Montana Mourning: Reflections on a Wilderness Trekking Trip

One of our instructors for the Wilderness Trekking School class I attended for a week in August 2009 taught us that there are three types of fun:

• Type I: Fun to do, fun to talk about later.
• Type II: Not fun to do, fun to talk about later.
• Type III: Not fun to do, not fun to talk about later.

What happened in the mountains of Montana that week probably qualifies as Type II fun. How else would you describe descending into pure hell and surviving, if barely? How else would you describe entering into the jaws of the beast and coming out alive? In this case, I am speaking of the wild jaws of beautiful but indifferent nature - nature wholly indifferent to my existence as a separate being.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Lions Ridge
• Day 1: Hills and Huckleberries
• Day 2: Descent Into Difficulty
• Day 3, Part I: A Parting of Ways
• Day 3, Part II: Lost and Not Quite Found
• Day 4: 'Oh, God, I've killed somebody'
• The Descent
• After the Agony, the Ecstasy
• Day 5: The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Panting
• Day 6: Free at Last

# WORDS: 9220
# PHOTOS: 13