Bob Marshall Wilderness, MT

Dates

Aug 22nd - Aug 29th 2009

Service Project

Trail Maintenance

Free Days

Climb a peak, fish, swim, explore

Accommodations

Backpack camping

Trip Rating

Challenging : High altitude, 13-mile backpack, digging, tread work, sawing. Pack animal supported

Leaders

Richard Lyon
Greg Thatcher

Equipment

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is the crown jewel of this country's wilderness preservation system.   Consisting of the federally-designated Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Great Bear Wilderness Areas, the Complex is over 1.5 million acres of primitive, roadless land straddling the Continental Divide. When combined with adjacent Glacier National Park it becomes the largest contiguous wilderness area in the Lower 48 – more than 2.5 million acres.  The "Bob," as it's known locally, is named after the early-day forester and conservationist who started his career with the Forest Service in Montana and is credited with single-handedly adding 5.4 million acres to the nation's designated wilderness.  It is a place of natural wonders, with towering limestone reefs (including the famous Chinese Wall), range after range of majestic mountains, lush forests, broad basins and valleys, and two "wild and scenic" designated rivers.  It contains some of the best wildlife habitat in the lower 48 for elk, deer, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black bear, and the threatened grizzly bear. The very size of the Complex creates its own problems.  The Forest Service is underfunded everywhere and lacks the resources to maintain all the many trails in this vast area.  The main trails are usually all the Forest Service can handle, leaving "secondary" trails to only infrequent maintenance, or to volunteers.  That's where we come in.

This project is in the northwest corner of the Bob, in the Swan Range.   We'll meet at the Owl Creek trailhead Saturday afternoon, August 22, camping nearby to prepare our gear for an early start the next morning.  On Sunday we backpack thirteen miles past Upper Holland Lake, over Gordon Pass, and then set up our backcountry base camp near the junction of the Gordon Pass and Doctor's Lake trails, at about 5800 feet.  Though a long hike, the elevation gain is relatively gradual and our route is spectacular, with a bit of everything that makes the backcountry special: mountain peaks in all directions, a couple of photo-op waterfalls, meadows, forests, the gorgeous alpine basin of Upper Holland Lake, grand views across the Swan Valley to the Mission Mountains, and more vistas from Gordon Pass.

Be prepared for brushing, lopping, sawing, grubbing, tree-felling, and rock-rolling as we work up the Doctor's Lake Trail toward the lake at its apex, removing blown-down trees, repairing trail, clearing brush that has overgrown onto the trail, and building water bars for erosion control.  This trail hasn't been looked after for some time, so there will be plenty of work for all. On our day off you'll have a chance to fish or swim in Doctor's Lake, take a day hike, or just soak up the wilderness.  This corner of the Bob is a landscape photographer's Valhalla.