5 Bob Marshall Wilderness Hikes with Big Rewards

I caught a ride from Great Falls, Montana to the Rogers Pass trailhead with an honest-to-God Air Force nuclear missile technician. It was oddly appropriate—there were so many ways this trip could blow up in my face. I was headed solo into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, a 1.5 million-acre swath of mountainous no-man’s land. The long and steep approach under a crushing two-week load had me worried. Crossing tundra freshly tilled by foraging bears had me worried. I worried about how much I was worrying before I even took the first step.

“The Bob,” as it’s called quite reverently in certain circles, comprises three contiguous wilderness parcels; Scapegoat, Bob Marshall, and Great Bear. Together, they house more than 200 miles of the Continental Divide between Helena, Montana and the southern border of Glacier National Park.

The Route: Bob Marshall Wilderness Traverse

I planned to cut a high route right up the center of it, from Rogers Pass to Marias Pass, hugging the actual Divide rather than the valley-hugging Continental Divide Trail. The trek (estimated mileage: 220, but I knew it would be more) would be three or four weeks, with two resupply stops.

Why tackle such an audacious route, alone? I needed wilderness with a capital W after enduring two long years of chronic pain and four short months recovering from hip-replacement surgery. My passion—heck, my career—had always been serious backcountry adventure, and recently I’d felt benched. Time to get back in the game.

Too much, too soon, too out there? I whispered a not-so-gentle mantra: Quit whining. Keep moving.

Days 1-9

Over the next several days, I routinely shooed bruins off my intended course and fought unforeseen obstacles. Like on the afternoon of day four, when I looked down from the summit of 9,079-foot Flint Mountain over an unexpected set of cliff bands and crumbling pinnacles. It was a dead-end requiring a two-day detour.

Official trails, unmapped trails, game trails, and bushwhacking interweaved. When the route-finding got tough, I oriented by GPS waypoints bomb-sighted on my home computer. These led me through dense underbrush at every saddle and across open ridges occasionally complicated by blowdown. It was slow going, but by day nine, I was growing confident the route would work.

Days 9-11

It’s day nine already? My perception of time warped on long trips like this, shifting from the count of days and weeks to peaks, passes, lakes, camps, and snacks. In fact, I was daydreaming of peanut butter bagels while bashing through chest-high foliage toward Hoadley Creek Trail and my first resupply at Benchmark when a hairy blob the color of dead pine needles stood up from the bushes just ahead. Bear!

Then a scarier sound: the scratch of tiny claws on rotten bark. A cub fired up out of the brush, climbing a trekking pole-thin lodgepole snag, and my heart fell into my boots. I was uphill from Mama Grizzly. That, and her concern for junior was the only reason she wasn’t gnawing on my head. She hummed oddly, the cub plunged obediently in a shower of bark flakes, and the two vanished in a fade-out of crashing noises.

I moved on—fast—and rolled into Benchmark Wilderness Ranch two days early, overnighting in their 1921 cabin—all dark wood, cast iron, mounted heads, and whiskey left by previous guests. Beneath six Hudson Bay blankets, I snored for 12 hours as heavy rain pounded the roof. The night’s mantra: No whining. No moving.

Days 11-20

Two days later, and I couldn’t get back to the Divide atop 8,164-foot Scarlet Mountain. Too steep. Of course, scenery this stunning and solitude this deep shouldn’t come easy. I headed through the forks of Ahorn Creek on trails ravaged by a 2010 fire to regain the continental rooftop farther north and camped, exhausted, on a tiny patch of tundra beneath Junction Peak. The bighorn sheep clinging to the side of it looked at me like I was the first human to ever bed down here. Who knows? The next day brought a fine gable-walk along steep ridge crests, until I was forced to thread my way down hairy, gravel-covered ledges to reach White River Pass. A new maxim formed: Pay attention! Crawl if necessary!

