Tips for Back-country Adventure

Hidden Lake, Glacier National Park 

I had promised a Facebook friend some tips about back-country hiking in Glacier and thought that such tips might be helpful to others as well.  I need to make a couple of notes before I get started. Firstly, I have a lot of experience in the back-country.  Beginning in my early teens I started running with a group whose idea of a great weekend was to see how far or how long we could go taking as little as possible. This is the group of which I spoke in my Nov 2015 blog entitled Looking Out the Window (1) where we went canoeing down French Creek, through the Allegheny Mountains on a snowy November day.  A lot of people call such skills "survival skills" but most of these skills are really just skills you need to have a really great and fun time in the wilderness. So let's call them 'back-country skills'.  In any case, I have a lot of experience and fairly good skills but I still do not consider myself an expert.  If you go looking for a book about back-country skills, of which I'm sure there are many, be sure the author has more credentials than me. Back-country rangers, wilderness guides and such persons are your best bet.  I'm just going to get you started.  There are also organization and companies that teach you these skills while you have a great adventure under their supervision.

 My good Silva Ranger 

A good sighting compass

I. The first thing that I always do when I'm considering running or hiking a new trail in the wilderness, is research.  Accompanying this is one of the primary skills I believe is important - the use of map and compass. This is the first step of research.  You are safest when you have good maps of the area you're going to be traveling and know how to use the maps and compass. My preference is the topographic map and a good map/sighting compass like my Silva Ranger.  Pamela teases me because I never have less than two compasses with me at any time. As I sit here writing I have two compasses.  When I'm on the trail I have the compass on my Casio Pathfinder, my good Silva, along with what I call a 'sighting compass' in my backpack.  A sighting compass is a must!  A good compass like the Silva Ranger will cost you from $60-100, but, if you spend any time in the wilderness, it will be worth it.

Get good maps. I not only buy good National Geological Survey topographic maps but I subscribe to an on-line map service called Trimble Outdoors (2)  Pamela will tell you that I spend hours studying the maps of the area we will be in. Granted I love just studying maps.  This is the second step of research - study your maps.  After many years of using topographic maps I can now visualize what we will encounter.  But even if you can't identify a mountain from what you've seen on a topo map you will be prepared for difficult climbs and other features. You really don't want surprises.

The third step of research is to talk to a ranger or other back-country person about the trail you are planning to hike.  One of the most common things I encounter when we are working at Sprague Creek is to be asked about trails. My information comes from three sources: (1) I've hiked the trail before and can tell you about it; (2) I've hiked the trail recently and I can not only tell you about it but I can tell you the condition, areas to watch, etc.; and (3) I can share trail information I've obtained from another hiker.  When someone asks about a trail for which I can not provide good, recent information, I send them to a back-country ranger. Knowing the conditions of the trails is their job and they are very good at it. When I was out running trails around the country I would always check in with a ranger to learn about condition, wildlife, and any special situations or equipment needs. When this is a part of your research your contacts can also tell you whether or not the trail you have selected is beyond your skill level. Personally I am very up-front with people about trails that I believe are beyond their skill.  They usually appreciate it.

My pack is always in the truck
and ready to go. 

II. Now that you've done your research you need to prepare. What are you going to need?  This will vary on how long you plan to be gone, etc., but I'm going to address the basic - what I take no matter how short the hike/run might be.

The first essential is my backpack.  You don't have to be 50 miles out in the wilderness to need survival basics. You can be a mile or two from the trailhead and be faced with an emergency that can be handled with the contents of a well stocked backpack.

Let's take a quick look at my pack. It is a medium price Camelbak, in the $100 range. It fits well and I've worn it almost constantly for as much as 14 hours when I ran the 50k Eagle Rock Loop. Fit and comfort are seriously important. Spend the money and get something good. You can see the blue hydration tube in the picture. I have 4L of water in the bladder and will stuff bottles of water in any spare corner.  The top zipper is a small pocket where I carry a compass, pencil and paper, and other small items. The next zipper goes into the largest compartment. In here there is a complete survival kit.  Lists for what to have in your survival kit are easy to obtain so I won't take the time here. Just know you need one. This compartment also holds rain gear, dry socks and any other clothing I might need, tarps, a saw, rope and other items for survival.  In the front zipper there is a large storage area and some mesh pockets. The pockets contain my ResQLink, SteriPen, and other similar items that I want to be able to find very quickly and easily.  The larger area contains a good sized first-aide kit, food and snacks.  You see that I have a back-country tool for cutting fair size branches. (Yes it is a knife. Yes it is legal. But it's like a scuba diver's knife, it is first and foremost a tool.)  You will also notice spring type cleats. I carry them all the time at Glacier. We had 30 inches of snow at elevations above 6,000 ft on June 23rd 2014 and we had enough snow down at 3-4,000 feet to make trails treacherous. My fully loaded pack weighs about 25 pounds.

