Divide, following the Sun River drainage, up the North Fork of the Sun, over Sun River Pass eventually dropping into the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and out at Bear Ck (near Essex on Highway 2).

The vehicle shuttling is a pain as the distances between the two trailheads by road are great.  I met Tom and his wife at the Bear Ck trailhead and then she shuttled us to the Sun River trailhead; when it was all said and done it took several hours.  We, joined by Tom’s dog Pepper, took off at noon hoping that in six days, we’d be out.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Easy Sailing</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>
We made great time Monday afternoon, never having to don snowshoes.  Found a great camp site and called it a day.</p>

The next day we still had pretty easy sailing for awhile.  We hit snow in earnest not to far up the trail, but it was form enough it let us boot pack until after lunch.

 
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Not So Easy Sailing</p>
After lunch we started post holing in earnest and quickly donned our snowshoes.  Even with snowshoes we were post holing some.  We’d take turns leading, but it still slowed us down and ran us down.  It soon became apparent that the chances of covering the distance we wanted today, wasn’t going to happen.  We pressed on until dark and called it a day.

We got a decently early start, but it started with a cold ford.  We brought “wading shoes”, but by the time we got out of them, dried our feet, put socks, boots and gaiters on- it was the last time we did this. We continued our jaunt up the North Fork of the Sun; sometimes with decent snow, others with poor snow.

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Crappy Sailing</p>
As we neared the turn off for Sun River Pass, the conditions worsened more so.  The combination of an old burn with lots of blowdown and poor snow, ground our progress to a crawl.  It got so bad at times that we would have to spend 10-15 minutes, digging out a hopelessly entrenched snowshoe.

We kept pressing on despite the crappy snow, numerous blowdown, tough navigation (the trail was never visible, save the occasional green timbered sections) and finally hit it!

We were now officially in the Flathead drainage!  We hiked close to dark before making camp- still well behind out “schedule”.

Early morning before getting out of the tents, it started raining and then gropple.  We’d take gropple over rain though any day.  That morning we encountered our worse snow yet (and we encountered lots of bad snow to this point!).  One or two steps and then sinking up to our knees, or worse our hips.  Slow, painful going.  I put the tails on my snowshoes I brought with very little improvement.  It was at this point we knew we weren’t going to make it out Saturday.  I took stock of the food I had left and came up with a plan to ration it out an extra day.  Tom had two bags of Fritos, so we we were in good shape! :)

As we neared the headwater of the Middle Fork, the snow depth lessened at made it a little easier going.

We found a place to ford the river.  I just left my snowshoes on, knowing that I’d be soaking wet knees and below regardless.

When we got the Big River Trail we encountered a lot of blowdown.  Not totally unexpected given the extent of the burn through this area, but we were back to a slow grind.  We already learned that you don’t step anywhere near the downed blowdown- either side.  Sometimes you forget.

It wasn’t just dead trees down, some really big green trees had been blown over at some point too.

Occasionally we’d hit bare ground, but we just left our shoes on as it never lasted long.

Gooseberry patrol cabin that brought back memories as I worked this Middle Fork country years (and years) ago.

We kept trucking soaking in the views, still well behind, but making progress.

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Not Getting Any Easier</p>
We woke to a brisk and sunny morning.

With the hard freeze, we encountered a new problem.  The trail along the Middle Fork, for the most part, is well above the river and on a steep sidehill.  In the “summer” the trail tread creates a nice level spot to hike, in the “winter” this tread is completely filled and just becomes part of the slope.  We hit one particularly bad spot that Tom had to carve out steps with a avy shovel (I brought microspikes and then came in handy a couple of times, including this one).

We had numerous fords and as I alluded to earlier, we just left our snowshoes on and trucked on.

 

We hit Schafer Meadows and Ranger Station late afternoon (one of a few Wilderness areas that has a landing strip), but just kept trucking.

Tom and Pepper were ahead of me and found a spot to camp, replete with a fire going!  Very welcomed for sure.

The advantages of a vestibule.

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Time to Really Suffer</p>
The day started clear and brisk.  For awhile we had some pretty good going, firm snow and relatively blowdown free.

Sadly it was short-lived and we got into terrible blowdown.  If it wasn’t blowdown, it was steep side-hilling having to kick in with almost every step.

Fortunately occasional views broke up the misery.

Lots of fords and most had steep entries and exits.

