Bob Marshall Wilderness

Swan Range

March 3rd, 2005

Already familiar with the Smith Creek Pass area of the Swan Range, I decided to take a big chomp on what was so far, a low snowpack winter. I got lucky. I spent one night at Camp Two, where the temperature during the night was a clear-sky cold. During the day though, the March sun was on me and warmed my bones very nicely. On Day Two I had nothing but pure warm enjoyment of the view.

The sense of accomplishment, having climbed to near the top of the Swan Range during the winter, was very satisfying. My first year with the MSR Zoid tent, coupled with the rest of my equipment, particularly those Atlas snowshoes, gave me a great illusion of being some kind conquerer. In the end though, the view, the photos, the equipment and my stew in the pot, made for a great 3-day trip to the top of the Swan.

A short time after coming off the trip, the winter snowpack took a big jump. When I again returned in June, right around the summer solstice, large amounts of snow still had not melted off. The months of March and April took our low snowpack winter and turned the tide for us, giving our highcountry an above average layer. A good thing, because we had a hot and dry summer. By August, when I returned to the Albino Basin area, located off-trail and hidden behind Cooney Mountain, our mountains were tinderbox dry.

But in March I slept on a flat that is common to a winter bedroom, and only rarely found during the summer, where the norm is dodging pointy rocks, vegetation, including dead tree limbs. All of them love to leave those neat indentations in one's back. rgl.

Click here to have a look at the photo gallery.