My ninth year toeing the line for a long trek across the Bob Marshall Complex.  Every year the starting point and finishing point changes- no set route, just start and finish at the right spot.  It's very remote country with help a long ways off, so a bit of caution is warranted in regards to avalanche danger, fording streams in high water, grizzlies, etc.

This year the start was at Holland Lake and finish at Marias Pass on Highway 2- north of 2 is Glacier National Park, south is the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.  Our planned route was ~ 110 miles.  We knew going in the flows were high (always high, but higher than normal).

8:00 AM Saturday morning 22 brave souls were ready to go (Tiny Elvis front and center was just posing for the pic, he didn't go )

Made pretty good time to Upper Holland Lake, just 4 weeks earlier there was 3'+ of snow and the lake was frozen)

Continued upward and over Pendant Pass

We soon hit snow and we rolled the dice a bit and didn't bring snowshoes.  We did some postholing, but overall the snow was pretty firm.  This was the first year I hadn't brought snowshoes.

It wasn't long and it started to rain, first lightly then heavy- not overly fun.

We had numerous fords on our way downward to Big Salmon Lake.  The rain stayed steady and it was obvious that already swollen streams were further swollen by the rains.  My buddy cross one this way, I decided to try it without crawling and was rewarded with getting dunked up to my neck 

Not only did the fords suck, but the trails were running water and sometimes pooling into small ponds- sound like fun?

We finally made it to Big Salmon Lake and the rain had let up significantly.  It's a pretty long lake, roughly 5 miles, so took us awhile to get around it.

We ate a late supper at the outlet of the lake and pressed on towards the confluence of the South Fork of the Flathead River and Little Salmon Ck.  We arrived in headlamps at ~ 11:30 PM- long, tough day- ~ 32 miles.

It rained lightly almost all night long and was still raining at 5:00 AM, I gave it it another 10 minutes and miraculously it quit raining.  Someone (unnamed) is still in their shelter drinking coffee 

We started down the South Fork of the Flathead for the Black Bear bridge to get across the swollen river without dying.

We made it to the bridge in pretty good time, without the bridge we'd be backtracking all the way back to Holland Lake!

We continued down the South Fork River, having several fords along the way- creeks were still angry, but the scenery was good.

We got to Meadow Creek (~20 miles) early afternoon and had a pow-wow.  We had two more large rivers to cross to make it to the finish, these rivers have no bridges on them.  If we could not safely cross we'd be backtracking a long way.  If we could cross the first river, but not the second we'd be backtracking a very long way!  There was a very high likelihood that we wouldn't be able to ford these rivers, so we decided to bail.  As there is a trailhead at Meadow Ck, it's the only viable place to bail.

Not what we were hoping for, but live to fight another day as the saying goes.

Great pics as always. Love the shots with the low clouds. Seems like the sensible thing to bail and still a great adventure. Maybe next year you need to look for a lightweight inflatable kayak!

Thanks.

Only two finishers this year- both pack rafters.  The thing is you have to be a VERY competent paddler to pull off using one in these kind of flows; probably talking years of experience.  Even then, one wrong move and it could be your last- I don't think a packraft purchase is my near future 

Fantastic photos!!!  I couldn’t agree more with the wise choice you made.  Given the backtracking and the rainy weather it could have been miserable and even hypothermia could have been trouble as well.  Not to mention trying to cross some angry waters (with or without a raft).

Congrats are in order for even giving it a go in the first place.

Thanks all!

I chatted with one of the guys (of only two) that finished, he crossed where we intended to cross.  He said without a raft, it would have sure been a swim and a swim he wouldn't want to try- that makes me feel better on our choice 

...Montana , where the men are strong and the women are nervous.   Don't ask me why.