What is it? it is a very low key, unorganized "race" across the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana. No entry fee, no prizes, no t-shirts 
This is the fourth year of the event and this year started near Holland Lake on the SW edge of Bob and finished at Swift Reservoir in the NE. The rules are few, must travel under your own power- foot, ski, snowshoe, raft and must remain in the Bob Complex. Everyone starts at the same location and everyone finishes (that's if you finish!) at the same location. The route is up to you. Every year the start and finish locations change, sometimes it's north to south, east to west, etc. The Bob is huge and there are dozens and dozens of routes to look at (100's if you look at off trail options). The shortest route often proves not to be the quickest. Routes will vary in length from around 100, up to 150 miles.
The event is always held at the end of May which presents several major challenges. In May you always have snow to contend with (and multiple passes to get through) and you always have swollen rivers and creeks to ford (and for the daring to float)- too many to even count. Trail crews won't be out until early to mid June, so there is close to nine months of blow down to contend with, if you're traveling on trails (sometimes off trail routes are chosen to save time). Bailing is very difficult because of the remoteness of the country and can amount to very long miles just to call it quits. Weather can run the gamut, snowstorms this time of year are not out of the ordinary. Of course grizzlies are coming out of their long sleep and on the hunt for food just to add to the ambiance
here's a quick and dirty trip report, I could probably write a small volume about it, but will spare you all
We started promptly at 8:00 AM at Holland Lake which sits in the Swan Range in the SW corner of the Bob Marshall Complex, the climb out of the valley was steep, but the trail was in great shape and the weather was perfect (nice and cool)
before the start
Holland Lake (Mission Mountains in the background)
We made good time up to upper Holland Lake, but quickly ran into a lot of snow which slowed the going, it also complicated our route finding significantly
We elected to take Gordon Pass (most teams headed for Pendant Pass) as this would allow us to forego fording (read swimming!) the South Fork of the Flathead, the gauging station show the SF ramping up leading up to the start, the flip side it added 8 miles to get to White River Park are destination for Day 1 (34 miles vs 26 miles via Pendant Pass and Hollbrook Ck.
dropping into Gordon Ck
we found grizzly sign in every drainage we travelled, but Gordon Ck was king for how much we saw, you couldn't go 200 yards without tripping over a pile of crap!
We ate supper after we crossed the S Fork (via one of only two pack bridges) about 28 miles in, as we ate supper we all were very glad we didn't try to swim lower down
this was a strategy we used throughout the trip, eating supper at 7-8:00 PM on the trail- it gave us a much needed calorie boost, a definite morale boost, much needed rest and avoided cooking/eating near our sleep site to keep Mr Griz moving down the trail
Big Prairie pack bridge
We hiked another 5-ish miles in (an hour with headlamps) and called it good about a mile shy of White River Park, 33 hard fought miles for the day
We woke early and decided to eat breakfast at White River Park and take advantage of the water nearby, we passed a team from Big Fork that were still bivied up, we never saw them again though
The White provided some good views (including Needle Falls), but some sketchy fords (we had to ford it twice)
at the head end of the White we headed straight up for Wall Ck Pass that separates the SF drainage from the Spotted Bear River drainage, it was a good slug up to the pass, but snow free, once over the pass is where we hit a bunch of snow again
this is where we hit our first real snag, the trail on the gps (both the Garmin and Gaia) turned out to be a long abandoned trail, we spent over two hours wading through snow and blow down trying to find a pretty much nonexistent trail- we finally bit the bullet and just followed the mainstem creek downstream, knowing it would eventually cross the real trail or ultimately Spotted Bear, fortunately it was the former and we were back in business, plenty tired, but back in business
headed down into Wall Ck
our next worry was the ford at the Spotted Bear, turned out to be a straight forward ford without much drama (downstream was a different story where one team had to bail because of no safe ford)
we soon found our selves at Pentagon Cabin and called it day, 31 tough miles logged
Pentagon cabin
we rose early and started for our next big obstacle, Switchback Pass which we lead us out of the Spotted Bear and into the Middle Fork of the Flathead drainage, we knew this pass would hold plenty of snow, my worry was on the north side of the pass where navigation and the moving was going to be tough
