Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness: Photo Essay

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My favorite activity in my professional life is showing others the majesty and beauty of Montana's wilderness, and teaching -- empowering -- them with ultralight backpacking skills. Sharing a trekking experience with somebody else, and together, weaving an artistic route across a wild Montana landscape keeps me energized to continue learning and experiencing wild places. I hope I can walk Montana's trails into a very old age!

Our 2012 Ultralight Backpacking Boot Camps are being held in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. We selected the "AP" this year for a number of reasons:

Scenic beauty;
Good fishing;
Opportunities to travel along the Continental Divide Trail;
Remoteness, and lack of people;
Ecosystem diversity.

Here is a handful of photos from our 5-day, 50-mile September trek that I hope will reflect the majesty of the AP, see the end of this essay for my gear list on this trek.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Ryan's Gear List

# WORDS: 1460
# PHOTOS: 25

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Oct 9, 2012 at 6:05 pm #1294838

Stephanie Jordan
Spectator

@maia
Locale: Rocky Mountains

Companion forum thread to:

Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness: Photo Essay

Oct 9, 2012 at 6:30 pm #1919666

Jerry Adams
BPL Member

@retiredjerry
Locale: Oregon and Washington

Nice pictures. Looks like an amazing place.

Are there grizzlies there? You must have to hang your food.

Oct 9, 2012 at 7:35 pm #1919691

a b
Member

@ice-axe

The pictures make me smile.
What a great trip!

Oct 9, 2012 at 7:42 pm #1919692

MFR
Spectator

@bigriverangler
Locale: West

I'm going to have to get down there soon. Beautiful pictures.

Oct 9, 2012 at 8:08 pm #1919698

Mike M
BPL Member

@mtwarden
Locale: Montana

nice pics Ryan!

one of my favorite haunts- beautiful views and there is some tremendous fishing in many of those alpine lakes- I'm talking big (big) fish

no grizzlies (very, very occasional sighting)

5# cutbow :)

Oct 9, 2012 at 11:05 pm #1919741

Roger B
BPL Member

@rogerb
Locale: Denmark

Thanks really enjoyed this post with its wonderful photos, the gear list makes for informative reading as well.

@Mike great looking fish there.

Oct 10, 2012 at 2:59 am #1919758

joe newton
BPL Member

@holdfast
Locale: Bergen, Norway

Great photos, nice fish and interesting gear list. Thanks for sharing this Ryan.

Oct 10, 2012 at 3:56 am #1919760

James Marco
BPL Member

@jamesdmarco
Locale: Finger Lakes

Looks like a great trip! Really good pictures!

Looks like a great summer hangout, one of those places you wouldn't get me out of anytime soon. (drool…slobber, slobber, drool…)

Mike, nice fish!

Oct 10, 2012 at 5:26 am #1919764

Ken Thompson
BPL Member

@here
Locale: Right there

Nice job.

Oct 10, 2012 at 5:28 am #1919765

Michael Cheifetz
BPL Member

@mike_hefetz
Locale: Israel

RJ – as always nice looking photos :)

RE sleep system: what down fill weight was in Ben's pullover? and why did you opt for a down jkt while synth pants?
I would assume you donned the jkt on rest stops as well…not concerned about precip and sweat?

Mike

Oct 10, 2012 at 7:35 am #1919800

Eugene Smith
BPL Member

@eugeneius
Locale: Nuevo Mexico

Your passion and love for photography and image making process comes across strongly in your work Ryan, these are really beautiful examples. I can't even imaging having such access to big and wild country such as this, it blows my mind.

Thanks for sharing your world.

Oct 10, 2012 at 8:08 am #1919812

todd
BPL Member

@funnymo
Locale: SE USA

Thanks Ryan, for putting this together for us!

What a great photo essay. Picturesque the whole time, it looks like. Like Eugene, I long for settings like that.

Oct 10, 2012 at 10:31 am #1919854

Jolly Green Giant
BPL Member

@regultr
Locale: www.jolly-green-giant.blogspot.com

Ryan – Can you provide your food list. Thanks.

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:49 pm #1919911

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

@Mike – this is a 900 fill jacket, long length, hood, pullover style, and very puffy – but definitely not a winter class coat. I brought synth pants because I don't have a pair of down pants right now, or I would have brought those to save a little weight, maybe. I wasn't expecting sustained foul weather, and if I was, I would have switched to an all-synthetic system (including jacket, pants, and quilt).

I don't think I ever wore the jacket at rest stops. Day temps were in the 50s or higher, so I usually added my windshirt, rain jacket, and watch cap at cool rest stops.

