View Full Version : Bob Marshall to Glacier via the CDT
The_Saint
03-23-2014, 20:19
Does anyone know the CDT trail mileage to go from the Bob to Glacier? Obviously, depends on where you go in/oout, but just curious as to if I could hit both without hiking over 200 miles. Any help is much appreciated, thanks!
Where the CDT crosses it is about 32 miles. Suggest you get the Cairn Cartographic maps for the Bob. I will be hiking the northern section of the CDT ending at Rt 2 over Memorial Day weekend. Hiked along the Chinese wall last Memorial Day. Great area.
here is the data book for the CDT. You could start at benchmark and hit both the Chinese wall and continue up into at least part of glacier.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9OCXQJroRwVYVpOQkFiOGRPU28/preview?pli=1
From Benchmark Ranch to East Glacier it's about 125 miles, add another 105 mi to Waterton Lake.
That's a great hike Saint! It has many alternates too. Don't be afraid to deviate from the main CDT route in both "The Bob" and Glacier NP. Jonathan Ley's CDT maps gave some of the worthy alternates in both places. Too bad Anaconda has experienced so may forest fires. Anaconda is coming back though. If you navigate it in decent weather and deal with the ridgeline water logistics the Highline Alternate in Anaconda Wilderness is a nice ridge hike too. You get a good amt of exposure though.
As far as starting at Benchmark Ranch, I hit it going CDT SOBO in the rain(I had 5 straight days of rain from E Glacier south to near Lincoln) and hitched a surprisingly easy ride on the improved gravel road near Benchmark Guest Ranch from the first pick up into the tiny very Montana town of Augusta. Got a ride all the way back to "The Bob" hitching along Main St in Augusta within 15 mins too.
Wow, Malto, that's going to be quite a trip! We've had massive snow this year. We're betting the GTTS Rd. isn't going to be fully open until early 26503July this year.
Lake McDonald froze over for the first time since 2007. I took this picture yesterday evening, driving along the north end of the lake, returning from an after-work snowshoeing outing.
The_Saint
03-24-2014, 08:55
Thanks everyone for the thoughts. Does anyone have a specific route they'd recommend in this case? It appears there are several very experienced hikers with the area and I'd definitely take a recommendation to be around 200 total miles. As an FYI, I have done a fair amount of long distance hiking(AT 09, JMT 11, etc.) and am looking for a section on/around the CDT 200+/- miles.
What time of year are you planning to do this? The route through the center of GNP, entering from Canada, has a very limited season. The shoulder season route starts/ends at the Chief Mountain border crossing, and doesn't require a passport because you don't enter Canada.
For the section in GNP, you are constrained by having to get space at backcountry campsites. Availability of campsites can affect your route.
The_Saint
03-24-2014, 09:57
Sorry, should have clarified. Looking around in middle/late August.
Wow, Malto, that's going to be quite a trip! We've had massive snow this year. We're betting the GTTS Rd. isn't going to be fully open until early 26503July this year.
Lake McDonald froze over for the first time since 2007. I took this picture yesterday evening, driving along the north end of the lake, returning from an after-work snowshoeing outing.
I have been watching the snow carefully, looks like about 130%. This year Bob Open goes from the Maria's Pass on Rt 2 to Monture creek on the southern end. The route I have tentative picked with be about 125 miles with several passes. Looking to head NE over to the CDT south of Benchmark then heading directly north through the Sun Valley. I would love to do the Wall again but that is unlikely with the expected snow. Given the longer route I will be giving myself a bit of extra time, 5 days to slog through the snow. May be doing it on snowshoes this year if the snow holds up.
Thanks everyone for the thoughts. Does anyone have a specific route they'd recommend in this case? It appears there are several very experienced hikers with the area and I'd definitely take a recommendation to be around 200 total miles. As an FYI, I have done a fair amount of long distance hiking(AT 09, JMT 11, etc.) and am looking for a section on/around the CDT 200+/- miles.
I would recommend starting at Benchmark and go along the southern part of the wall. You can then chose to either do the northern section on the CDT at or bypass it going up the Sun River. Many in our group last year took the Sun River route and it sounds very straight-forward. If it were me, I would then take the most direct route to Glacier, CDT or not and focus on my time in Glacier. I have not done Glacier so I will let others address that.
another option to consider is a loop with the Bob. Once you get the maps you will easily be able to loop together the countless trails. I wouldn't get hung up on whether it was the CDT or not, frankly the CDT is just another trail of many in there.
The snowpack is really, really hard at lower elevations. We've had periods of intense cold and heavy snow interspersed with warm weather and rain. Every layer of snow has been rained on, then frozen hard. Snowshoes will probably be really helpful, both to keep from postholing, and for traction on ice. On the little outing my husband and I took yesterday, we hit about a mile of sheet ice lightly covered with snow, on steep, sloping terrain. Snowshoes were good, although just plain MicroSpikes would have been better there. Most of the route was hard packed snow. My husband was having problems with one of his snowshoes (which ended up breaking--the shoe separated from the binding when a rivet pulled out) and tried walking without the snowshoes for a while. As hard-packed as the snow was, he punched through often enough that wearing one snowshoe and one binding (for the traction) worked better than just walking.
26508
The Garden Wall in GNP, 3/24/14.
I haven't made it down to the Chinese Wall yet…hopefully this summer...
magic_game03
03-26-2014, 08:34
Oh you [The_Saint] had to stir the pot and start talking about the Bob, didn't you! Now I'm going to have to cut a few days out of my GNP hike-about and go check out the Bob, and the Chinese Wall. Alright Amazon Prime, let's see if you have any Cairn Cartographic maps available.
The Saint--August is peak visitor season in GNP. You should apply early for the backcountry campsites, explaining what you're trying to do. (The early application deadline is April 15th.) The more flexible you can be with dates and routes, the better. If you don't get what you want through the early application process, don't despair. Half the campsites are kept for same-day issuance.
August is the perfect time to be here. Mosquito season is largely over. Snow and water are at their lowest ebb from mid-August through the second week of September. Perilous river fords turn into rock hops. Wild fruit is abundant. The weather is usually dry and warm. Hopefully, given the heavy snowpack this year, the fires won't be too bad.
Oh you [The_Saint] had to stir the pot and start talking about the Bob, didn't you! Now I'm going to have to cut a few days out of my GNP hike-about and go check out the Bob, and the Chinese Wall. Alright Amazon Prime, let's see if you have any Cairn Cartographic maps available.
Last year there was a big fire near the Chinese Wall. A friend who was finishing a NOBO hike wasn't able to go through that area because it was closed. I hope the forest isn't too destroyed. This far north, it takes many years for the forest to recover--at least 10 years for there to be significant tree regeneration, and then they're very small. If you're walking through a zone that burned last year, the soil will still be gray with ash--nasty to walk through and to camp in. For some reason the bugs are worse, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4RKRsnNg_I
One of the fellows I work with during the winter, who works on a trail crew during the summer, made this.