I got to 25 Mile Creek later afternoon and was surprised to see it rolling pretty hard.  I saw Tom’s snowshoe tracks angling upward towards what I assumed was the trail. Looking at my map I could see the crossing was further upstream and likely not to have to make such a steep ascent.  I wondered up the creek, but never saw the actual crossing (or the trail on the other side), so I back tracked to where Tom crossed.  About 3/4 of the way across, I got swept and wet up to my neck.  Not a good scenario to say the least.  I followed Tom’s tracks in the snow only to find it didn’t bisect the trail and instead he climbed straight up, a dirt/mud slope steeper than a cow’s face!  Getting swept was spooky, this was spookier yet.  Nothing to grip on the way up.  Took off my snowshoes (carefully so they wouldn’t slide all the way back down to the creek bottom!), put my microspikes on and continued to climb upwards.  I finally made it and quickly hit the trail.  I put a jacket over my now damp base layer (pants still soaking wet).  I caught up to Tom who was shouting to me below not to go the way he went, but it went unheard of the loud creek.  I told him I was going to hike for an hour or two and see if I couldn’t further dry my clothing using the heat from my body.

It did a decent job, but I still had plenty of dampness and it wasn’t overly warm.  We decided to start a fire at the next dry spot and eat supper.  The next dry spot was just around the corner, right next to the trail- done!

The fire and hot supper was just what the doctor ordered.  We looked at the map and decided to hike well into the night or we would be yet another day past our schedule- that wasn’t appealing at all.  We donned headlamps and fought tough conditions (side steep-hills, some frozen and the danger of a slip meant doom) until midnight.

We pitched tents and hit the hay.  An hour later we woke to the loudest wolf howling session I’ve ever experienced.  They couldn’t have been more than 1/4 mile away.  Tom said Pepper raised her head at the racket and promptly went back to sleep- it was a long day :)
<p style=”text-align: center;”>The End is Sight</p>
We didn’t sleep in too much as we were both wanting to bear down and get to the truck.  A day or so earlier, I noticed I was getting a strain on my left ankle.  I’d been taking a pretty full dose of NSAID’s, but it wasn’t doing the trick as it had.  This slowed my forward progress, despite some of the better snow conditions we’ve had to this point and surprisingly not a lot of blowdown either.

Spruce patrol cabin- 10 miles to go!

My pace continued to slow and started limping as well.  Tom was kind enough to slow his pace down so we could make it out together.

At 2-ish in the afternoon, we made it out.  I’d love to say now worse for wear, but that definitely was not the case. We were both hurting and worn down.  We agreed that of all the tough trips we’ve been on, this one took the cake.

 

I’m happy to report my ankle is much better and while Tom said he’d lose a couple of toenails, he’s doing much better too.

Thanks for reading.

[dirtbag]

That is awesome!! Glad everything turned out ok and you were both safe!! This will give you both some of the best lasting memories for sure!! I love adventure like this! Thanks for posting!

[jscott]

Whoa! Beautiful scenery for sure. You guys are amazing. And in amazing shape! Glad y’all are doing fine. Dirtbag lives for adventures like this, from what I can tell.

Great report and I’m happy to have lived vicariously through the whole thing.

[BlackHatGuy]

Heck of a trip Mike. Great photos as well. You guys are crazy!

[W I S N E R !]

This is rad Mike, nice trip.

 

[dirtbag]

What tent was your friend using?

[Mike M]

Thanks Gents!

What tent was your friend using?

Locus Djedi; I can tell you that the night we went till midnight I was super jealous- Tom was already sleeping while I still was futzing pitching my mine!

[William Chilton]

I thoroughly enjoyed that; thanks for sharing the trip with us.

[CS]

Thanks for sharing too. How were you drying things out after fords? It looked like a camp fire?

[Mike M]

Thanks everyone!

Thanks for sharing too. How were you drying things out after fords? It looked like a camp fire?

 

There were so many fords that we just kept going- wet.  We only had a fire one night (and morning) at camp which was nice.  My boots, socks and lower part of my pants were typically frozen in the morning.  I’d boil enough water for a 32 oz Nalgene and I’d stick it in a boot for about 5 minutes each, ditto on the socks.  It didn’t warm them, but made them pliable enough to put on.  Without doing that it would take a loooong time getting them on.

Dry feet and socks at night (down booties too!).  There was no point starting out with dry socks, boots and pants as shortly you’d hit another ford.

