Selway river trail – June 6-7, 2020
I had the good fortune here to run the 55-mile trail along Idaho’s Selway river, joining a group of friends as they kayaked the river. My girlfriend at the time and I were hanging out in my kitchen, chatting and making dinner. She mentioned that in a couple days she and a small group of … Continue reading Selway river trail – June 6-7, 2020
Flathead range partial traverse – Aug 9-10, 2020
The Flathead range seems pretty under-appreciated in the western Montana mountain scene. You just never hear people talking about it. It’s like the nearby Swan range, Missions, and the Bob Marshall wilderness the Flatheads sit within dominate everyone’s imaginations. I think part of the reason too is that the meat of the Flathead range is … Continue reading Flathead range partial traverse – Aug 9-10, 2020
Bob Marshall Wilderness Open (BMWO) 2020 – May 25-26, 2020
In the words of its creator Dave Chenault (website: Bedrock and Paradox), the BMWO is “an unsupported traverse of a big wild place in the tradition of Bob Marshall and the Alaska Mountain and Wilderness Classic.” Each spring since 2012, a small group of folks gather to traverse the Bob Marshall wilderness by whatever self-powered and … Continue reading Bob Marshall Wilderness Open (BMWO) 2020 – May 25-26, 2020
Across this house of sky – a short story on linking the Montana highpoints
The stars above shine brighter than seems possible, the Milky Way interrupted only by the silhouette of Granite Peak’s north ridgeline to one side and the Froze-to-Death plateau on the other. I lay shoulder to shoulder on the cramped, rocky platform with my friend and first pacer Sam, shifting occasionally to find the least-uncomfortable position … Continue reading Across this house of sky – a short story on linking the Montana highpoints
Bucket List
Swan Range – Full Traverse N-S traverse of the full Swan range, from the northern terminus of Columbia Mountain to the southern terminus at the Morrell Lookout near Seeley Lake. Or maybe the southern terminus is farther south? Another logical possibility for the southern endpoint would be Lake Mountain, just before the range runs into … Continue reading Bucket List
Norris – Scenic Death March traverse (GNP)
(AKA Chuck Norris’s Scenic Death March) On July 14 I took a stab at connecting the Norris and Scenic Death March traverses in a day, starting and finishing at the Saint Mary Falls trailhead. Except for the section of trail from Gunsight Lake down to the car towards the end of the day, I’d never … Continue reading Norris – Scenic Death March traverse (GNP)
Missions – southern traverse
A couple weeks ago I had a fantastic day stringing together East and West Saint Marys peaks, Lowary Peak, and rest of the Sonielem ridge. It was a beautiful bluebird day and my eyes naturally started to wander farther out to the Garden Wall and deeper north into the rest of the range. Somehow I’d … Continue reading Missions – southern traverse