Montana late october 2020 BACKCOUNTRY Hiking ADVENTURE
It was near the end of September when I finally had enough of not going anywhere because of Covid-19. My inner compass needed to reconnect with Nature. My last trip to Montana in March left me with the goal to explore the headwaters of Boulder River south of Big Timber, MT, and several areas about 18 miles south of Big Sky, MT. The only expectation other than to reconnect with Nature was to reenergize my inner spirit.
As Luck would be on my side this trip exceeded my expectations as I experienced the following:
Significant winter storm/blizzard
Four mornings where I started my hike at -15 degrees F, -13 degrees F, -10 degrees, -9 degrees
Lots of hiking / vertical ft of climbing
One exceptional wildlife experience with a pack of 7 Wolves
Overall, it was another fantastic adventure. As you may have noticed, I love snow/cold weather exploring wilderness areas alone. For a complete summary of my experiences, please continue reading below.
Big Timber, MT Boulder River to the high country
About 90 mins south of Big Timber as the pave road has ended and now I am a very rugged single lane dirt road. Lucky I had rented a Jeep for this trip!
I went as far as I could with the Jeep. Here is where I started my hike to explore this new area for me.
Heading back to Big Timber, MT after my hike.
On my way back there was this female Moose in a pool area off the Boulder river feeding. This will be the last wildlife encounter till my 2nd last day of hiking. :(
Snow storm and Hike
Here I am leaving my hotel in Livingston, MT at 4:30am heading to a new location for the rest of my time in Montana. As you can see we had a lot of snow already. They ended up with just over 23 inches of snow for the day.
People think I am crazy but I love driving in snowstorms with 50+ mph winds! This was a hell of a driver for about 55 miles till I got over the next pass where the snow fall was much lighter. I sure had a blast with the rental Jeep!
Picture of myself during a 5-hour hike with moderate snow falling. What a great hike as I headed into some new areas where I ended up getting myself into a challenging situation. I should have looked at my GPS before heading into a deep ravine. When I reached the spear point of the ravine, it was straight up on all three sides. As the Raven flies, it would have been a short hike to reach the path I came in, but I required going through some dense swamp / steep forest area. Lucky I had my spikes on as I would not have made it up the steep terrain and down the other side. I had a blast just being a kid exploring!!!
South of Big Sky, MT hiking for 6 days
As I started out on the coldest morning. My Jeep displays tire PSI low warning due to it being it was -25 degrees F. Brought a smile to my face!!!
Started my hike several days around -15 to -9 degrees F.
Photograph of one morning just at Astronomical Twilight as I get ready to start my hike for the day.
On this day there was some light fresh snow from overnight. Ran into these set of Wolf tracks which ended follow a set of Elk tracks. I follow them as they went vertical. Picture below shows how steep it got for me. Lucky I was wearing my spikes (you can see them on my boot) as I would have not been able to hike up and down these steep slopes.
The Wolf had followed the Elk tracks up this slope back into the deep draw (ravine) behind me. By the time I reached the top of the ridge I had 790ft of vertical climbing achieved.
One disappointment, I never had any interactions with any Grizzlies while hiking. The only sign I had was these Grizzly footprints from early the night before while it was still above 32 degrees, F followed the same trail I was heading in.
What a Special Day of Hiking!
I decided to use my 2nd last day of hiking to be the Big Day, with many vertical feet of climbing planned. Up to this day, I had not seen any wildlife throughout any of my hikes. I came across many different wildlife tracks but was very disappointed as it was unusual for me not to see anything. I attributed this to the 1st big snowstorm / cold wave of the season, pushing most wildlife into the dense forest or hibernation for the Black Bears.
On this day, though, the temps would be reaching the high 30’s with clear skies and light winds. I went into this day without any big hopes other than to get in a long day of hiking. As I started my day, the clouds were in the right spot to allow the sunrise rays captured by the clouds creating these beautiful reds and pinks. The only big issue starting so early was the snow had softened from the day before and refroze overnight, making every step crunchy, which means the chances of seeing anything unlikely as I like to be as quiet as possible when I am hiking. The goal is to see them before they see me, especially when it comes to Grizzly bears.
What a great way to start out the day as this small area of clouds reflect the sun rays at 7:30am.
Special Note: My goal is never to disturb any wildlife on purpose but only observe them in their natural habitat. In this case, I accidentally woke two wolves up with the crunchy snow. If the Grey Wolf had not moved, I might have never seen them. Durning my additional observations later that morning, not once did any wolf show signs of noticing my presence.
It’s all about situation awareness; expect the unexpected!
About 45 minutes into my hike, I noticed something move out of the corner of my right eye. I froze and witness a Grey Wolf bedded down with its head looking right at me over a Black Wolf who seemed to be still snoozing. I slowly focused my Nikon Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens at them and took several photos. The Grey Wolf stood up, and a few minutes later, the Black Wolf stood up. We looked at each other for about 10 mins (I just stood there trying not to make any movements). Then the Grey Wolf turned around and walked over the ridge and disappear. The Black Wolf, to my surprise, was more interested in me. She or he slowly walked towards me going to my right and then stopped and sat down. We just gazed at each other for about another 15 mins before she/he looked backward (as to hear something) and walked away.
Black Wolf, still bedded down with the Grey Wolf looking at me.
This picture captures the period of just the two of us gazing at each other for about 15 min. I want to think the frequency my body functions on is a none threatening frequency which the wolf could sense. What an unforgettable private experience!!!
