Lucy Ondo

August 7, 2021, to August 10, 2021

Hyojin, my niece, joined me in Lincoln after flying into Helena and taking an uber to Lincoln. It was Hyojin first backpacking expedition. The plan was to hike to Benchmark and through the Bob Marshall Wilderness to East Glacier where Hyojin was returning home while I was planning to continue alone through Glacier National Park on the CDT.

We hiked out of Rogers Pass and spent all day hiking uphill. We camped as soon as we neared the top dropping off the trail to a flat spot for our tents. It was an interesting night. Hyojin heard a large animal near our tents, perhaps a bear or deer. I was in the habit of leaving my socks hanging between the tent and the fly to air out in the night. During the night some small critter took one of my socks, a first for me. Lesson learned, never leave your socks outside of the tent.

We experienced a beautiful sunrise in the morning. And then we soon started seeing large grizzly bear tracks and bear scat along the trail, both extremely large prints and baby bear prints. We both carried bear spray but it was unnerving to observe. However we did not see or hear bear activity.

Hyojin slipped on this loose rock going downhill soon after this photo was taken and her knee started to become painful.

Our second day was an interesting combination of trouble. By mid morning it was hot. When we arrived at a lake that was shown to be a year around water source, the lake was absolutely dry. We were both out of water so we had to go off trail in search of water. After much searching in every nearby green cranny within 2 or 3 miles we located a small barely dripping spring and loaded up our water bottles.

We began the long accent of the next mountain refreshed with water but overly warm. As we climbed, the clouds descended and it began to sprinkle slightly. Being hot at first it felt good and neither of us stopped to put on rain gear. By the time we reached the top the rain was falling heavily. We put on the rain gear over our wet hiking clothing. Suddenly we were on a ledge with high wind gusts and heavy rain blowing sidewards. The strong wind was difficult to walk forward into but we needed to get off the ledge and were forced to ease our way forward and off the long ridge cautiously leaning into the wind to keep from being blown off.

Once back in a valley, we stopped and put up our tents for a dry place for lunch in the steady. Hyojin smartly only put up her fly. I was wet and cold and made the decision to put up my entire tent and fly. I made hot tea to help stop my shivering. I was close to the point of not being able to go forward.

After lunch Hyojin pushed me to pack up and try to get our miles in for the day. My tent was completely wet and I loaded it on the outside of my pack. By the early evening my water proof gloves were entirely wet. We made it to a creek as we completed our 17 miles and decided to cross over before camping.

I had to set up a completely wet tent and make the best of it by stripping off the wet clothing and getting in my base layer which serves as my pajamas. Luckily I was cozy in my sleeping bag on the full size NeoAir sleeping pad. Hyojin had a dry tent but was cold because she had purchased a sleeping bag recommended by a REI salesperson and was finding it unsuitable for the cold CDT weather. Under the circumstances I slept well. Hyojin slept little and was cold the entire night.

First thing in the morning we had to cross another creek, so much for keeping our feet dry in the morning. My hiking pants and shirt were still wet and I hiked out of camp in my base layer/pajamas. We did have intermittent sun breaks during the day and we stopped each time the sun came out to dry out our gear.

It was a day of stepping over grizzly bear scat and seeing grizzly marks on the trees, but again no bear sightings.

Dinner time on the trail.

Long day, early night in a burn area.

Early morning of our 4th day. Planning to make it to Benchmark Wilderness Camp. Hyojin’s knee is swollen and she is having trouble walking although she still manages to hike faster than me.

Because we are eager to reach Benchmark today, when Hyojin makes a pit stop, I hike on being the slower paced hiker.

After a few miles, the CDT takes a 90 degree turn off the trail to cross a river and go over the last pass before the Benchmark cut off. I stop at the river waiting. When Hyojin fails to appear I walk back a couple of miles. No Hyojin. From the GPS I see that the trail going straight is a short cut to Benchmark and assume she missed the cutoff and will realize her mistake and keep going. Because I am hiking the CDT, I stick to the CDT. After crossing the river the way up the Pass is covered in blowdown. When I reach the top, I start hiking full speed so that I can reach Benchmark as quickly as possible.

A couple of hours later, I meet two forest rangers on horseback with mules carry equipment to clear the blowdown. I tell them I have become separated from my niece and am worried about her since she is having trouble with her knee. I ask them to let her know they have crossed me should they run into her. These are the first humans seen on the trail since crossing paths with a lone hiker on the first day shortly after starting the trail.

Taking no breaks and not stopping for lunch I reach the cutoff early and road walk to the ranch arriving about 4:00pm. There is no one around. No Hyojin. I am tired from hiking and crossing the rivers and decide to rest before hiking back to the trail. There is a note for me from Darwin, owner of the ranch, saying he will arrive from a packing trip to let us into our cabins. I wait and wait.

When Darwin arrived, I asked him to drive me the 2 miles back to the trailhead so I can hike back to find Hyojin. I explain I cannot face my family if I have lost my niece. He agreed and we loaded into his truck and headed back up to the trail. Soon we see Hyojin walking toward us. It is a happy sight!

It turns out she did not realize her mistake and had gone 2 miles down the wrong trail, then turned back to the CDT and had rushed to catch up with me. When she came upon the rangers, the young and extremely handsome lead rangers wearing sunglasses and with a very serious expression had stopped his horse and simply asked “Are you the niece?”

After we checked in and showered we met up to make a decision about whether or not to continue the hike. I was worried about Hyojin’s knee being swollen. We had resupply for 8 days it would take to arrive at our planned destination, East Glacier, but each had extra food in our resupply as there are not restaurants or food service at the wilderness ranch.

The decision we faced was to slow our pace and take 10+ days to hike to East Glacier which Hyojin was willing to attempt. I was worried about not only her knee but I doubted my own ability to carry 10+ days of food as 8 days is my maximum carry. We finally decided it was best to return next year for the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We hitch into East Glacier where Hyojin took the train to Seattle and on the Portland to return home. I took two zero days to arrange the permit to hike on through Glacier park on the CDT alone.

I explained to Hyojin she had experienced many of difficulties of a thru hike in four days: Losing the trail, extreme cold weather and rain, not checking the GPS at trail turns getting misplaced, running out of water, hitchhiking.