Russell Lake Trail; Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness; Cooke City, Montana
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Splitboarding and Backpacking in July
Friday, July 9th, 2010 I walked out of the office at 17:00, was home and had a lightweight gear set-up for both backpacking and splitboarding packed and in the trunk of my Subaru by 18:40. My destination was the Pine Creek trailhead in the Northwest corner of the Absaroka Mountain Range and I arrived by 19:40. I knew daylight would leave me sometime between 21:30 and 22:00 so I shouldered my load and high-tailed it onto the five mi. (eight km) Pine Creek Lake trail.
Being an ultralight backpacker it was strange to have the added weight of snowboard, boots, avalanche safety tools, and ice axe. The moving was a bit slower but it felt good to be moving as day slowly turned to night, temperatures dropped, and I got further and further into the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.
I hiked until 21:30 and stopped to make use of the last bits of daylight to set up my minimal camp consisting of an eVent bivy sack, synthetic sleeping quilt, and torso-length sleeping pad. I strung my bear rope, set up my alcohol stove and prepared some instant mashed potatoes as the sun set over the Gallatin Mountain Range and Paradise Valley to the West. Sleep came to me by 22:00.
I awoke at 06:00 and was hiking within twenty minutes, chomping on an energy bar and sipping water from my hydration system. About 30 minutes of hiking brought me to the end of the trail and into the snowy bowl that is Pine Creek Lake. A large iceberg was still floating in the lake and the cirque held a fair amount of snow - - a soothing site for me as I had lugged many pounds of snowboard gear into terrain of which I knew little about the snow conditions other than my previous trip two years before.
By 09:30 I had summited Black Mountain (read Summit Post profile) using methods of walking, skinning, and ski crampons. I was slightly undernourished having had only one energy bar and one GU but I made decent time and was in great spirits. I spent a few minutes on the relatively snow-free summit and then descended to the large snow bowl that I planned to ride.
The snowboarding was quite delicious and I was able to get approximately 1,000 vertical feet (304 m) of riding in. The top 800' (244 m) was wonderful corn snow that didn't grab the board in the least and allowed for me to arc some nice, large GS turns.
Proceeding past a flat spot at the bottom of the large bowl and sliding over a little roll put me onto a different aspect that consisted of some fun slaloming through large boulders in snow of a slushy quality for about 200' (61 m) vertical.
I swapped out the snowboard gear for shorts, trailrunners, sunscreen, took a few swigs of the refreshing snowmelt water that was all around me and headed down the trail. Arrival back at my Subaru was around 13:30 leaving me plenty of time to return home and shower before heading into downtown Bozeman for the bicycle sprints portion of the Tour of Bozeman race series.
Being an ultralight backpacker it was strange to have the added weight of snowboard, boots, avalanche safety tools, and ice axe. The moving was a bit slower but it felt good to be moving as day slowly turned to night, temperatures dropped, and I got further and further into the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.
I hiked until 21:30 and stopped to make use of the last bits of daylight to set up my minimal camp consisting of an eVent bivy sack, synthetic sleeping quilt, and torso-length sleeping pad. I strung my bear rope, set up my alcohol stove and prepared some instant mashed potatoes as the sun set over the Gallatin Mountain Range and Paradise Valley to the West. Sleep came to me by 22:00.
I awoke at 06:00 and was hiking within twenty minutes, chomping on an energy bar and sipping water from my hydration system. About 30 minutes of hiking brought me to the end of the trail and into the snowy bowl that is Pine Creek Lake. A large iceberg was still floating in the lake and the cirque held a fair amount of snow - - a soothing site for me as I had lugged many pounds of snowboard gear into terrain of which I knew little about the snow conditions other than my previous trip two years before.
By 09:30 I had summited Black Mountain (read Summit Post profile) using methods of walking, skinning, and ski crampons. I was slightly undernourished having had only one energy bar and one GU but I made decent time and was in great spirits. I spent a few minutes on the relatively snow-free summit and then descended to the large snow bowl that I planned to ride.
The snowboarding was quite delicious and I was able to get approximately 1,000 vertical feet (304 m) of riding in. The top 800' (244 m) was wonderful corn snow that didn't grab the board in the least and allowed for me to arc some nice, large GS turns.
Proceeding past a flat spot at the bottom of the large bowl and sliding over a little roll put me onto a different aspect that consisted of some fun slaloming through large boulders in snow of a slushy quality for about 200' (61 m) vertical.
I swapped out the snowboard gear for shorts, trailrunners, sunscreen, took a few swigs of the refreshing snowmelt water that was all around me and headed down the trail. Arrival back at my Subaru was around 13:30 leaving me plenty of time to return home and shower before heading into downtown Bozeman for the bicycle sprints portion of the Tour of Bozeman race series.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Summit Cheeseburger - Buck Hill, North Dakota
Mom and Dad chillin' by the grill at the "trailhead".
June 25th, 2010 - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
My parents were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary with a camping trip to Medora, North Dakota. They asked me a few months in advance if I'd like to drive out to see them since it's much much more convenient to drive 400 miles to see them than 1000.
Before leaving I did the mandatory "I'm going on a trip so I'd best look up local summit cheeseburger opportunities" and found Buck Hill and it's location along the scenic drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The opportunity to pack the Weber, some ground beef, cheese, and potato salad into the back of the truck was too juicy to pass up. Mom, Dad, and I grilled burgers at the trailhead and then carried them along with some Cokes up to the Summit, took a photo and then relaxed and enjoyed the view.
My parents were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary with a camping trip to Medora, North Dakota. They asked me a few months in advance if I'd like to drive out to see them since it's much much more convenient to drive 400 miles to see them than 1000.
Before leaving I did the mandatory "I'm going on a trip so I'd best look up local summit cheeseburger opportunities" and found Buck Hill and it's location along the scenic drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The opportunity to pack the Weber, some ground beef, cheese, and potato salad into the back of the truck was too juicy to pass up. Mom, Dad, and I grilled burgers at the trailhead and then carried them along with some Cokes up to the Summit, took a photo and then relaxed and enjoyed the view.
Sam, Mike and Ann conquering Buck Hill in Theordore Roosevelt National Park
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