The fire we had the evening I got swept was definitely very welcome and a necessity.  My top was just about fully dry from hiking, but my pants were still very damp (too damp).

[dirtbag]

Hence I am all about ease and quickness of set up and breakdown. I will be using my black diamond Hiking 2p tent next winter if I can get out on any storm trips. Maybe a little heavier then some would care for, however, it does pack down very nicely and it is snow, rain, wind and storm worthy and I can have it set up in mere minutes, very very fast.. and maybe one of the BEST features is it is fully free standing. Unless there is a wicked storm happening or approaching, it can be pitched 100% free standing.  The last thing I wan to fiddle with after long hard day and miles is my shelter. Same goes for the morning when its so cold outside, I really just want it down and packed away in seconds, not even minutes.  Again, thanks for posting your adventure!! You guys definitely nailed it and must be feeling so good now that you can look back on it and know its accomplished successfully!

[JCH]

“The last thing I wan to fiddle with after long hard day and miles is my shelter. ”

I don’t want to fiddle with any aspect of my gear, but most importantly my shelter.
– a soft, squishy, down pant wearing guy

[Mike M]

I’ve come to the conclusion that a free standing shelter in the winter is the way to go; especially when your free time in the evening is near nil.

[Tom M]

Thanks for posting this, Mike. Great write up! Definitely a trip of a lifetime and one for the record books. Until you are immersed into a wilderness situation, knowing that any exit in any direction will be at least 3 days of potentially horrendous snowshoe posthole Olympics, does a person realize mentally what it takes to accomplish a trip like this.  There were many moments in this trip that without cool heads and our backcountry expertise could have spelled disaster. I really feel honored to call Mike my friend and I cant wait to see what we dream up next.

If I was to do it again with similar conditions I would change the following:

1. Use a mid style Altra boot.

2. Bring my lightweight crampons.

3. Bring an Ice axe.

4. Some type of over bag to collect condensation and prevent wetting out of my down sleeping bag.

[Stumphges]

Tom, how’d your dog do? That’s tough for a dog with that type of snow, too. What’s his sleep system? And breed? And age? Haha

looks like a perfect BPL dog.

[Philip Tschersich]

Cool trip and great report. Do either of you ski? It complicates the equipment that you have to carry, and crossing rivers turns into an extra bother unless you’re willing to put up with completely soaked ski boots (which usually is the outcome when you’re touring for days like this due to sweat anyway). Some years ago I did a solo Traverse of Kodiak Island in the spring time, and I used my splitboard. It was T-shirt weather almost the entire way and the snowpack was bottomless isothermic glop in a lot of places. Skis make short work of those conditions and can make even a steep traverses a breeze. But then there is the issue of hauling them through the brush.

[Tom M]

She is a rescue dog I found last year and the nearest I can tell she is Australian Shepard/Blue Healer cross and her age is roughly 3-4.  In the morning she could roam easily on the frozen snow but by mid morning she followed in my tracks. At 25mile creek it was a really spicy crossing and she got swept almost into the main stem of Middle Fork Flathead river.  She is using the Nunatak  Dog Bivy v.2.  Pepper is a complete badass and depending on conditions and the course she might be my partner for the 2022 BMO.

 

[Mike M]

I’ll let Tom answer the questions on Pepper :)

@Phillip cool video! :)

there were definitely a few sections where skis would have been better (much better); but to be honest not sure skis could have made this trip.

1- the blowdown sections were bad, long and numerous

2- lots of miles where you’re sidehilling on steep slopes, it was tough with snowshoes- would be tougher yet with skis

3- lots of fords, which out of the three might be the least of the worries

We talked about bringing skis (and snowshoes), but in the end no skis seems like the least complicated

[Mike M]

Pepper is a complete badass

I can attest to this!

 

I forgot to tell about one incident.  We were looking over fording options on a creek and Pepper started growling- the first time I heard her growl the entire trip.  Tom asked “what do you see?”

Above us on a ridge was a mountain lion :)

[Tom M]

Phil,

Great trip and video but where are all the trees? hahaha We both ski but they would have been a nightmare. The Bob has been experiencing some substantial fall wind events (microbursts) and climbing through miles and miles of entangled mature Birch, Lodgepole, and Fir trees with skis is not my cup of tea. I think given the conditions we chose wisely.

