Not a hunting trip, but as tough or tougher 
This was a trip that Tom and I have talked about a couple of years now, but were finally able to pull it off last week. Our route would start on the east of the Divide, following the Sun River drainage, up the North Fork of the Sun, over Sun River Pass eventually dropping into the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and out at Bear Ck (near Essex on Highway 2)- roughly a 100 miles.
The vehicle shuttling is a pain as the distances between the two trailheads by road are great. I met Tom and his wife at the Bear Ck trailhead and then she shuttled us to the Sun River trailhead; when it was all said and done it took several hours. We, joined by Tom’s dog Pepper, took off at noon hoping that in six days, we’d be out.
We made great time Monday afternoon, never having to don snowshoes. Found a great camp site and called it a day.
The next day we still had pretty easy sailing for awhile. We hit snow in earnest not to far up the trail, but it was form enough it let us boot pack until after lunch.
After lunch we started post holing in earnest and quickly donned our snowshoes. Even with snowshoes we were post holing some. We’d take turns leading, but it still slowed us down and ran us down. It soon became apparent that the chances of covering the distance we wanted today, wasn’t going to happen. We pressed on until dark and called it a day.
We got a decently early start, but it started with a cold ford. We brought “wading shoes”, but by the time we got out of them, dried our feet, put socks, boots and gaiters on- it was the last time we did this. We continued our jaunt up the North Fork of the Sun; sometimes with decent snow, others with poor snow.
to be cont'd
This was a trip that Tom and I have talked about a couple of years now, but were finally able to pull it off last week. Our route would start on the east of the Divide, following the Sun River drainage, up the North Fork of the Sun, over Sun River Pass eventually dropping into the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River and out at Bear Ck (near Essex on Highway 2)- roughly a 100 miles.
The vehicle shuttling is a pain as the distances between the two trailheads by road are great. I met Tom and his wife at the Bear Ck trailhead and then she shuttled us to the Sun River trailhead; when it was all said and done it took several hours. We, joined by Tom’s dog Pepper, took off at noon hoping that in six days, we’d be out.
Easy Sailing
We made great time Monday afternoon, never having to don snowshoes. Found a great camp site and called it a day.
The next day we still had pretty easy sailing for awhile. We hit snow in earnest not to far up the trail, but it was form enough it let us boot pack until after lunch.
Not so Easy Sailing
After lunch we started post holing in earnest and quickly donned our snowshoes. Even with snowshoes we were post holing some. We’d take turns leading, but it still slowed us down and ran us down. It soon became apparent that the chances of covering the distance we wanted today, wasn’t going to happen. We pressed on until dark and called it a day.
We got a decently early start, but it started with a cold ford. We brought “wading shoes”, but by the time we got out of them, dried our feet, put socks, boots and gaiters on- it was the last time we did this. We continued our jaunt up the North Fork of the Sun; sometimes with decent snow, others with poor snow.
to be cont'd
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Plus the frequently changing conditions would make it so you’d have to constantly put on and take off skins. I’d love to hear what you’d do differently if you were going to do the trip again.
