I must preface this with telling you I'm not a backpacker and I'm also a flatlander from Tn. I'm an avid camper/hanger via car and or kayak. I'm hard headed and often my ambition writes checks that I struggle to cash.
We come to Washington about once a year and I usually rent a mountain bike and ride the awesome trails around here. Biking is forte walking is not. This time I decided I wanted to head out on an overnight but didn't want to do bikepacking on a rental. So I stitched up a DIY G-4 backpack from the kit that Quest Outfitters sells. And picked up a few extras from rei that I thought I might need.
My worried wife drove me to the trailhead to drop me off with both of us promising to return safely 24 hrs later. The road to the trailhead lead up the mnt out of the town of Glacier. We turned on the forest service road and the ascent began for the next 12 miles. The only thing at the top of the long road was the trail head for the Skyline Divide trail at about 4500'. I hopped out kissed the wife and started climbing the steep trail.
I'm in decent cardio shape from cycling regularly so I was able to move reasonably well despite never hiking and carrying 30 ish lbs of gear. As I climbed up the trees began to thin out and there was snow beginning to accumulate. By the time I arrived at the first "peak" (not sure it was a peak but everything flattened out for a bit) the snow was over a foot deep. I was not prepared for snow at all. People I ran into were wearing crampons I was wearing ankle high shoes. Lol. The views were spectacular. I attempted to hike on. I was slipping and the snow was getting deeper. I decided I needed to figure out something else to do because I wasn't going to make it to the designated camping spot at this rate.
I ended up hiking back down below the snow and all the way to the trailhead. The last of the day hikers were just leaving while I contemplated what to do. I was stuck. I dont think you're allowed to just camp where ever up there but that's what I ended up doing. I hiked back up the trail and found a flat spot a good ways off of the trail near a trickle of water. I pitched the tarp(DIY hex), which was a hassle because I left my tarp lines attached to my smaller diamond tarp which I didn't bring, but I made do by trimming the slack off of my tarps Ridgeline and using the excess as tie outs.
After dinner the sun began to set. The moon was huge. I brought my tablet to do some reading but my hands were too cold to leave out of the sleeping bag. I estimate it was near freezing because it was 39 degrees in Glacier that night which was several thousand feet down hill. Being too cold to toil around out of the sleeping bag and not really having anything to do in decided to turn in early at 7pm. I woke up a couple of times but didn't really wake up till 730am! Awesome.
It was still pretty cold and I planned for this by leaving my cook kit within reach of the hammock. I Love making my first cup of coffee without getting out of the sleeping bag. It starts the day off right. bundled up nice and sat in the hammock reading a good book plying myself with food and coffee. Eventually I packed up and hiked down to the trailhead just in time to find my wife pulling up for my egress.
I learned a few valuable lessons. Had a blast. Probably camped illegally. Carried too much stuff. Tested out the pack which worked pretty well. I'd recommend the quest kit for anybody who wants to make a pack. I was pushing the max recommend weight.
Good times.
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In all seriousness, it sounded like a fun trip and those are some incredible pictures! Glad you persevered and adapted! Great job! Great trip!
Originally Posted by Mumbles
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