The second essential is the ResQLink and SteriPen.  Of course, remember, these essentials are not in order of importance. Just ease of presentation.  My ResQLink has both the traditional beacon as well as the ability to send a signal to satellites that are monitored by 200 countries around the world.  With the satellite signal you're not waiting for someone to notice you're late and then start looking for a beacon, but a beacon is better than nothing.  We had a situation last summer at Glacier where two young men decided to climb a mountain well into the wilderness just south of the Canadian border. They did not have either a beacon or a device like a ResQLink.  One of them fell and was seriously injured. To make a long story short,  Rangers had to be sent toward the approximated position from three different directions, because we didn't really know where they were. Not only did we tie up tremendous resources but it took much longer. Had they had a ResQLink we would have known almost immediately after the accident and we could have their position within minutes. In that scenario the longest time would have been for the rescue helicopter to fly to the location.  If they had had a beacon we would have lost a lot of time because we would not have known there was an emergency until they were reported late. Nevertheless the beacon would greatly reduce the time to find them and get the rescue helicopter there.  As it was, without either device, we didn't know that the man had fallen until about 2 pm. Since we had to hike in and search for him we were not able to locate and remove him until almost 11pm.  Thankfully it was light until that late during summer days. Put out the money and get yourself either a beacon or a device like a ResQLink. Again, you don't have to be 50 miles into the wilderness for it to save your life.

The third essential is good and proper equipment.  Pamela and I have seen people out on serious trails wearing sandals and flipflops. They think that just because the trail is frequently used and only 2.5 miles long (one way) that they don't need to be prepared. In my blog about running across the Badlands (3) I told about a family that I found a little more than a mile from the trailhead without map or water, wearing tennis shoes and sandals. They were lost. Besides your backpack, never go out on any trail without proper clothing, good boots, bear spray and trail poles.  Dress for the weather and be prepared for a change. Unless you got a 50% discount, if you paid less than $100 for your boots you probably don't have good boots.  I also suggest getting your boots from a reputable outfitter. They should know how to fit them as well as have the best boots in stock. If you are in Bear country, bear spray should be worn either on the hip or on a back-pack strap going over your chest. It should always be quickly and easily accessible. There is a story we tell visitors about the man who put his bear spray in his back pack, put the pack down to step off the trail and pee . . . . well, you can guess what happened. People laugh but it isn't really funny.  Even when I'm in the campground my bear spray hangs from my hip.  You will notice in the picture that I am carrying trail poles and wearing gaiters.
I believe that one should never do trails without poles. If you look at pictures of international ultra trail runners (50-100+ miles) you will notice that they always use  trail poles. Poles provide safety and stability.  The gaiters are optional but I always wear them because they protect my legs from underbrush and keep dirt and debris out of my boots as well as being beneficial if there is snow.

III.  Now that you're properly prepared and outfitted there is one other thing you should know before you hit the trail - wildlife.  Glacier National Park rules say to stay 100 yards away from bears and mountain lions and 25 yards from everything else.  Since the animals don't know the rules, it's up to you to try to keep the rules.  My grandson, Kieran, and I were approached by a Mountain Goat billy on Mt Oberlin. Kieran said, "we're closer than 25 yards."  All I could say was "we do our best."  I've also ended up close enough to a bear to smack it on the rump, but I didn't get that close on purpose. Sometimes it happens.  The big thing to remember is that the closer you are the more you stress the animal. Try to give them plenty of room. You still get a good experience, modern cameras can do marvels, and you and the animal will part friends.  Make plenty of noise as you hike. DO NOT BE QUIET.  The only people to be attacked by a bear while we were at Glacier in 2015 were two Rangers. They were going up the side of a mountain. There was a strong and very cold head wind, so they had their heads down to keep warm and weren't making any noise. No animal ahead of them was going to smell or hear them. They suddenly found themselves between a bear and her cub.  She knocked one of them down and threw the other up against the side of the mountain. She then took her cub and left. One of them got a cut. Point is, all animals will generally keep their distance from humans and they almost always smell and hear us long before we're in sight. The only exception is the Mountain Lion who is always in predator mode. So be sure to make enough noise especially if you are hiking into the wind. If you find the carcass of an animal on which another animal has been feeding, you are wisest to retreat from the areas as quickly as possible without running.  If you come upon fresh bear or mountain lion skat or indicators of the animal being there recently like the ground clawed up where the Grizzly has been digging Glacier Lilies, you want to seriously consider turning back. All National Parks in bear country have materials to learn about how to safely hike in bear country. Glacier hands a flyer out at the gate. Review such materials before you go hiking.  At Glacier, and probably also in other bear country parks, all staff are required to attend "bear school" ever two years. When you spend as much time as we do in the wilds, you're going to encounter most of the animals. Staff are always happy to answer any questions you might have about the educational flyers.

It may seem like a lot of trouble, but you can make the preparation for a hike in the wilderness an enjoyable experience in itself.  It really is harder to explain it than do it, but even if that weren't true it could mean the difference between having a marvelous adventure or a disastrous experience.  If you take the time to do proper preparation right from the start you will find that it takes less time every time you do it. Nevertheless I still carry a checklist. Complacency spells disaster.

I hope that this primer has given you some ideas, maybe raised questions that you need to ask, and encourages you to go into the wilderness prepared. I promise, it will be a lot more fun.

Good hiking. I wish you a most magnificent adventure!!

(1)  http://oldconservationist.blogspot.com/2015/11/looking-out-window.html
(2)  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/
(3) http://oldconservationist.blogspot.com/2015/11/running-badlands.html