{"id":652,"date":"2016-09-12T06:02:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T06:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=652"},"modified":"2017-07-15T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2017-07-15T15:36:17","slug":"hiking-in-the-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/09\/12\/hiking-in-the-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"September 12 Hiking In the Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>When we looked out of the big white tent this morning, there was snow all over, but the trail was clearly visible, so we wasted no time in heading up several miles to Switchback Pass. The snow grew deeper and finally completely covered the trail\u2014we were glad to have footprints to follow. At the top, the wind was fierce and cold\u2014everything was buried in snow and the wind was already making cornices!\u00a0 If it weren’t so freezing cold, it would have been interesting to watch the process.<\/p>\n

The trail immediately took us down by a lake and another “Chinese Wall”\u2014beautiful with fresh snow. Finally we were below snow level, the sun came out, and for a few brief minutes, it was a bit warm! We had several river fords to do\u2014none even knee-deep, but it did leave us with soaking wet shoes and socks. Now we are back on the “official” CDT, but camped a bit early because it started snowing again.<\/p>\n

DETAILS:<\/strong>\u00a0 We were very comfortable inside our tent, inside the big white tent!\u00a0 The sound of rain gradually died away during the night, because the rain had turned to snow!\u00a0 Outside the white tent, there was snow all over everything, and on the inside, there was (sigh) condensation, because it was so cold.<\/p>\n

But we could easily see the trail (snow sticks to plants better than it does on hardpacked trail), so off we went, up the many switchbacks toward….Switchback Pass.\u00a0 The higher we went, though, the more snow there was, and soon even the trail was full of snow–BUT there were footprints!\u00a0 Somebody was ahead of us–Elusive, maybe?\u00a0 And that’s who it was.\u00a0 We caught up with him awhile later, and he told us of his adventure last night, building a “hut” of branches to shelter his tent from the fast-falling snow.\u00a0 He is way tougher and braver than I am.\u00a0 He took off again, and was soon ahead of us.<\/p>\n

All of us were bundled up with everything warm we had, because of the bitter cold.\u00a0 We looked like arctic explorers.\u00a0 (Later on, Shepherd showed us a picture he took of himself at Switchback Pass–he had ice on his beard, and he REALLY looked like one of those intrepid guys such as Shackleton or Peary or Amundsen!)\u00a0 But thank God, it was not actually snowing when we were approaching the Pass–just a howling, fierce, bitter cold wind.<\/p>\n

The snow grew deeper, and it would have been impossible to follow the trail, except that there were now TWO sets of footprints.\u00a0 One was Elusive, the other a sectionhiker. And then, oh no!\u00a0 They were joined by the footprints of a BEAR!\u00a0 Well, actually, a small bear, and it only followed them for a quarter mile or so before turning off.<\/p>\n

At the top of the Pass, it was pretty tough.\u00a0 The wind was freezing cold, and there was so much soft new snow that it was already making a cornice!\u00a0 According to the map, there should be a 3-way trail intersection at the Pass, but we could only see the trail we came up (lots of footprints!) and a trail heading down (2 footprints) and no 3rd trail was visible at all.\u00a0 I was a bit worried, but all I could do was 1) Figure God is with us no matter what and 2) Elusive and the sectionhiker are trying to go the same way we are; hopefully they are right??<\/p>\n

So we continued to follow the footprints (with me privately thanking God for the fact that there were two strong hikers right ahead of us and we weren’t just all by ourselves in a trackless snow world).\u00a0 And it really was beautiful, with fresh, white snow all over everything.\u00a0 We passed a lovely lake, and came to ANOTHER “Chinese Wall”; the snow was clinging to the face of it and making what almost looked like a white lace covering on the cliff.\u00a0 Beautiful!<\/p>\n

Based on the footprints we were following, it looked like the sectionhiker was the one “breaking trail”, with Elusive behind him and us next.\u00a0 Wow, I was glad for that sectionhiker!\u00a0 He had the tough work, that made it way easier for the rest of us.\u00a0 We did not stop until 2:00 pm, when there was less snow, and we could actually find a bit of bare ground to sit on.\u00a0 And sit, we did!\u00a0 Wow, we were tired!\u00a0\u00a0 I got out the little Ezbit stove and cooked a potful of hot lunch.\u00a0 We were even able to hang our damp (condensation) tent and sleeping bags on nearby trees in the sun, to dry out.<\/p>\n

While we were eating, Elusive came by, and stopped for a little while.\u00a0 We had noticed there were only one set of footprints, and wondered where he was.\u00a0 From talking to him, we found out that he had been through some really seriously hard times in his own life, and was hiking, biking and adventuring to help himself work through it.\u00a0 We felt so bad for him when he told us his story.\u00a0 Fixit shared with him about the difference it makes when you really have a real relationship with God.\u00a0 “Christ died for your sins,” he told Elusive.\u00a0 “And offers you forgiveness.\u00a0 He rose from the dead and offers to come into your life and change the attitude of your heart to become the kind of person God can live with forever.\u00a0 Does that sound like a good offer?”<\/p>\n

Elusive said basically, “Yes, but…….” and though he was somewhat interested, he would take a pass on it.\u00a0 So we let it go, and figured,\u00a0 “We’ll pray for him, and trust God for another opportunity to say more.”<\/p>\n

Elusive headed off again, we washed up the eating things, packed up and followed him.\u00a0 The trail continued on down, completely out of the snow, to Gooseberry Park ranger cabin.\u00a0 It was a very warm (almost hot, actually) sunny afternoon.\u00a0 It seemed unreal that only this morning we were “in the arctic”.\u00a0 Around the cabin there were very pretty aspen trees, turning bright yellow.<\/p>\n

Then at last, we were back on the official CDT, which began to go UP again, along Strawberry Creek.\u00a0 After awhile, we began once again to see snow patches on the ground, then more and more snow.\u00a0 The trail was still fine, so we were hopeful, and walked right along.\u00a0 Then, oh no, it began to snow again!\u00a0 Falling snow is so pretty, but when you are a lightweight gear thruhiker, it’s a worrisome sight.\u00a0 We stopped, we checked our maps, and saw that just as yesterday, the trail was going up high and staying up there.\u00a0 Again, it was a bit early to stop, but we did not want to mess with another snowstorm.\u00a0 There was no place to camp at all where we were, so once again, we turned around and headed back down the trail till we saw a spot under some trees, where the ground was bare and the trees would help keep off the falling snow.\u00a0 It was only a bit after 6:00, and we normally keep going till 7:00, but again, we wanted to be safe.\u00a0 Even with 2 shorter days in a row, we have enough food to last us till Marias Pass and the highway.\u00a0 We figure it will take 2 days to get there.<\/p>\n

Tonight it’s very cold, and the rain\/snow has stopped for now.\u00a0 Looks like we will be hiking in more snow tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY:\u00a0 When we looked out of the big white tent this morning, there was snow all over, but the trail was clearly visible, so we wasted no time in heading up several miles to Switchback Pass. The snow grew deeper and finally completely covered the trail\u2014we were glad to have footprints to follow. At the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-montana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1086,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}