Bikepacking the Gallatin, Montana
Late night visitor
Smoke blanketed Montana and northern Idaho from a fire three miles north of Bozeman burning 8000 acres in the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Heading north from Salt Lake City to Bozeman visibility was reduced to about a half mile. Strangely the thick smoke didn’t seem to smell much.
It was dark by the time I reached Bozeman. For a split second I thought I forgot my helmet. Then I remembered I did forget my helmet. I knew this trail wasn’t a walk in the park so I stopped by Target to pick one up and drove the final stretch to the trailhead.
Up early and I was greeted good morning by a dense array of conifers towering over the small car park. I loaded up and hit the trail. Early on there was some oncoming traffic but as the trail climbed through the forest rider numbers dwindled. Most of the morning was spent climbing. I clocked some decent miles and by the time lunch rolled around I had an opportunity to hang out by a huge lake. I stalled a little during lunch knowing I had about 5000ft to climb this afternoon.
The trail is relentless, loose gravel and rocks and there’s no reprieve from the ascent. My GPS reveals i’m climbing on a 14% grade. By the last 1000ft which is mostly above alpine, I resort to pushing but it’s not long before I reach the saddle at 9836ft. I stop for a selfie on the saddle before eyeing off the trail for the descent.
Descending through a handful of switchbacks off the top of the saddle the trail continues down in to some fast singletrack whipping through the forest. The sun threatens to disappear below the mountains as I continue down speeding up the process I decide to find an open area and setup for the night.
With approximately 15000ft of climbing total I packed light. My shelter doesn’t even have a floor. After setup and dinner I head to bed about 8pm and lay awake as the wind blows my shelter around and whistles through the surrounding trees but I eventually drift off.
It’s extremely dark when i’m woken by the loud bang of my bike being knocked over. I faintly hear rummaging around and soon after a rustling through the long grass right outside my shelter. My heart is beating so hard and although I was trying to be quiet, I swear I could hear my heart beating. As quietly as possible I reach my hand out of my sleeping bag and stretch toward my bear spray. I’m trying to regulate my breathing and at the same time hearing snorting and sniffing around just outside my shelter. I use my thumb to flick the plastic safety off the canister and I hold the bear spray at the ready for what seems like an eternity. The rustling eventually disappears and although i’m still on high alert, I eventually assume my visitor has left.
Climb time
Another day, another ridge. Day two saw me reach the top of Telephone Ridge. The way up, the trail winds through big healthy, densely populated pines. Although, this changed once I reached the top. From the ridge down into the valley below, burnt out pine tree skeletons defying gravity are littered across the landscape. Many still standing, many more unable to stay standing any longer. The zombie pine skeletons mixed with the smoky situation made for quite an eerie feeling.
It’s a rowdy descent down double track off the top of Telephone Ridge. It’s rutted, loose and plenty of dead trees cross the trail. Hard on the brakes I lose vertical rapidly before eventually bottoming out in the canyon. It feels like a day of climbing for minutes of downhill… and just like that, we’re on the climb again up to Hyalite Ridge.
