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tdg119
Social climber
Northampton, PA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 20, 2013 - 04:48pm PT
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I was going through Matt's house. I forgot what a minimalist he is. Drawers and shelves all filled with gear and maps, photos, climbing books. Stack of MacGuyver DVDs. Makeshift closet from shelves and PVC pipe.
Anyways, I found a trip report he'd written up from 2006 - retyped it for perspective into how his mind works. Coincidentally, towards the end his car was in the shop. Just keep in mind this was 2006; his skill is obviously improved, his line of thinking however is probably in line.
Summer Trip 06’
6/17/06 – Stopped up at my parents for breakfast, then took the scenic route through Hazleton to 80. Got in the zone and followed 80 to Chicago (Mistake!! 1 ½ hours and $4.00 in tolls to get across the city. Still, it was cool seeing the skyline and Great Lakes.) Switched to I90 and continued until exhausted. Tried to stop at a rest area in WI to sleep, but it was too loud and buggy. Ended up at a stop along the Mississippi in MN. It was the best rest area I ever slept in – quiet and bug free (amazing considering the river was but 50 yds away.)
6/18/06 – Drove to the Badlands – my 3rd time there. I’m still impressed. Parked at the pig dig (NOBODY was there even though it’s but a half mile from the main drag.) Cooked dinner at the excellent picnic area (can’t believe nobody uses it!) Afterwards, strapped on my pack and headed towards Deer Haven for some BC camping. I saw a deer, found a fossilized hog (or goat?) tooth, and studied a trail of army ants while exploring the ravines. It was a peaceful night. Oh, I also found a 4 foot snakeskin – no marks for a rattle but I’m not sure that part sheds.
6/19/06 – Left the Badlands – had no trouble avoiding Wall Drag and the Corn Palace – and stopped for a run in the Spearfish Canyon. Half the road (1 lane) was closed due to road work, so there was almost no traffic. I caught a side trail that took me up a mountain, but it wasn’t nice for running – tall weeds and downed trees. Not a good combo in rattler country. I took interest in the road work – one guy scrapes along cracks, another cleans out the dust, a 3rd fills with tar, and a 4th rolls TP over it. Continued W after running, and spied the Bighorns around Buffalo, WY. The snowcaps sucked me in, so I headed W along 16 to Tensleep Creek, and shot up a forest road towards the trailhead for Clad Peak. Stayed at the 2nd CG from the trailhead. Only 1 other vehicle was there. The CGs above and below were full.
6/20/06 – Went for a run before strapping on my pack and heading for Mistymoon Lake. It was an easy 6 mi hike, and I camped next to a rocky outcrop above the lake – the ideal camping spot in good weather (a T-storm might’ve convinced me otherwise.) Tons of people camp at the 1st lake (Lake Helen) instead. Not me – Helen was loaded with mosquitoes and flies. Anyway – Lacking anything better to do, I climbed a nearby peak (un-named?) for fun. I followed a gentle ridge directly west of my campsite to the summit, then climbed down a rockier, steeper side. The Bighorns are forgiving – you can’t get stuck in a bad spot. Every tough pitch has an easy way out. I figured I put in 18 miles on the day, so I hit the sack early and only woke to the sound of coyotes howling and deer playing on the plateau around my tent.
6/21/06 – Climbed Cloud Peak. It’s a slag, but no moves above 2nd Class. From my tent, I dropped South away from Mistymoon and into the next valley. Follow the regular trail and you’ll soon see small falls way down to your right. Abandon your trail and head directly for the falls, crossing the creek as close to them as possible where it’s rocky and not swampy. There you’ll find a trail that takes you NE up the valley towards Cloud Peak. Eventually, due to rockiness, the trail will disappear and you’ll see cairns. Ignore them. They’re everywhere with no rhyme or reason. The best you can do is pick a relatively direct path to the summit. You’ll have to zig zag to avoid a few snowfields. I tried to cross one but ended up buried to my waist. It was a pain avoiding the fields, but it would’ve been even worse hauling snowshoes along for such short stretches. Anyways, going up I followed the ridge as soon as it became accessible. Going down I followed the creek. I’d say the latter was easier. (Surprisingly, I found a large dead buck on my way back down, at over 12000 feet. What was it doing up that high? I’m guessing it ran from a predator, got too high, and broke it’s legs on the loose rock. There were piles of poo all around suggesting the deer had been in that spot for a while. Yet, the poo didn’t look like deer poo – more like bear poo. But it could’ve been deer poo that clumped.) The summit was cool – I’m used to more rounded summits, but this one dropped a thousand feet off one side. It made me dizzy to look. There’s a register at the top, but in poor condition. The last guys to climb it before me were part of a NOLS course on the 18th. The trip to the summit and back was roughly 12 miles from camp. Much of the route involved rock hopping (I see-sawed some refrigerator sized rocks – LOOSE!), so it was one of the more exhausting peaks I’ve done. I slept well that night.