[Stephen Seeber]

Epic trip!  What a suffer fest.  You guys are definitely driven, but, as you pointed out, with exit 3 days away at best, what choice is there but to keep going.  Question about your snow shoes.  What were you using and would larger shoes have provided better floatation?  Interesting to read that putting on tails did not help.  Also, what base layer and outer layer were using using for your legs? I wonder if there might have been other choices to improve drying.  Great trip report.

[Mike M]

Question about your snow shoes.  What were you using and would larger shoes have provided better floatation?  Interesting to read that putting on tails did not help.  Also, what base layer and outer layer were using using for your legs? I wonder if there might have been other choices to improve drying.  Great trip report.

We were both using MSR Evo/Denali’s- 22″; I think the snow was so crappy that one morning that even 30+” snowshoes would have been post holing- my 6″ tails didn’t help much at all.  Also with as much downed timber we were dealing with, longer shoes would have that much more difficult.  There were probably other times I should have put the tails on, but that would have required removing my pack and putting it back on :)

Base layer on the bottom when I went under were Smartwool boxers (I used Kuiu Peloton 97 zip offs when it was colder- definitely would bring those again!).  Synthetic boxers would dry quicker, but would still be running down Highway 2 after a week :)

Pants were Sitka Ascents- 60% Cordura, 30% Nylon, 10% Spandex- they are a tough pant and have two very roomy cargo pockets, but not the quickest drying I found out.  I have an older pair of Patagonia Rock Guide pants (think that’s the name)- not as durable, not have the cargo pockets, but definitely dry quicker.

I do have to mention that I was using a SO Divide pack and it saved the day I think.  I had a couple of lightweight dry bags for sleeping bag and clothing.  But I had gotten lax about putting stuff back in their dry bags- my mid-layer (Patagonia Nano Air Light) was simply stuffed into the top of the pack.  My zip-off base layer was stuffed into one of SO’s Talons (pocket)- both were perfectly dry after my dunk- thankfully!

 

[CS]

Above us on a ridge was a mountain lion :)

You can imagine what it told other mountain lions later on; you’ll never guess what I saw in this valley!

 

[Stephen Seeber]

Interesting about the snow shoes.  Yours are rated for 180 pounds.  However, the tails raise it to 250.  When MSR provides the weight capacity, they don’t mention if the snow is wet, dry, 6″ deep or 3 feet deep. Wind packed and frozen takes all the guesswork out.   I use 25″ MSR lightning ascents.  I was thinking of buying tails, but maybe I will save my money, based on your experience.

Getting wet clothes to dry in the conditions you were in, as you know, is very challenging.  You simply don’t have effective drying conditions.  Here are some things that might help.

1) Since you had lots of stream crossings, these waders from Wiggy’s might be useful.  They are relatively light and packable and go over your boots.

2)  Getting pants to dry after a swim is very difficult.  As your skin or base layers dry, humidity in the air at the inside pants surface will increase, slowing the entire process and leading to a good chance for condensation on the inside surfaces of your pants.   Then, you have to waste even more body heat drying moisture a second time.  The issue is more complicated if the interior pants surface is below freezing.  If risk of emersion is real, I think I would want a Brynje fishnet against my skin.  It will avoid the discomfort of your wet pants being in contact with your skin or base layer.  It will provide some insulation but, if you get the polypro version, will not trap moisture in its fibers.  This will not solve the humidity build up in the air space.  One way to deal with that is a ventilation zipper in each pant leg.  When I am snow shoeing in deep snow, I wear Gore-tex with rear, upper thigh zips.  These also allow me to dump lots of excess heat if necessary. They will also permit large volumes of moisture vapor to escape, if needed.  In the event of emersion of even Gore-tex pants, you may still end up with moisture in the pores of the liner and face fabrics, that will have to dry.  This will still take time, but I suggest that this type of pants and base layer combination will minimize your suffering and conserve more body heat in the process.  If you don’t like Gore-tex, one of the electrospun fabrics such as Neoshell, Ascentshell or Future Light might serve well and likely be quieter and will definitely support better moisture vapor transfer.

Those are my unsolicited and untried suggestions. (I have never been immersed while hiking in the winter  and don’t plan on testing my suggestions!)

[Philip Tschersich]

Roger, understood. Respect for grinding it out. Honestly, the whole time I read through the narrative I couldn’t help but think of this ‘50 Project’ video by Cody Townsend and Bjorne Salen et al. They don’t generally complain, but this one nearly broke them. Good (aka Bad) type-3 fun.

[Author]

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