Day 1: After a wonderfully caffeine infused drive from IF up through Island Park and Yellowstone, I arrived in Gardiner for the classroom day of this backpacking class. I was way younger than everyone else but that didnt entirely surprise me. after going over the route, grizz safety, lnt, etc and discussing gear for a while we finished up in the early afternoon. I drove up to mammoth to walk to absurdly crowed boardwalk for a couple hrs, and then ventured off the well marked trail head less then 200 ft from the boardwalk up the beaver dam trail. Immediately all signs of human life slipped away ... i wonder how many people go to national parks and never even make it 5 ft into actual wilderness? sad thoughts - what would ken burns say?had a great dinner and bozone at the raven in gardiner. crashed hard that night.
Day 2: Met up early and took the YA shuttle into bozeman, where we picked up some stuff at northern lights and had an awesome lunch (clearly fish tacos for me) at la parilla. i want to move to bozeman - freaking perfect place to live. Headed down past red cliff campground, where i practically grew up, and hit the black butte trail head by mid afternoon. hiked in 2.5 miles and passed on very human habituated black bear. hung the enormous amounts of food. early night due to the ferocity of the skeeters.
Day 3: Started early and climbed up to Big Horn Peak - a couple thou of vertical and some awesome views. madison range, taylor-hilgards, lone mtn, the sphinx, all the biggies. long slow day due to the average age of our group but lots of time to stop and take in the views. amazing lunch on the ridge - views for miles and miles in all directions. montana, wyoming, idaho ...bighorn sheep sighting at the top.
dropped into shelf lake about 330 to make camp - took a little side hike up the hill behind the lake toward a radio relay station. wonderful grizz stories that night by jim garry. great nights sleep.
Day 4: Dropped down from shelf lake on the specimen creek trail. pretty short day, no wildlife but good weather and great cloud cover. nice meadow camping, short side hike out to the specimen creek trailhead and back in. tons of wild rasberries and worrtle berries - and a few hucks. quick dip in the freezing stream to wash off. more good stories ... campfire night number one.
Day 5: Another short day, but passing through the Gallatin BMA. tons of bear signs, tons of wolf signs. made camp by noon but decided to take a 9 mile side hike up to high lake. amazing high mountain meadows almost all the way up. awesome country. rounding the corner before the lake we came across 4 wolves - two adults and two of this years pups. they looked at us for a moment and then - gone. such a rush. high lake was gorgeous and then we got a little snow and hail as we descended back into the valley below. started to get cold that night. more cold to come ...
Day 6: Grizzly day! First spotted him a couple miles from where we planned to camp - on an elk carcass. camped only a few miles from the carcass, but in an exposed meadow. On our side hike we spotted him again and followed him for over two hrs. watched him catch a fish, devour it, and move onto grubbing and foraging. totally unbelievable experience. by far the most amazing day of the trip ... but the cold settled in that night. really cold night, all huddled around the campfire. got down to 18 that night - frosty frosty morning. man that coffee was amazing.
Day 7: Great hike through some more grizz country with plenty of bear sign. headed up a ridge through some of the old 88 burn. watched some young sandhill cranes learning how to fly. lunch in a meadow filled with paintbrush. like it was on fire. dropped down into the gallatin valley and camped near the gallatin river. great views of the valley as we dropped in from the edge of the fawn pass trail. probably my fav campsite - gentle sounds of the water really soothed me to sleep more than on any other night. little bit warmer but still a cool night - but man sleep is so great when your tucked deep inside your bag with the hood pulled up and the chill of outside air nipping your nose.
Day 8: Climbed over fawn pass on the longest day - 12 miles. early start and a hot afternoon. fun to descend the pass and drop all the way down into the valley. hiking along the stream all the way down - the most epic day of the trip, where every stream crossing is like heaven for 15 feet. camped around 4 - major skeeters again and a little sketch on the site selection but workable. more sandhill cranes that night.
Day 9: Layover day - but not really for us. Four of us took a side hike up to seplucher mtn. only 10K at the top but still a good push. felt a little sick to the stomach from some shady string cheese but made it. bull elk ready for the rut - still shedding his velvet... what a sight. views were by far the best of the trip. miles and miles in every direction. completely breathtaking. the beartooths, absorkas, madisons. hard hike back down and back into camp. hot afternoon as we crossed some low open meadow. good foot soak in the creek upon our return. great way to end the trip off. 
Day 10: Short hike out to Mammoth. great views of electric peak. sad to leave the wilds, but ready for a burger and a cold beer. what an amazing reminder of our western heritage, the wild country we still live within, and our duty and responsibility to protect such amazing places for future generations, our kids and grand kids. There is no place like home ...
