Author: Nate Bender

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

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

(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

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

Last fall I’d taken off for a day-long ramble through the Rattlesnake, starting from my house by the university and finishing at the main Rattlesnake TH. Even though I got turned around by deeper snow than expected, I had a pretty stellar day and covered 50 miles without seeing another person all day. It kind … Continue reading Rattlesnake Wilderness circumnavigation

Quick warning — this is a long write-up. Some may like all the detail, some won’t. Skip to the bottom if you just want to read the more technical details of route splits / nutrition / gear choices. Cheers. In 2016 I set off with my friends Cody Lind and Brittany Peterson to take a … Continue reading Montana Highpoints (Beartooth 27)

Three weeks ago I got to run across Zion National Park. After weather forced me to cancel the main goal for the summer, I was desperate to find something I could test myself on and see where months of training had gotten me. With a week’s worth of planning and an overflowing car I drove … Continue reading The Double Zion traverse, or what you can learn from a failed plan C.

Today is National Public Lands Day, so here are a few thoughts on the value of public lands. But first, a short story to set the stage. “You’re going too fast!” “Excuse me?” “You’re going too fast and missing out on all the scenery. You should slow down.” “I…umm…have a nice day.” That was a … Continue reading What public lands give us