Not really a race- no registration, no fees, no t-shirts, few rules; but brutally challenging and very rewarding, set in some of the remotest and wildest country in the lower 48.  Each year the beginning point and ending point is announced and is different each year.  How you get to the ending point is completely up to you- shortest distance is not always the quickest (actually rarely)- weather, elevation, snow levels at passes, trail conditions, stream flows and fords all add into one's decision. It also demands a Plan B (and C) as well as bailout options as things often don't go as planned.  Navigation is an important part as it's easy to lose less travelled trails, especially above snow level and sometimes off-trail options present shortcuts.  Equipment choices obviously comes into play, snowshoes or not, raft or not, shelter, food, etc.  Point being a lot of pre-planning goes into your decisions- which quite frankly is part of the appeal.

This was my second time at this event.  Last year I went with Kevin and John, this year John teamed up with another friend and planned a more leisurely event- 5-ish days.  Kevin and I had just the opposite plan, more aggressive than last year, going very light and mixing in some running- something under 3 days.  We had planned our route carefully and got our packs as svelte as safely possible.  Unfortunately Kevin's knee hadn't fully recovered from winter and had to bail at the last minute (actually a week out); at the same time the weather changed significantly adding a lot of snow to the Bob and calling for rain/snow during the event.  Because of these changes, my plan also changed-going with a larger pack and more safety equipment.

This year the start was at Bean Lake campground on the SE side of the Bob Complex, near Augusta (the Complex contains the Bob Marshall Wilderness, bit also the Scapegoat and Great Bear Wildernesses) and finish at Cedar Creek campground on the West side, near Condon.  Our route was ~ 120 miles, there were shorter routes, but we chose this route mainly because it avoided fording the South Fork of the Flathead- which we learned is not a ford, but rather a swim.  A pretty dicey swim given the temperature and swiftness of the river.

Saturday morning 18 brave souls took off from Bean Lake, right away one guy took off in the opposite direction of everyone else- he had a plan other than starting up the Dearborn River.  John and his new partner Thad were taking the same route as I was, so I settled in with them- figuring I'd continue on after they bagged it at 20-25 miles in.  Turns out almost everyone else continued on past Whitetail Creek where we headed for Twin Lakes Pass.

we made good time up and over the pass into the Blackfoot drainage, not as much snow as anticipated, but our good time would soon slow as we got into significant blowdown

still nice views though, including the North Fork falls

we made it to the North Fork patrol cabin at 8 pm and called it a day, 33 miles in, more than John had Thad had planned on, but pretty close to what I was shooting for

we got a pretty early start and headed for the Dry Fork Pass that led into the Danaher and South Fork drainage

Danaher Creek is absolutely gorgeous, the creek starts out very mellow and meandering and eventually raging forming one of two major headwaters for the South Fork

the weather up to this point had been pretty good, some short light rains, but we got into some pretty heavy rains, but eventually they would pass as well, right on time as we entered our camp area for night 2, 31 miles logged that day

a nightly ritual, drying our feet out (also at lunch), your feet are wet the entire day- fords, rain, mud, snow, so it's important to dry them out a couple times a day and especially at night, donning dry socks for sleep  I also found Costco meat bags work great to put over your dry socks and put on your wet shoes for camp chores or that nightly call to duty

my shelter, a MLD cuben fiber Solomid- a small pyramid shelter that utilizes my trekking poles and 6 stakes- pretty svelte at 11 oz

the next day John and Thad said they would only be going as far as Big Salmon Lake (about 15 miles) so they could fish and relax

we ate lunch at Big Salmon patrol cabin and parted ways, making good time of the 15 miles in under 5 hours

I had about 2.5 miles to go to my turn off up Little Salmon and made good time getting there in under 45 minutes, things were looking up and I still had a shot at under 72 hours if I turned it up a notch.

