40.0 miles, 3750' gained, 5 night(s)
This was a 4 night, 5 day backpack trip in the backcountry, followed by 1 night in the frontcountry at Kintla Lake CG.
Our Itinerary was as follows (using the backcountry campground codes from GNP):
BOW to BRO
BRO to HOL (must do side trip!) to BOU
BOU to UPK
UPK to Kintla Lake CG
While lots of things happened along the way, here are the daily recaps:
Day 1: Bowman Lake HD, 7.1 mi, 400' EG
Start: 11a
End: 3p
This was the morning we got up at the ***-crack of dawn to be first in line at the Backcountry Permit Office at Apgar. We arrived at 5:50a and were first in line to get walk up permits. We settled on the Bowman-Kintla Horseshoe, using two cars, which is the only way to do it. We camped at the Bowman Lake HD campsite with a group of 8 from Valparaiso University, a group of 3 guys from Chicago, a group of 3 from Utah, and a group of 3 from Missoula. At 4:30a that night, the wind had been blowing and one of my tarp stakes went "boing!!!" and my tarp started flapping in the wind. I got out of my hammock quickly and started putting rocks on all of my other stakes while I tried to find the one that flew away. I found it, restaked my guyline down and hopped back into my hammock just in time for a huge thunderstorm to start.
Day 2: Brown Pass, 6.5 mi, 2600' EG
Start: 11:30a
End: 4:15p
Because of the rain we didn't get up until almost 9a and got on the trail at 11:30a. Our first break was about four miles down the trail at 1p at a river crossing where we could dry out our shoes and socks from walking through TONS of thimbleberry bushes. From this point the trail started gaining elevation and as usual, I started to slow down. I split from my two friends who do better on the hills and had some solo hiking time with my iPhone playing music to let the bears know I was coming around the corner.At one point I took a 15 minute break and just allowed myself to soak in the scenery. I arrived about 20 minutes after my friends and set up my hammock in a great spot. I was kind of hungry, so I went to the food prep area to start cooking dinner. This campsite is smaller so we only had neighbors from Montana and Maine. I enjoyed the smaller crowd of people. We finished dinner just in time as another thunderstorm started (the rangers had said we would have two days of thunderstorms and they were right!). We put our food and stuff away, hung everything on the bear hang and retired to our tents/hammock just after 7p, where it continued to rain most of the evening. It did let up enough before it got dark to go use the privy one more time. I spent the evening in my hammock reading an e-book on my iPhone.
Day 3: Boulder Pass (with side trip to Hole In The Wall), 7.9 mi (incl 2 mi side trip), unsure EG
Start: 9a
End: 1:30p
The route out of Brown Pass was gradual and filled with more amazing views. We had decided to stop at Hole In The Wall for a visit just because everyone we had talked to said we should. It was about a mile each way and we didn't mind the extra mileage since our days were so short in general. We arrived at Hole In The Wall and realized what a special place it was. It was gorgeous. It has the only privy with hand sanitizer in the park! The privy has a solar powered fan designed to dry out the urine since 90% of waste is liquid, thus making the waste breakdown quicker. I learned all of this while reading the FAQ posted inside. We also took a "shower" in the glacier-fed waterfalls. So refreshing!
After our stop at Hole In The Wall, we continued a gradual climb up to Boulder Pass, coming across an area where rock cairns guided us along the way, finally coming to Boulder Pass. There were limited trees and I had my first problem hanging my hammock. I made it work but it was not ideal. Boulder Pass is home to a privy with a million dollar view. We all took turns taking pictures of the privy. Several people from the campsite took the afternoon to climb Boulder Peak. In retrospect, there isn't a designated trail to the peak and it appears that overuse is starting to cause some negative environmental impact, so I can't recommend doing the hike. From the photos my friends took, the views were quite stunning.
Day 4: Upper Kintla Lake HD, 5.9 mi, 2800' EL
Start: 9a
End: 11:30a
Today was a short day that went by quickly due to the 2800' elevation loss. We cruised down the trail through the sub-alpine areas and back into the forests filled with thimbleberries. The campsite at Upper Kintla Lake HD was great. I found the perfect spot to pitch my hammock and decided to sleep without the tarp for the first time. Since we had a lot of time to kill, my hiking partners and I cleaned off in the lake and spent some time laying out in the sun. I'm fortunate that my hiking partners are okay with lots of quiet time, so we each took as much time as we needed to be alone, soaking up the last of the backcountry experience. Our site-mates tonight were from Portland, New York, and Montana. The social time at dinner was fun.
Day 5: Lower Kintla Lake CG, 11.6 mi, 0' EG
Start: 8:30a
End: 1:30p
We started a little bit earlier this morning, which I am glad we did. We cruised along and took a few short breaks. We ended up with the last campsite at the campground. This is where we met Lyle, a 93 year old NP Ranger. He started as a ranger when he was 72! Super cool guy. Lots of stories to tell and such a sweetheart. The campground had 13 spots so it was relatively small and quiet. We retrieved our car, and were able to change into fresh clothes after taking a "bath" in the lake. The weather was so awesome on this trip, I feel kind of spoiled to have been able to spend so much time keeping clean.
All in all...amazing, majestic, gorgeous, beautiful, awesome, epic, fantastic....yeah, words do not describe everything we saw, hopefully the photos do.
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