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| Backpack | 20.60 Miles |
3,575 AEG |
| | Backpack | 20.60 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 3,575 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The wedding party was now down to 5. Nick and Michelle, the newlyweds, led Greg, Gretchen, and myself onto the Gunsight Trail towards the Continental Divide. The weather was perfect, cool and clear, and the Saint Mary's River valley was green and gorgeous.
We played Trail Haiku, where each person adds a line, to keep the noise going and alert the Grizzlies to our presence and poetic skill.
Reaching Gunsight Lake, we set up camp and ate dinner, hoisting our smelly stuff on the handy pulley system. A light drizzle moved in as we hit the tents and listened to the lapping waves nearby.
In the morning we waited while a Grizzly had a breakfast of berries on the opposite end of a suspension bridge we needed to cross. No one seemed to be in much of a hurry. The rain began to pick up, along with a steady wind.
Finally crossing the bridge, we headed up toward Gunsight Pass as the rain came down for real, slanted by a driving cold wind. By time we reached the shelter at the pass, we were totally drenched and freezing. Huddled inside, we wrung out clothing and tried to warm up. Thinking that getting out of the notch of the pass would provide relief from the wind, we zipped up and headed out and down towards Sperry Chalet.
Built in 1914, the Chalet is about as rustic as they come. Built from local stone and timber, it still has no lights, heat, or plumbing. Our reservation was for the campground, as the rate for a room to sleep 5 was nearly $500.  I have no idea why.
We set up camp in a 32.1 degree rain on ground the consistency of soft serve ice cream, wringing out our socks with numb fingers. Greg was the first to suggest getting a room, but we all agreed that the cost was ridiculous. Being a successful business owner, he had both the resources and the generosity to propose getting a room for all of us. (It may take decades, but I hope to someday return the favor.  )
After a warm meal in the dining building, complete with kerosene lamps and a fireplace, we retired in the dark chalet, hanging our clothes and burying ourselves in mountains of blankets. In the morning the clothes were no dryer, but the weather had cleared and we made our way down the Sperry Trail towards Lake McDonald and our vehicles. World-class scenery tempered by fairly crappy weather, we all agreed.
We drove back for our last night at the Double Arrow, where the dryer ran around the clock as we got toasted in the glass-enclosed hot tub. In the wee hours a car pulled up, it's headlights shining through the huge steamed windows and we did what anyone would have done - climbing from the tub to drop trow and present 5 fine posteriors to our audience.  |
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The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