6/22/06 – Hiked out – saw tons of deer, some bucks with felted antlers. Dropped back down to the prairie (I hate that drive! 25mph hairpin turns with an 8% grade!), headed north, then back into the Big Horns along 14W. Picked up 60 yr old hitchhiker Max with his 100lb pack. We had an interesting conversation. He was born in Shamokin and now lives out west, drifting to where jobs are. I caught him near the tail end of a trip from El Paso. He told me to always make a difference. After dropping Max off, I set up camp in the Bald Mountain CG and went to check out the Medicine Wheel – a sacred mountaintop pilgrimage site for Native Americans. It was cool to walk in the steps Indians have for centuries. Upon returning back to camp, I went running up Bald Mtn (having to walk the steep parts). Running along the top ridge was cool – all grass and excellent views to the desert 6000 ft below. There’s a USGS marker at the true summit.
6/23/06 – Set off for the infamous falls hike. The guidebook puts the falls at 1 mile. Really it’s more like 2.5. I had intended to go the full 11 mile length of the trail and hitch a ride back to my car, but somehow I must’ve missed a side trail and ended up looping back to my car after 2 hours. Next trip I’ll do the full hike (and climb Bighorn Mtn!) Always walk away with a plan for next time. Anyway, I dropped back down to the prairie (another nightmare drive!) and headed North, stopping to check out the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Having seen the battlefield, I don’t know that I blame Custer. I would’ve set out a plan identical to his, although I wouldn’t have been so speedy to attack without knowing how many warriors would rise to meet me. Leaving the Bighorn, I headed North, then West, then South to Red Lodge, where I camped out behind a log cabin looking motel. The owners (Larry and Pat) are really nice, and I wanted to camp here because it’s in town, yet I would’ve done better to hit up a USFS CG closer to the Beartooth pass. I spent a long time talking to a retired teacher/admin from Mobile, and went out for a buffalo burger. The teacher told me good folks are everywhere, you just have to look.
6/24/06 – Ran the Beartooth 8.2, which rose 2000 ft (7000-9000) up the pass. It was tough – nearly 71 min. Managed to finish 20th out of ~ 120. The competition was stiff, but I could’ve pulled off a top 10 finish if I was in marathon shape. Tried to hike the Sylvan Plateau in the afternoon, but a T-storm turned me back a mile shy. Spent the rest of the day relaxing in town and making plans to head to Granite. Almost forgot – on the bus back from the finish, spent time talking with a HS runner from Billings, her dad, and her dad’s friends. Ended up her dad’s friend (girlfriend?) graduated from Twin Valley. Small World. The HS girl told me she loves registering for races because it gets her out of bed, keeps here away from the TV, and let’s her have a cool time with cool people in cool places. I need to bring back a lesson from all these people I’m meeting – my school world seems like the whole world but it’s not. I feel my world is negative and I need people like this around to make it positive. Had Chinese & a beer for dinner and went to bed.
6/25/06 – Grabbed breakfast at the motel. Read the paper and noticed that MT speeding fines are $20-$60. CHEAP! Loaded up and headed to the W. Rosebud Trailhead at the bottom of an MT PPL Hydro Station. Ran into another climber at the trailhead (Derek) and decided to join forces to climb Granite. WE set a blistering pace climbing 5600 vertical over about 10 miles that took us up to Mystic Lake, on the Phantom Trail, then XC across. Froze-to-Death Plateau to the base of Tempest. On the way we spent about 20 min chatting with a hot female ranger – Dereks’s gonna seek her out since they’re both local. We also passed a dozen mountain goats around a set of tents. They crave the salt from piss. I set up camp at the base of Tempest. Derek continued down to the snowbridge (just enough room for his bivy bag.) 3 others were camped near me preparing for their 3rd attempt at the mountain. Another group of 4 came by – they turned around about 200 feet below the summit – blamed route finding. I climbed Tempest at dusk. All those mountains on the plateau are deceiving – totally tame from one side but sheer cliffs on the other. I climbed Tempest’s easy side and was surprised by the ruggedness of the hidden side. Granite seemed to be the exception and was rugged all around. As we walked across the plateau it almost seemed to rise up like the sun until it was hulking above us.