we made pretty good time up to the pass and were rewarded with some stellar views
things got a little spooky after the pass, we made a long steep sidehill to get to Dean Lake where we thought we might be able to pick up the trail
we found Dean Lake, but the trail was not to be seen, we relied on the gps and maps to keep us going in the right direction, if we veered too much one way or the other, we were headed for a real jackpot
snow conditions were getting worse and we often found ourselves breaking through, after what seemed an eternity, we finally found where the trail dropped off and led into a series of short, steep switchbacks into Clack Ck, we made pretty good time once we hit terra firma and soon found ourselves at our next obstacle, fording the Middle Fork
the ford was swift but doable, only to find that we had only forded half the Middle Fork, the second half was worse- after seeing Kevin just about swept away, John and I decided to try our hand at crossing a log jam; John made it across- I made it about halfway and slipped, fortunately I was able to get back up and make it to the bank
we now headed up Strawberry Ck which is the headwaters for the Middle Fork; this area burned severely in 88 and left miles and miles of standing dead timber, unfortunately with no trail crews in for the last nine months this made for some really slow, grinding miles
we stopped about 8:00 PM to rest and eat supper, we had a tough decision to make- do we push through the night and try to get out to meet our 72 hour goal or take another day, Kevin did some simple math and determined that we wouldn't make it out until 3-4:00 AM- that made our decision pretty easy, we would hike another two hours and call it a day
John catching up on calories
we went through Gateway Gorge which was drop dead gorgeous
we found a nice spot to camp and got some well earned shuteye after 28 tough miles
arose early and headed out for our last 16 miles of our journey
as turned out we made another good decision, while the blowdown was less of a problem snow and mud would make for some really tough miles and more importantly we would have missed out on some really nice scenery
Gateway Pass and into SF of Birch Ck
at 1:30 PM we made it to Swift Reservoir with some cold beers waiting we also met up with the organizer who had finished a couple of hours earlier and was waiting for his wife to pick him, was nice to share each others adventures
This is the fourth year of the event and this year started near Holland Lake on the SW edge of Bob and finished at Swift Reservoir in the NE. The rules are few, must travel under your own power- foot, ski, snowshoe, raft and must remain in the Bob Complex. Everyone starts at the same location and everyone finishes (that's if you finish!) at the same location. The route is up to you. Every year the start and finish locations change, sometimes it's north to south, east to west, etc. The Bob is huge and there are dozens and dozens of routes to look at (100's if you look at off trail options). The shortest route often proves not to be the quickest. Routes will vary in length from around 100, up to 150 miles. The event is always held at the end of May which presents several major challenges. In May you always have snow to contend with (and multiple passes to get through) and you always have swollen rivers and creeks to ford (and for the daring to float)- too many to even count. Trail crews won't be out until early to mid June, so there is close to nine months of blow down to contend with, if you're traveling on trails (sometimes off trail routes are chosen to save time). Bailing is very difficult because of the remoteness of the country and can amount to very long miles just to call it quits. Weather can run the gamut, snowstorms this time of year are not out of the ordinary. Of course grizzlies are coming out of their long sleep and on the hunt for food just to add to the ambiance
here's a quick and dirty trip report, I could probably write a small volume about it, but will spare you all
We started promptly at 8:00 AM at Holland Lake which sits in the Swan Range in the SW corner of the Bob Marshall Complex, the climb out of the valley was steep, but the trail was in great shape and the weather was perfect (nice and cool)
before the start
Holland Lake (Mission Mountains in the background)
We made good time up to upper Holland Lake, but quickly ran into a lot of snow which slowed the going, it also complicated our route finding significantly
We elected to take Gordon Pass (most teams headed for Pendant Pass) as this would allow us to forego fording (read swimming!) the South Fork of the Flathead, the gauging station show the SF ramping up leading up to the start, the flip side it added 8 miles to get to White River Park are destination for Day 1 (34 miles vs 26 miles via Pendant Pass and Hollbrook Ck.
dropping into Gordon Ck
we found grizzly sign in every drainage we travelled, but Gordon Ck was king for how much we saw, you couldn't go 200 yards without tripping over a pile of crap!
