Sure, I’ve.
The Chinese language Wall is a tall, prolonged escarpment positioned within the Bob Marshall Wilderness 85 west of Nice Falls. It’s arguably Montana’s most spectacular landform, so hikers from throughout come to see it, most choosing the twelve-mile lengthy part that looms over the Continental Divide Path (CDT) – The picture above reveals the northern half of that part. Nevertheless, attending to the place the place the picture was taken requires a 21-mile stroll from the Benchmark Trailhead, so for a lot of hikers the wall stays a fantasy. In truth the query I get requested most frequently is “Have you ever ever been to the Chinese language Wall?”. Due to my daughter Amy, I can now give an affirmative response to that query.
Plan B.
Amy took the week off hoping we may do a degree to level hike on a special portion of the CDT. Nevertheless, we have been apprehensive about smoke from wildfires and excessive warmth, plus we weren’t certain how Amy’s canine (TJ) would reply to his first multi-day backpacking journey, particularly one with sparse water sources. So, as a substitute we determined to do an out-and-back hike to the Chinese language Wall that may give us choices, permitting us to make changes if issues went south.
Nice surprises.
Issues went a lot better than anticipated. The air high quality was first rate, it was heat however not sizzling, there was little or no wind, water sources have been plentiful, and TJ had the time of his life. However maybe essentially the most nice shock was how sturdy we felt. We coated 60 miles in three days, together with 30 on the ultimate day – I didn’t know I may do this! Amy and I’ve shared some nice father-daughter adventures over time however this is perhaps the most effective one (up to now). Learn on to see how the journey performed out, or skip to the picture tour now. (picture tour)
Tuesday (21 miles).
We made the 108-mile drive from Helena to the Benchmark Trailhhead and began climbing at 9 am. We wished to comply with the CDT so far as the move beneath Cliff Mountain (21 miles) however reserved the suitable to cease and camp alongside the way in which, 10-15 miles in. That twenty first mile was robust however we reached the move at 7 pm. To this point, so good.
Wednesday (9 miles).
Our reward for doing the 21 miles on Tuesday was that we acquired to see the wall illuminated by the morning gentle – a relentless and spectacular presence as we hiked the subsequent 6 miles. Our goal was My Lake, only a few miles past the scenic 6-mile stretch – once more, we gave ourselves the choice of not going all the way in which to the lake. We totally loved our stroll beneath the wall and simply made the 9-mile hike to the lake, arriving early that afternoon, leaving loads of time to arrange camp, nap, swim, nap, eat, nap, and many others. It was a really stress-free, restful afternoon and night.
Thursday (30 miles).
Our plan was to start out again towards Benchmark on the identical path, pondering we might hike 15 miles, camp alongside the path, after which end the ultimate 15 miles on Friday morning. 9 miles into the day we lunched on the move beneath Cliff Mountain – the place we camped Tuesday night time. Feeling nice, we determined that climbing all the way in which to Benchmark was a risk however reserved the choice of tenting alongside the way in which. We strolled into the Benchmark Trailhead shortly after 8 pm, twelve hours after leaving My Lake. My OnX app learn 29.97 miles, so I walked previous my automotive till the app registered 30.00 miles. It was a enjoyable achievement, and a pleasant end to a wonderful journey!
Beneath: This map marks hikes which were featured on bigskywalker.com up to now, together with a number of in Glacier Park – Choose full display screen to increase, zoom in for extra element, or click on on a marker for a hyperlink to the put up.
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