6/26/06 – Got an early start. Had to put on crampons for 2 snowfields on the way down to the Granite/Tempest Saddle. The fields were really narrow (20-30ft) but the snow was bomber hard and a slide could’ve run me a couple hundred years down the mountain into boulders. As usual, my crampons were being difficult, so I decided to stick with the rock ridge rising from the saddle rather than the enormous snowfield below the ridge. I eventually ran out of rock anyways and had to get the axe and crampons anyways, I nearly made a fatal mistake by stepping on a cornice . Luckily an alarm went off in my head. I ended uup in the middle of the big snowfield anyways and found it easy going. An extra strap fixed my crampons. I met up with Derek at the snow bridge – a pike bit his hand in the night. We joined forces again for the final assault. Route finding was key due to the numerous chimneys and ledges. There were definitely some 4+ pitches. We passed about ½ dozen rappel stations, so I was confident we’d get back down. Eventually we hit the summit – no cairn or register, just a Geological Survey Marker. After a snack, we headed back down. Down climbing wasn’t so bad, but you definitely had to pay extra attention to the route and your hand and foot placements. I did two 60-80 foot rappels just for the practice. No problems, but I’m rope sloppy. I got it tangled and such – need to work on that. Before long we passed the other party – it looked like they would be successful. The big snowfield had softened up a bit, so I decided to use the ice axe and glissade down it. Derek tried to do the same, but without an axe. He lost control for about 50 years and barely stopped himself. Wisely he opted to follow the boot pack the rest of the way. Derek had to hike out that day and opted for the Avalance Lake route, so we split ways at bivy saddle. As I traversed back up to the base of Tempest, I saw him running/sliding down the 2000 ft snowfield to Avalanche. He reminds me of myself at 23/24 – too risky! I told him the snowfield covered the Granite Glacier, so there were sure to be some crevasses and such. Luckily he made it OK and covered the 2000 ft in just a few minutes. Aiming back at camp, I read a bit and then parked up camp and headed for the far end of the FTD plateau. After a few hours I reached it, and camped just above the Phantom Trail. Towards dusk I spent an hour or two hiking across the plateau (it was narrow at that point) to look at the cliffs on the eastern side.
6/27/06 – Hiked out and headed back to Red Lodge. Did some laundry, got some coffee, and read the paper, then headed up towards the Beartooth pass. About 12 mi south of Red Lodge I took a dirt road that brought me to the M-K CG. It’s free and adjacent a fast moving steam for water. A thunderstorm came through dropping near pea-sized hail so I read in my tent, later went for a run, water-washed in the river, cooked up a good dinner, then hit the sack.
6/28/06 – Tore down camp and headed further up a rocky rotton road towards a trailhead (Glacier Lake? Sliderock Lake?) Put in an awesome 10 hour hike. The rock was surprisingly solid. Yet, some big pieces moved. Returned to find that rodents had tore into my engine – plug wires, vacuum hose, mostly wire sheathing. Coasted into town and set up camp at the Alpine Motel. Headed into town for an awesome buffalo burger/sweet potato fries at Foster & Logans.
6/29/06 – Woke early, went running. Talked to AIG and got the usual runaround. Grabbed coffee and took my car to Ronnings. They should get to it tomorrow morning. Read a bit at the motel. Wasted time in town – walking, eating, reading. Found internet at a coffee shop in town – 20 min free w/ purchase.
6/30/06 – Same as yesterday – no car yet. Hitched a ride out to the BearTrack and hiked up the Silver Plateau (8 mi roundtrip, 2900 vertical). It’s awesome up there – good mix of pines and open fields. 2 hawks dive-bombed me on the way up – at least it seemed like that’s what they were doing. Saw a black bear digging in a dumpster no more than 20 years away when running – 2 older ladies warned me. Visited the wildlife center and found a jogging/biking trail behind the football field by the creek. Also found net access at the library. Next time – backpack silverrun plateau and bag a few peaks.
7/1/06 – More town. More reading. More net searching. Coming up with a plan. Yellowstone, climb Teevinot (?), Wind River Range, Ring the bells, Arrow, Vestal, Possibly Eulus, Sunshine, and Wisdom, Great Sand Dunes, Jessica & Long s Peak, then home. Still waiting on that car. Got solutions for next time – ??? w/ ammonia, cayenne pepper, dryer sheets, cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil, horse radish, garlic, salad oil (what kind?)
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 26, 2013 - 12:22pm PT
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BUMP
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10b4me
Ice climber
Wishes-He-Was-In-Arizona
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Aug 26, 2013 - 12:27pm PT
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So his original plan was not to come to California?
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 26, 2013 - 01:09pm PT
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that was 2006
This year he specifically came here. And some of his friends (from the other thread) came out here to meet him.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 28, 2013 - 11:47am PT
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BUMP
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 30, 2013 - 12:17pm PT
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BUMP for the long weekend
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Aug 30, 2013 - 01:57pm PT
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Got solutions for next time – ??? w/ ammonia, cayenne pepper, dryer sheets, cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil, horse radish, garlic, salad oil (what kind?)
Bump.
Matt sounds awesome.
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