We ate supper after we crossed the S Fork (via one of only two pack bridges) about 28 miles in, as we ate supper we all were very glad we didn't try to swim lower down
this was a strategy we used throughout the trip, eating supper at 7-8:00 PM on the trail- it gave us a much needed calorie boost, a definite morale boost, much needed rest and avoided cooking/eating near our sleep site to keep Mr Griz moving down the trail
Big Prairie pack bridge
We hiked another 5-ish miles in (an hour with headlamps) and called it good about a mile shy of White River Park, 33 hard fought miles for the day
We woke early and decided to eat breakfast at White River Park and take advantage of the water nearby, we passed a team from Big Fork that were still bivied up, we never saw them again though
The White provided some good views (including Needle Falls), but some sketchy fords (we had to ford it twice)
at the head end of the White we headed straight up for Wall Ck Pass that separates the SF drainage from the Spotted Bear River drainage, it was a good slug up to the pass, but snow free, once over the pass is where we hit a bunch of snow again
this is where we hit our first real snag, the trail on the gps (both the Garmin and Gaia) turned out to be a long abandoned trail, we spent over two hours wading through snow and blow down trying to find a pretty much nonexistent trail- we finally bit the bullet and just followed the mainstem creek downstream, knowing it would eventually cross the real trail or ultimately Spotted Bear, fortunately it was the former and we were back in business, plenty tired, but back in business
headed down into Wall Ck
our next worry was the ford at the Spotted Bear, turned out to be a straight forward ford without much drama (downstream was a different story where one team had to bail because of no safe ford)
we soon found our selves at Pentagon Cabin and called it day, 31 tough miles logged
Pentagon cabin
we rose early and started for our next big obstacle, Switchback Pass which we lead us out of the Spotted Bear and into the Middle Fork of the Flathead drainage, we knew this pass would hold plenty of snow, my worry was on the north side of the pass where navigation and the moving was going to be tough
we made pretty good time up to the pass and were rewarded with some stellar views
things got a little spooky after the pass, we made a long steep sidehill to get to Dean Lake where we thought we might be able to pick up the trail
we found Dean Lake, but the trail was not to be seen, we relied on the gps and maps to keep us going in the right direction, if we veered too much one way or the other, we were headed for a real jackpot
snow conditions were getting worse and we often found ourselves breaking through, after what seemed an eternity, we finally found where the trail dropped off and led into a series of short, steep switchbacks into Clack Ck, we made pretty good time once we hit terra firma and soon found ourselves at our next obstacle, fording the Middle Fork
the ford was swift but doable, only to find that we had only forded half the Middle Fork, the second half was worse- after seeing Kevin just about swept away, John and I decided to try our hand at crossing a log jam; John made it across- I made it about halfway and slipped, fortunately I was able to get back up and make it to the bank
we now headed up Strawberry Ck which is the headwaters for the Middle Fork; this area burned severely in 88 and left miles and miles of standing dead timber, unfortunately with no trail crews in for the last nine months this made for some really slow, grinding miles
we stopped about 8:00 PM to rest and eat supper, we had a tough decision to make- do we push through the night and try to get out to meet our 72 hour goal or take another day, Kevin did some simple math and determined that we wouldn't make it out until 3-4:00 AM- that made our decision pretty easy, we would hike another two hours and call it a day
John catching up on calories
we went through Gateway Gorge which was drop dead gorgeous
we found a nice spot to camp and got some well earned shuteye after 28 tough miles
arose early and headed out for our last 16 miles of our journey
as turned out we made another good decision, while the blowdown was less of a problem snow and mud would make for some really tough miles and more importantly we would have missed out on some really nice scenery
Gateway Pass and into SF of Birch Ck
at 1:30 PM we made it to Swift Reservoir with some cold beers waiting
we also met up with the organizer who had finished a couple of hours earlier and was waiting for his wife to pick him, was nice to share each others adventures
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