Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Winter Crossing
February to April, 2008
During the winter of 2008, I did a double crossing of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
I entered at Blodgett Canyon and made a final exit at the mouth of Boulder Creek near West Fork Ranger Station. The total mileage, not counting all the back and forth building of a trail, or the 5 day scouting trip, was approximately 145 miles. Including the scouting trip I was in the backcountry for 40 days.
Click here to go to news release of the March 18th, 2008 trip.
Click here to go to second news release.
Click here (Password access only) and go to March 18th, 16-day crossing, which was between Blodgett Canyon and onto Elk Summit, then Lochsa Lodge. This trip also includes the crossing of the perilous Blodgett Pass on March 21st and 22nd during a heavier than normal snowpack year. Like the Glacier National Park trips of 2006, where the goal was a winter crossing, this trip has gone down as my first attempt. Unlike the six Glacier trips, I will not be repeating the crossing of Blodgett Pass, but will instead continue on from Elk Summit and a completion of the remaining 85 miles, which includes Boulder/Canyon Creeks Pass. Based on what I now have experienced, I am anticipating the travel time to be, like the original time frame, three weeks from Elk Summit to Sam Billings Memorial Campground back in Montana.
One more item about the 16-day trip/crossing of Blodgett Pass: I now possess photos no one has of this area, just like the Glacier National Park winter photos. The reason is simple. These 16 days of travel were incredibly dangerous and extremely trying physically. I lost at least one pound of body weight per day, and I was a long way from being overweight before the trip started. Make no mistake, the remaining 85 miles will be at least as trying and probably substantially harder to accomplish than the March 18th, 16-day crossing.
Click here to go to third news release concerning the completion of the trip.