CDT – Braving the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Glacier National Park was behind me and I was now in the infamous Bob Marshall Wilderness, “the Bob” for short. I had heard so many stories about the sheer wildness of the Bob that I was convinced I would never make it out alive. So was the rest of my family. In reality the Bob I experienced over six days was rugged and challenging but not because of the oft-hyped grizzly bears or massive tree blow-downs. When I remember the Bob I’ll remember that I saw no grizzlies; that I enjoyed hiking with my nephew; that I almost got hypothermia hiking along the Chinese Wall; and that a flown-in Subway sandwhich is the only way to do a resupply.

Bear Spray and Handguns

The Bob Marshall Wilderness was at the forefront of my mind weeks before I started the hike. My husband’s family lives in Montana and they’re familiar with the Bob Marshall and its dangers. When they learned I would be hiking in the Bob, by myself, carrying only bear spray our conversations became versions of:
Them: You’re going to carry a weapon, right?
Me: No, I’ll have bear spray.
Them: That’s dumb – you need to carry a weapon.
Me: Bear spray is a weapon and a gun is too heavy.
Them: Bear spray won’t put a grizzly down.
Me: I’m not trying to put a grizzly down and experts say bear spray is an effective deterrent.

And on it went. I’m not anti-gun. I own two handguns myself and have a concealed carry permit. But, after weighing the pros and cons of taking a gun, including the weight, maintenance and crossing state lines, bear spray seemed the logical and obvious solution for me. Plus, I’d make noise walking and store my food in a bear bag away from my camp site. Not wanting to be foiled the family came up with a different tactic. My nephew, Wapiti, would join me on the Bob Marshall segment and he would carry a handgun. Now all we needed was a grizzly.

On our first night in camp in the Bob my nephew nonchalantly moved his food bag into his tent while I wrapped my food in an odor-proof bag inside an Ursak and prepared to tie it to a tree 200 yds away.

Me: Aren’t you going to hang your food away from your tent?
Wapiti: No. I put it in my tent with me.
Me: You might not need to carry a handgun if you stored your food away from your tent.
Wapiti: It’s fine.
Me: Well, if a bear comes to your tent to eat your food and he’s too close to use your gun, I’ll come over and save you with bear spray.
Wapiti: Ok.

I had seen or had encounters with eight bears in Glacier but I saw no bears in the Bob Marshall. Maybe all the noise we made scared them away but we never got to test the gun vs. bear spray tactic.

Wapiti and his food storage tent

Solo Hiking with a Buddy

I like to hike by myself. I like the freedom of making my own decisions, good or bad, sometimes last minute, and of testing my own judgement. But, after hiking with Wapiti in the Bob I appreciate the value and enjoyment of hiking with another person and how much the tenor of a hike can change when you’re not doing it by yourself. Wapiti and I had settled into a rhythm by day 2. We talked in spurts – going long, comfortable stretches with no conversation. Wapiti is an experienced hunter and certainly endured more hardships on his various hunting expeditions than we did on this trail. His calm approach to the sketchy, snow-covered climb to Switchback Pass gave me the confidence and perspective I needed to view the cold, wet conditions in a less hysterical way. When he matter-of-factly started a fire to warm us up after the pass I wondered why I had never thought of it. Towards the end of the week his knee was hurting so badly I couldn’t imagine him continuing but he strode on without complaint. I’m sure Wapiti was determined to be a good nephew to his aunt and make sure I wasn’t eaten by bears but I’ll will always be grateful for his company as a hiking partner and grateful for the lessons I learned by watching him – especially at the end of the week when we traversed the trail next to the Chinese Wall in terrible weather conditions.

Hiking buddy and nephew

Wait, what Chinese Wall?

Wapiti and I set off on a chilly, cloudy morning up to Spotted Bear Pass. The trail was overgrown so the rain from the previous night had collected on the bushes and shrubs edging the trail. We were soaked from the waist down 5 minutes into our hike. As we climbed the mountainside up to the Chinese Wall the temps dropped and a light mist began. By the time we had reached the 7,000 ft, 10-mile ridge/plateau next to the wall the rain was falling steadily and the temperatures were downright cold. The trail had turned into a stream of water, sometimes muddy and sometimes mixed with snow. The wind blew and clouds obscured our view of the wall. Wapiti and I put our heads down and kept moving. Everything was wet – we weren’t going to starting a fire in this. Our hands and feet freezing we trudged on.The 1,000 ft escarpment, the Chinese Wall, is a highlight of the Bob; it was impressive even in the poor conditions. Intermittently, a cloud would clear and we’d get a glimpse of the top way above us.

Chinese Wall dominates even in bad weather

Neither of us spoke. We’d check in with each other periodically but nobody whined as we slipped on mud or splashed in ankle deep cold water as the rain and wind pummeled us. We bordered on hypothermia but I knew as soon as we could descend we would warm up. Wapiti never complained – his steady presence and acceptance of the situation kept me moving. Nearing the end of the Wall I admitted to Wapiti that neither of us was good right now, but we would be eventually. And then we climbed over the last pass and began our descent into a steep valley while the sun fought to emerge from behind the clouds. Gradually we began to warm and the dismal conditions from earlier began to seem like a distant dream.
We eventually made camp and warmed up. I was left with a lingering feeling of having survived something disastrous.

Subway Delivery

The day after the “Chinese Wall” expedition Wapiti and I hiked steadily to Benchmark. The previous day on the terrible trail conditions had left Wapiti’s knee a hot mess but we had a timeline to meet. We needed to be at the Benchmark airfield by 3 pm to meet my nephew, Baby Bird. The day became almost unbearably hot; the clear, blue sky seemed to mock our memories of the freezing hardships the day before. We passed through burn sections and meadows and as we grew closer to the Benchmark Trailhead we saw dayhikers and horse caravans. We were emerging from the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Wapiti and I got a hitch to Benchmark Ranch to pick up my resupply box and then we trudged back to the north end of the 4,000 ft airfield where Baby Bird was waiting with his instructor and Piper aircraft. He produced two foot-long Subway sandwiches for Wapiti and I along with sodas. We sat on the ground like feral animals and shoved the sandwhiches in our faces. Then Baby Bird, his instructor and Wapiti flew out leaving me waving goodbye on an empty airfield. Still, the best Subway sandwhich I’ll ever have.

#bestnephewsever

So, I have lots of memories of the Bob Marshall but not ones I expected to have.