From White River, I went cross-country on game trails, seeking a way up the famous Chinese Wall, a 40-mile-long, 1,000-foot-high cliff that formed the Bob’s scenic centerpiece. I wanted to walk atop it, not beneath, but as I scanned the ridges, imagineering a way, a huge smoke column mushroomed over the Flathead Alps one ridge west. Driven by high winds, the wildfire cranked up quickly. Alarmed by smoke overwhelming my position, I abandoned ridgeline ambitions and boogied north until I struck the Chinese Wall Trail, a roughly 18-mile track, overlapped by the CDT, that snaked along the base of the wall’s central section. After three days of tense route-finding, I was happy to stroll the hardpack beneath the dark, 1,000-foot cliffs, ogling meadows growing thick with Indian paintbrush so red I had to squint.

Days 20-26

Day 20: My pack felt weightless, my legs spring-loaded. If one measured wealth by alpine views, I could retire that moment and live like a king. Dean Lake at mile 155 is heaven. Pikas squeaked from the shorelines, and the water was dead still. I chilled my feet, staring at mirrored versions of immense Pentagon Mountain, an imposing, cliffy pyramid with ridgelines that spread like arms to embrace the lake basin.

Three days, 22 miles, and one resupply later, I ascended tributaries of the Teton River’s North Fork to fogbound passes beneath Corrugate Ridge. The weather was cold, and the peaks hidden by low clouds, as I threaded the narrow corridor of Gateway Pass and dropped through Big River Meadow. On the East Fork of Strawberry Creek, about three days from my finish at Marias Pass, I surprised a Montana Conservation Corps trail crew. “We hardly ever see hikers,” smiled foreman Case Dunn. I lingered for hours at their camp, trading stories and gorging on their Oreos and fresh cherries. The crew was excited about the route I’d followed. “Sounds bigger and badder than the trails we work on,” said one. I smiled inwardly: I’m back in the game.

Big Rewards, Shorter Hikes

Get the best of the Bob in a week or less.

Three Sisters: Best Wildlife

Distance: 76 miles

In mid-summer, elk herds make a home of the high ridgelines north of Redhead Peak and the Three Sisters. Why? It’s so tough to access that hikers and hunters rarely go here. From Gibson Reservoir, take the North Fork of the Sun River and Rock Creek Trails to Spotted Bear Pass. From Spotted Bear, climb cross-country over Redhead Peak and across the Three Sisters. Descend off the east ridge of the northernmost Sister to elk trails that drop to the headwaters of Three Sisters Creek. From there, climb to broad, campable flats atop the divide. Spin to return.

The Chinese Wall Trail: Best Views

Distance: 65 miles point-to-point

This hike follows the base of the Chinese Wall, a 1,000-foot-tall, 40-mile-long escarpment. From Benchmark, due west of Choteau, cross South Fork of the Sun and hike six miles up to a bridge over the West Fork. From there, hike up the West Fork on the Chinese Wall Trail. Head north for a day to Larch Hill Pass, My Lake, and Spotted Bear Pass. From Spotted Bear, drop southeast down Rock Creek to Gates Park Guard Station. There, cross the North Fork of the Sun and climb east up a creek and over a pass to Headquarters Pass trailhead.

Dean Lake: Top Campsite

Distance: 36 miles out and back

Even the best short hike in this wilderness is big—and has a long trailhead approach, too. It’s worth it to reach the best-in-your-life tent site next to Dean Lake beneath the bulky pyramid of Pentagon Mountain. Start from the Spotted Bear River trailhead southeast of Hungry Horse Reservoir. Climb 11.2 miles along the Spotted Bear River to a junction at the base of Pentagon Creek. Then climb the 5.3 miles and 2,947 feet of hairpin turns to Switchback Pass. Drop northeast from the pass to the headwaters of Basin Creek and take an obvious fork 1.5 miles northwest to Dean Lake. (Note: The enticing Basin Creek Trail, shown prominently on USGS and GPS maps, does not exist.)

Headquarters Peak: Best Day Hike

Distance: 10 miles

A hike up Peak 8,789 (aka Headquarters Peak) delivers quintessential Bob views. Begin at Headquarters Creek Pass trailhead and hike 2.5 miles and 1,500 feet to Our Lake. Round the lake on its northern shore and climb west across meadow and talus to a 7,800-foot saddle. Turn south to summit via the steep but nontechnical northwest ridge, staying on its western flanks. On top, peer out at Old Baldy, Rocky Mountain, and the craggy Sawtooth Range.

>> Check out a slideshow of the author’s photos here.