Lucy Ondo

July 24, 2022 to August 1, 2022

Hyojin and I took on the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in the summer of 2022 starting back at Benchmark after bailing there in 2021. We were joined on this section hike by Shelley. Shelley’s husband, Bill, drove us to Benchmark and dropped the three of us off at the trailhead by Benchmark. Earlier we met up at Shelley’s place outside of Lincoln, MT. We planned to get a few miles in on the first evening after the drive in so the first full day of hiking would be less difficult.

The sun set as we started up the trail.

We camped the first night a few miles in as dusk overtook us. It wasn’t a campsite. We moved brush around to make a flat area to pitch the three tents.

Hyojin, me, Shelley

After the first full day of hiking, on our second night, we camped a few miles before the Chinese Wall. We enjoyed a large campground all to ourselves next to a large rushing creek. It rained during the night. The only rain during this section!

Our first glimpse of the first section of The Chinese Wall after any early morning climb up a steep section. Until this point we passed by or crossed paths with several hiking groups who were hiking in to see the Wall. After reaching the wall we saw only three hikers on the balance of this entire section.

The Wall is approximately 12 miles long and camping is not allowed along the wall. We needed to get to the wall and then walk the length of the wall before we could camp again.

It became exceedingly hot by the third day, well over 100 degrees. We cooled down at every opportunity. We swam in lakes and creeks at crossings during the hot hours of the day for the remainder of the hike.

Meadow with wild onions on the fourth day.

Cold in the early morning.

Because of the extreme heat, one morning we started the trail at 3am. Soon we came upon a steaming pile of grizzly scat, with a trail of pee showing we had interrupted the bear. Shortly we came to a creek crossing and on the far side we saw wet grizzly tracks and splashes as the grizzly crossed in a hurry ahead of us. About a mile down the trail, I heard the bear crashing through the forest as it tried to get away from us. I have always been disappointed I did not documents that pile of poop and the tracks out of the water with my iPhone camera.

After sunrise, Hyojin and Shelley were ahead of me. When I caught up, Hyojin was filming two grizzly cubs in a tree. I explained we needed to make tracks and get out of dodge FAST, not wanting to face an angry mommy bear.

Early in the morning July 31st.

It was so hot I cut the legs off of my favorite hiking pants. I’ll probably regret this.

Looking back at one of our morning climbs.

Hyojin and me at Marias Pass as we start our road walk into East Glacier, August 1st.

A celebratory drink and food in Missoula on our drive home.