Throughout my life, this has only happened three other times. A few years ago in Hinton, AB, CA area, I had a similar experience, but in that case, a juvenile Grey came running down the slope to about 40 yards away. It sat down, and we gazed at each other for about 10 min; then the howling started. Before I knew it, I saw several others from the pack further up the slope across a ridge.
At this point, I decided to change my plans. I wanted to see where they went, so I needed to go vertical hiking up to the highest point. This way, I could scope out the large open area they had headed in too. As I was hiking to a position I had picked out before I started my ascent, I heard a Wolf howling just to my left and down into an open ravine. Next minute I heard further to my left way in the distance (where I had planned to hike up to the top of the mountain) a muted response. Then I heard many wolves howling down to my left, but I could not see them. This process went on for about 10 minutes, which I captured on my GoPro. I was so excited to hear this interaction with what sounded like a Lone Wolf in the distance.
Once the howling ended, I continued up to the position I had picked out. I stood there using my Vortex Viper HD 12X50 binoculars, looking to see if I could see where the wolves were. I did not see any signs of them and decided to continue in the direction I had planned on from the beginning but stayed as high as possible along the tree line. My hike took me across a large open area to a deep ravine where I went down one steep side, crossed a small creek, and up the other very steep rocky side. As I crossed over this ridge looking down into another ravine, I noticed just below me seven wolves (one black and six greys) walking through the tall grass heading to the tree line I was following. The pack was in a good mood taking their time playing around as they climbed up to the next ridge.
One of the Wolves laid down for a few moments while the others played off to the left of this picture.
Here they continue up the slope along the tree line.
As the pack reached the top of the ridge, I noticed three young bull Elk at the top. Interesting how the wolves spread out looking at the Elk but never decided to pursue them, as I show in the picture below.
4 of 7 Wolves with 3 Bull Elk nervously watching the Wolves.
After the Wolves went to the left in the picture over the next ridge and the Elk disappeared into the forest, I hiked up to the point I indicated in the above image to sit down and have lunch (10:30 am). After I finished lunch, I set my camera on the log and took this picture below. When I was finishing up, I noticed (indicated in the image) several Wolves moving around and others bedded down.
I have outlined the area where the wolves were as I was having lunch. At this point I was just enjoying the view and moment. If several of the wolves had not started playing I would not have seen them. Again, I was blessed to observe them for a third time that morning.
Before I could move on, I changed my Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens back to my Nikkor 600mm f/4.0 lens. By the time I finished this and walked over to get a better view across the next ravine, I witnessed the pack heading into the dense forest along the ridge. I stood there for about 30 mins observing to see if they would come back out, but I didn't see any activity. My next thought was that I need to investigate. I slowly hiked over to the entry point, where I could see their tracks going into the dense wind-down timber forest.
These two pictures identify the point where the wolves entered the forest.
Special Note: As a very free-spirited child who loved to spend time exploring the forest areas around where I grew up in Wisconsin and then in my teens hunting near the Wisconsin / UP MI border, I found great pleasure integrating with Nature.
There is something special when you are standing quietly or camping in the backcountry, you hear, smell, and experience so much that you start to realize how small you are in earth's ecosystem.
As expected, my inner compass was pointing to investigate the forest. I knew the area well enough that this forest area was about a 1/2 mile wide before the next ravine/meadow. As I started to disappear into the forest, it became apparent this was not going to be a walk in the park. The amount of wind-down timber was overwhelming. I knew what all the risks are, but having full knowledge of these risks and past experiences helped me successfully navigate my way to the next meadow. One of the big surprises was that I came across fresh Elk tracks (3 of them). I believe these were the Elk the wolves passed by on the ridge where I had lunch. I decide to follow their tracks as I was thinking; these are enormous animals, and they would take the path of least resistance. OMG, was I wrong? They went through some very dense areas that I could never make it through, so I just navigated my way out.
Navigating through the wind-down timber actually made me feel alive knowing one wrong step could result in injuries that could cause a life or death situation. Remember, I do have a Satellite phone and a NOAA SAR Radio Beacon with me.
About a 1/4 mile in, following these Wolf tracks were no longer an option as I found it impossible to follow them.
I am one who never let a challenging situation like this get me down. I checked my Garmin 64st GPS device to make sure I was navigating in the right direction. All I had to do was go another 1/4 mile and I would make it through to the next meadow.
As you can see, the amount of wind-down timber was considerable.
Navigating across this small creek would be the last obstacle.
Finally, I made it out into the next meadow!
The only challenge to get to that point was the very wet swamp area just beyond that tree in the middle of this picture.
Here is a picture of the meadow I reached. The point I have identified where I came out of the forest is a creek lined by a swamp area.
I took this picture two days prior of myself standing in the same meadow pictured above.
At the end of the day I could not have been more satisfied with my day. My stats for the day were:
Total time 9 hours 15 mins
9.8 miles of hiking
1473 vertical ft of climbing
As I reflect on the events of this day, I could not be more satisfied with how an unexpected event turned into a tremendous adventure.
Summary
Overall, experiencing a significant snowstorm/blizzard, some fabulous cold weather, visiting a friend in Livingston, MT, lots of great hiking, and reconnecting with Nature was amazing mental health healing that I very much needed.
Even my flights were terrific, the red neck bar I had homemade chilly every night was excellent, and the hotel (two of them) rooms were great.
Mission accomplished!
Tom