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:51 pm #1919913

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

@regultr: I don't have a food list, but there was nothing unusual here. The usual snacks for daytime (dry meat, cheese, chocolate, nuts), cereals with freeze dried fruit/nuts/cream for breakfasts (meusli, granola, or creamed wheat), and typical pasta-meat-cheese-sour cream-etc. freeze dried dinners (albeit homemade and calorie-dense).

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:53 pm #1919914

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

Thanks for all of your kind comments. Words and even pictures can't convey what I feel about this place. It's incredible, and reminds me of Alaska. The spaces here are very big.

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:59 pm #1919916

Tony Wong
BPL Member

@valshar
Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

Ryan,

Wow….thanks for sharing your photos and journey with us about your side of the world.

Question for you regarding your camera:

How do you like the compact Sony RX100 vs. the Sony NEX5/7 series?

I have been debating both the RX100 vs. the NEX5N.

As much as I like the idea of the larger sensor on the NEX, the smaller form factor of the RX100 being "pocketable" is important to me.

Your shots look great and makes me lean even more towards the RX100.

Curious to get your thoughts.

As a side note, I was "shocked"/surprised that you are using the Jetboil system vs. something like a Caldera Cone….though, the weight on the Jetboil you was using is compellingly low, if that includes the weight of the mug to cook in.

Thanks again for your thoughts and great article.

-Tony

Oct 10, 2012 at 1:05 pm #1919918

Ryan Jordan
Admin

@ryan
Locale: Central Rockies

@Tony –

The RX100 offers remarkable image quality for its weight. The photos here don't do it justice. Something weird happens when the photos were published online at BPL and I can't figure it out, but Flickr shows this one off much nicer:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigskyry/8035837425/lightbox/

The thing I really like about the RX100 is the quality of the image when the lens is zoomed. Power of Zeiss optics, maybe. It's good stuff.

vs. NEX7 – NEX7 still has quite an edge and better DoF control, but the RX100 is very capable and its pocketability is be a big bonus.

Oct 10, 2012 at 1:09 pm #1919920

Luke Schmidt
BPL Member

@cameron
Locale: Alaska

Cool reports, first the Lamar report now this one. Keep them coming. A well written story is fun but some trips are best reported with a set of good photos.

Oct 10, 2012 at 6:34 pm #1920069

Dan @ Durston Gear
BPL Member

@dandydan
Locale: Canadian Rockies

With all the awesome trip reports coming from Ryan J (Lamar, A-P) and Dave. C (Crown of the Continent et al), I'm starting to wonder if Montana tourism is slipping BPL a few greenbacks. It's sure working for me.

Oct 10, 2012 at 7:03 pm #1920078

Warren Greer
Spectator

@warrengreer
Locale: SoCal

This is the essence of BPL. And very inspiring as Dan pointed out. Thanks for sharing so much and reponding to the many good questions that were asked.

Oct 11, 2012 at 8:16 am #1920221

Cheryl McCormick
BPL Member

@cherylmccormick

I was feeling skeptical driving west through Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana before meeting up with you in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness for the trek. For 1,000 miles the landscape was desert-like dry and brown with poor views because of the fire smog. What a relief to get in the mountains and see forests and greenery. You captured a lot of the beauty with your great photographic skills and patience waiting for the right light.
Bet ya wanted to fish more though, huh?

Oct 11, 2012 at 9:55 am #1920266

Robert Burke
BPL Member

@coastiebob
Locale: Wishing I was Backpacking

Hey All,

I just wanted to chime in on a couple of things. First, we had a great group and that always makes a big difference. Next, it was ideal fall weather with very little adverse weather and no bugs or predators!

If you have not been on a trek with Ryan Jordan, I would consider coughing up the time and money. Ryan Jordan (and Ryan Connelly as well), were tremendously patient going over their thoughts on gear and where ultralight and lightweight backpacking is going in the future. IMO, 5 days of discussion on techniques, etc was worth the time and money. I would opt for the intermediate course if you are already an experienced lightweight guy. If you have not done as much lightweight backpacking, the Bootcamp would be a perfect place for you to start!

I am hoping BPL will offer a Winter Boot Camp as I think that would be great for many of us who have done some good 3 season work, but would like to head out in the wintertime (in Montana) with some true experts.

Regards,
Bob Burke

Oct 11, 2012 at 10:38 am #1920281

Kirt Williams
BPL Member

@kirt_williams

I saw on your packing list that you used a polarizing filter on the RX100, which can give the sky a beautiful deep blue look. How did you attach the filter? I didn't see threads on the lens.

Oct 11, 2012 at 10:49 am #1920287

Eric Lundquist
BPL Member

@cobberman
Locale: Northern Colorado

@Kirt

Ryan's likely using some Lensmate accessories or something similar.

http://www.lensmateonline.com/store/sonyRX100.php
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