Unfortunately Little Salmon had different ideas, the lower stretch was very muddy and flooded in many areas, slowing me down significantly

I wasn't the only one headed up Little Salmon, bear spray- check 

soon the trail climbed and dried out and the time was picking up, but Little Salmon wasn't done with me yet- while the mud and water slowed me down on the lower section, the blowdown would almost stop me in my tracks- 8 miles of almost steady blowdown, looking at it appeared to more than just last fall/winter, probably a couple years worth

it's a 11 miles to my next turnoff, Palisade Ck- I was hoping to do it in about 3 hours, instead it was over 5!

finally made it to Palisade Ck, now 6 miles up to the pass- not surprisingly there was plenty of blowdown on this trail, also a lot of mud and water running in the trail

Palisade Ck

I couldn't find a decent place to camp, so kept heading up, hoping to make it over the pass and camp on the Lion Ck side; daylight quickly faded as I hit the snow and donned my headlamp; the trail became completely obscured, but a grizzly was headed up and pretty sure headed the pass so I followed him (or her?)

I eventually hit human tracks and knew they had to be other competitors, so I was on the right path  When I got the pass I was whipped and needed to make some supper, low on water I melted snow

I felt better after eating and wanted off this high pass and thought I'd go down a couple of miles and camp; I thought I found the trail in big block talus, but after 5 minutes or so it was obviously a mountain goat trail and I was likely to plunge to my death if I stayed on it; I retreated looking for the trail but no luck- at this point it was 11 PM and I was forced to camp on 6' of snow at high elevation, not where I really wanted to be

I woke up at 5 AM, my camp and not too shabby of a view out my door

I found the trail in the daylight about 1/4 mile down from the pass and could see where folks had slid in the scree getting down to it- it was very slow going as it has solidly frozen at night and the once soft snow was now ice and it was steep, very steep

I eventually got out of the snow and started making decent time heading down, but was short lived as I started hitting significant blowdown again

it was slow going for most of Lion Ck, but there were several really pretty falls along the way

I eventually made it to the trailhead at about 11:30 AM, with another 10 miles to go to get to Cedar Ck campground, it would have been quicker taking the forest service road down to the highway and up, but wasn't in the mood for cars screaming by- I came up with a route linking up old logging roads that would put me very close to the campground and only being on the highway for ~ a 1/4 mile- it took me longer, but my sub 72 hour finish was history

I hit the campground at 3:00-ish for a 79 hour finish, considering the difficult trails, I was pretty happy with that finish

Pretty soon next year's route will be announced and the planning will begin once again 

Mike

That's a pretty incredible thing you did there... thanks for sharing all the photos and your story. I am pretty sure I would freak out if I was sharing the trail with a grizzly, but I guess it's a matter of being informed and experienced out there. Sorry you missed your time goal but still impressive to me.

Well done and well written.

Thanks everyone! 

Mandy- my original pack choice was the UD FastPack 30, with the change in weather and going solo, I had to add snowshoes, more clothing and more food which would have overwhelmed the UD pack. Instead I carried my Exped Lightning 65- this is the same pack I carried last year. It's about as light of an external frame pack you can get- under two pounds. I find it carries loads comfortably up to about 40 lbs, my pack weighed in the low 20s including snowshoes, food and water- so it was relatively cushy.

I brought a down quilt; it's made by Katabatic Gear, called the Palisade- it's rated at 30 degrees, but they tend to underrate their quilts and closer to 20 degrees in my experience. Not bad for 18 ounces.

When I first went to bed, I was Mikechilled, but warmed up pretty good. It was tough to get out in the morning as the temps had dropped into the 20s.

I'm hoping next year I can try out that small running pack for this.

great pics!!  Thanks for sharring. Those blowdowns look tough.

Great country out there. As much as I'd like to do some hiking in that area it will probably never happen.  I will admit I was slightly concerned when you didn't check in here for quite some time.  In country like that it's easy for even the best to have a mishap and I had forgot that the event could take that long.

Any idea how the guy who headed off in a different direction made out?

Is that much blow down normal?

Nice work! Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Sounds a bit like Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic, which started in early 1980s.

mt, fantastic job!!  I really liked hearing all about your adventure.  Thanks very much for the write up. I guess it would have to be optimum conditions to be able to go with a lighter pack and less stuff?

Have you ever thought is doing a little high hurdle training for that thing?? I can't imagine so many blow downs, I've cramped up just going over/under 1 or 2 on a trail.