running under the BigSky
We attempted a traverse of the Chinese Wall only to be stopped in our tracks about 20 miles in coming face to face with two rather large fires. We vowed to give it another go this year and we did
The Chinese Wall is probably the most iconic feature in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It raises straight up 1000'+ and stretches for roughly 15 miles, defining the Continental Divide in it's length. Our plan was to hike (via trails) to the north end of the Wall, find a way on top and traverse it's full length to the south end, grab a few more trails and complete the loop back to our waiting vehicles. On the map it showed 56 miles with about 9000' of gain (in reality it would be much different).
Everyone (five of us) was able to get out of work early Friday and met at the trailhead around 5:00 PM. We were wanting to make it about 10 miles in, saving us mileage on Sunday to get back at a decent time. We aimed for Indian point, roughly 11 miles in.
We made it about 8-ish, ate supper, setup camp and then scrambled for our shelters as a storm rolled in. We were up early and on the trail about 6:30. About three hours in we got the first glimpse of the Wall.
Stretching out on a break
We're rounding the bend at Cliff Mountain and more of the Wall in view
lots of wildflowers still out
we finally reached the north end of the Wall about mid-day and found a saddle that we thought we could scramble up
and made it
as my grandfather always said "I wonder what the poor people are doing?"
once on top the going was pretty easy, unfortunately within a mile or so, we got cliffed out; about a 2-3 mile detour and reclimbing all the elevation we lost on the detour, we were once again on top
again, pretty easy going on top
well for about two miles anyways and you guessed it- we got cliffed out once again; this detour was a little more nerve wracking as we had hoped to be a small tarn at the base of Cliff Mountain by this time to water up, very (very) few water sources on the Wall.
this detour sucked more I think because we were tired and thirsty, but eventually we made it to the little cirque below Cliff Mtn
made it
we ate supper at the tarn, drank a ton of water, filled our bottles and headed back up to the meadow to camp- pretty nice digs!
we were up early to hit the road, but not before a couple of cups of coffee
plan was to head up a high basin towards Sphinx Peak and then regain the Wall
nice views along the way (Sphinx Peak in the background)
Sphinx Peak up close and personal
another steep scramble and we were back on top!
we got cliffed out again, but found a sneaky way to get around without a major detour
we weren't the only one to use this route- this goat wasn't overly excited with us being there
We finally made it far south enough to see the White River Pass trail where we would get back on trail, but not before one more cliff out
A couple of the guys are rock climbers, I'm not one of them and thought they found a route we could take saving a couple of miles and hours, that was enough to steel me nerves to give it a go- climbing is scary, down climbing scarier yet
no one died
after a long descent, we hit the trail finally
15-17 trail miles later found us back at our vehicles- tired and sore, but elated at the same time. We stopped into the Buckhorn Bar for giant cheeseburgers, fries and ice cold IPA's
Life is good
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
Tim
Nice. Some if tbise pictures looks a bit like our adventure. Does the CDT go right past there?
Haha, my Dad always said "wonder what the lazy people are doing?".
Hope Tiny E didn't get too upset.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
danke
yes a lot of this country is very similar to our Colorado outing; we were on the CDT for a good junk on day 1 and 2
he doesn't like me to leave him behind
Very cool loop. Is it common to go along the top of the wall like you did? Also, what exactly I does getting cliffed out mean?
tbd.
Holy cow, that’s some amazing scenery. You earned the views and brews, that’s for sure. Is the Chinese wall accessible only by hiking in the way you did?
5/11/24 Grizzly Peak Marathon, Berkeley, CA
7/20/24 Tahoe Rim Trail 56 miler, NV
9/21/24 Mountain Lakes 100, OR
Are we there, yet?
So the spectacular scenery and hiking isn't limited to Glacier NP.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
That is some beautiful scenery. I know that was fun.
LB2
Refurbished Hip
Damn, that's an awesome trip, Mike. Trying to avoid being cliffed out can be a fun game...until it's not! Ha.
How are you liking the Tarptent so far?
Running is dumb.
Trails
Wow...just wow and no way would I like to be climbing those rocks. Poor Tiny E not getting to go on that adventure.
thanks all
I don't think many have tried to do it on top, total lack of beta on the internet
basically going along and suddenly finding a cliff in your way, in our case they caused roughly a 2-3 mile detour around and a big loss of elevation (that had to be regained to get back on top)
yeah it's pretty close to the center of the Bob, so depending on which direction you enter it's 20-ish miles or more in
Damn, that's an awesome trip, Mike. Trying to avoid being cliffed out can be a fun game...until it's not! Ha. How are you liking the Tarptent so far?
Liking it a lot, have about 10 nights in it now, about 3 of those with heavy-ish rain; haven't had it any higher winds, but looking at the shape I think it will be fine for everything but extremely high winds
yeah he's never happy when he doesn't get to go
No condensation issues? Although you're out West, so you can get away with a single walled tent. I still haven't gotten to test my Notch Li in any bad weather yet! Just some light rain is the worst I've put it through.
Thanks for the report and the photos. Awesome stuff. I was going to ask about the "cliffed out" stuff, but Sandy beat me to it. It almost sounds like at the end of the wall you were nearly cliffed out as well, but made it down. Did you have any idea that was possible when you started? I think I would have taken the longer way down!
In dog beers, I've only had one.