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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Discussion
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@Kirt – An adapter from Jens Färber (faerberj@gmail.com). It's a simple machined plastic ring with double sided tape that sticks right onto the camera front. It's "weightless" (!) and almost silly in terms of its practical engineering, and works flawlessly.
Great photos and captions, Ryan. Torie and were hiking some of those same sections over the 4th of July weekend. Such a spectacular place!
The APW has been on my wish list for many years. My dream trip would be hiking the CDT from the Canadian border to the APW southern border.
spam
Greg, are you hitting the red flag on these? I think that's the only way the mods find out!
Ryan,
I like the pictures. Can you give any details about the tripod you used?
I'm also interested in the tripod details.
Also curious which container you used to treat the water with the steripen. Were you using the ziploc 24oz bowl or the Jetboil and just treating less than a liter at a time?
And very nice photos. That's an interesting effect on the limestone creeks picture.
I too am interested in the tripod…
You can catch a glimpse of it with a few little details here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigskyry/8000885134/in/photostream
@Chris: I was on the trip with Ryan and Chris Wallace last year. I think that I remember Ryan using a platypus that he cut off a fourth of it so that you could scoop water, use the Steripen, and then drink.
@Ryan: I almost contacted you about trying to slide into this trip. Seeing the pics makes me see I made a mistake, even if I would have lost my job. Next time!
Beautiful pictures and inspirational packlist with useful comments.
Keep up the good work!
/Peter S
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