Twig Adventures

Thursday July 21st, 2022, 0700-1900Yaak River to FR 7183, WEBO mm 160.7, Segment 2 Purcell Mountains24.4 miles, Gain 6600′, Loss 4000′, elevation 5450′ Nothing bothered us overnight, not even noise from the bridge traffic (all 2 cars). Living under bridges, or at least next to them, ain’t so bad in the Yaak valley. Even better, I was able to sneak a turn in the nearby forest service privy in the morning, coining the phrase privy pirate! Wolverine also took a turn, after my raving about it. It was a primo privy, complete with lots of TP and even wet wipes and hand sanitizer. It’s the little things. Two minutes into our walk, a black bear scooted across the road just in[…]

Wednesday July 20th, 2022, 0620-2100Rock Candy Mountain to Yaak River, WEBO mm 185.4, Segment 2 Purcell Mountains26.2 miles plus 0.5 to fire tower, Gain 2400′, Loss 5725′, elevation 3000′ I had one of the best night’s sleep yet. The breeze was refreshing and it was just the right temperature. Riding along the ridge for a few miles in the morning was nice, then we dropped down into the Yaak river valley for the remainder of the day. We met 2 WEBOs who were really nice, a couple, Taffy and Matt. We chatted for a bit about the trail. There are so few other hikers, I want to talk to them all! But at some point, I may need to just say[…]

Tuesday July 19th, 2022, 0600-2030Bussard Mountain to Rock Candy Mountain, WEBO mm 211.6, Segment 2 Purcell Mountains26.8 miles, Gain 6900′, Loss 6100′, elevation 6755 It was a nice sunrise but not as good as the sunset the night before. The wind howled all night but our campsite was well protected. It didn’t even get too cold. I was glad we stopped to enjoy the mountain. A quick series of switchbacks over 6 miles quickly brought us down 3,500 feet. My ears were popping. We hiked fast because we were looking forward to seeing what the resort, said to be hiker-friendly, was all about. We knew their hours meant the restaurant wouldn’t be open but we hoped to at least use the[…]

Monday July 18th, 2022, 1430-1930US Hwy 1 to Bussard Mountain, WEBO mm 238.5, Segment 2 Purcell Mountains13 miles plus 2 miles in town, Gain 4320′, Loss 500′, elevation 5930 We had another long section coming up, in which we’d be leaving Idaho to enter western Montana. We were aiming to hike 115 miles to Eureka all in one stretch but had a few options for obtaining food along the way. Our first was a resort called Fiest Creek, which we hoped to get to this day. Well, town was a bit of a vortex, to say the least. We’d met 2 PNT WEBO hikers at the RV park, B-ham and Carlos. They knew a trail angel that had offered to give[…]

Saturday July 16th, 2022, 0700-1800Lower Ball Lake #2 to US Hwy 1, WEBO mm 251.2, Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains26 miles, Gain 3640′, Loss 8160′, elevation 2100 We had a big day ahead if we wanted to get to town. I was almost out of food, so I didn’t have a choice. This coming on the heels of one of my most exhausting days ever…I didn’t get my normal early start, to say the least. On the way out, I checked the upper Ball Lake, only to find all the campsites still covered in snow. Good thing we’d come to the lower lake first. Later I met 2 local hikers\fishermen that said that even lower Pyramid lake had been frozen over just[…]

Friday July 15th, 2022, 0610-1930Trail 37 to Lower Ball Lake #2, WEBO mm 277.3, Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains12 miles, Gain 4600′, Loss 3300′, elevation 6620 The big day had finally arrived, what’s commonly thought of as the PNT’s ‘right of passage.’ There’s no trail on the western side of the Selkirks to connect to trails on the eastern side. So a PNT thru hiker has to bushwhack through this section. As I’d found out on a 3.5 bushwhack south of Republic, going even a short distance can be just awful. These northwestern forests are incredibly dense, cluttered with an understory of fallen trees, tangled willows and brambles. Sometimes just traveling 10 feet is an undertaking of epic proportions. Lions Head is[…]

Thursday July 14th, 2022, 0600-1900Shedroof Divide to trail 37, WEBO mm 293, Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains 29.4 miles, Gain 4380′, Loss 5160′, elevation 5330 We were both off early, anticipating a long day. I have a hard time finding others that can, or want to, keep my pace but Wolverine was game. She’s a very fast hiker and willing to get up early. We had a ways to go along the ridge and then down Jackson creek. I’d been warned by a trail maintenance volunteer that this part of the trail had lots of blowdowns, which was true, but didn’t slow us down much. It just becomes common place after awhile. In the valley, we entered a beautiful forest of old[…]

Wednesday July 13th, 2022, 0620-1800Sullivan Creek campground to Shedroof Divide, WEBO mm 330.5 Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains 24.1 miles, Gain 6600′, Loss 2960′, elevation 4544 My campsite was so perfect, soft and with the stream drowning out all other noise. On my way to the pit toilet in the morning, I saw a hiker walking by. I ran out to say hi, realizing it was a guy we met in town the day before. He’d approached us in the park but I didn’t catch that he was also an EABO PNT hiker. His name was Maverick and he was Dutch. He was only doing a section hike and had been skipping around some. The morning was an easy roll down the[…]

Tuesday July 12th, 2022, 0620-1930Flume Creek Rd to Sullivan Creek, WEBO mm 350.5 Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains 9.7 miles, Gain 1000′, Loss 1200′, elevation 2450 I really had to convince myself to get out of my tent in the morning. The 100 some mosquitoes outside my door were slowing me down. I packed everything I could inside, then braved the music. I neglected to attach my gaiter over my shoe and in the short time it took me to fold my tent, they found that one vulnerability…like Russian hackers. They were even biting through my R1 fleece. I thought once I was moving fast on the road they would drop off, but no. They followed me the full 5 miles into[…]

Monday July 11th, 2022, 0730-2030Cedar Creek rd to Flume Creek Rd, WEBO mm 360.2 Segment 3 Selkirk Mountains 27.3 miles, Gain 5500′, Loss 5000′, elevation 2625 I heard some loud crashing noises overnight, but figured they could be any number of things. Then at 4:45 am, I heard footsteps that didn’t sound like a dog…too lumbering. My thoughts were on a large herbivore but I watched as a gigantic black figure glided past the front of my tent, 6 feet away. It wasn’t Chica the dog, much bigger, if that was even possible! I was grabbing for my bear spray as a full sized black bear casually passed without even a glance in my direction. It was already just past when[…]