Multi-day overnight backpacking and canoe trips

Our nation’s first official Wilderness was the Gila Wilderness, protected administratively by the Forest Service in 1924 at the urging of legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold. The Big Wild Adventures guided New Mexico hiking tour in the Gila Wilderness is offered every other year. So begin to plan now for 2019!

Our 2017 adventure was led by Big Wild co-owner Howie, with an assist from Big Wild guide Jesse Ford. And it had an international flavor, with Brits Ollie and Harriet plus Michael, a long time Big Wild client from Taiwan. Lisa and Ann rounded out the group. The Gila is the largest forested Wilderness in southwestern North America, a high elevation volcanic plateau with scattered mountain ranges and spectacular river canyons. If that sounds a lot like the terrain in Yellowstone, well, that’s because the geologic similarities with our Yellowstone backpacking trips are real! And despite the southerly latitude, this New Mexico backpacking trip is high above the surrounding desert in a land of towering conifer trees, most notably ponderosa pines. It is a spectacular open grassy forest of huge, widely spaced majestic ponderosas and we walked through it for the vast majority of the trips’ mileage!

The usual spring weather in the Gila is dry, and 2017 was typical. Though there was plenty of water in the streams, we had seven nearly cloudless days with no rain. I slept under the stars all week and never set up my tent! As is also typical, day/night temperature differences in the thin dry air were huge: at least a couple of days saw temperatures rise from the mid-20’s at dawn to the mid 80’s under an intense afternoon southwestern sun! We covered about 45 miles, mostly on good trails and made it to the heart of the Wilderness, as far from a road as you can get in the Gila without beginning to come out the other side. It was big and wild and everyone in this eclectic international backpacking group was a great backpacking companion. We look forward to many more adventures with these great folks who joined us for our 2017 New Mexico backpack trip!

Unlike most of our Yellowstone backpacking trips, our northern Alaska adventures are all off trail, simply because in most of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the only trails are those created by the hoofs of caribou and other 4-legged animals. Also, we access our hiking areas by airplane (we work with a really great bush pilot, Kirk Sweetsir of Yukon Air Service), whereas on our guided Yellowstone hiking tours, we simply drive folks right to the trail head. This years’ Arctic treks were wonderful. Our two early June groups experienced wonderful mild sunny weather for the entire week, with almost no mosquitoes (they typically hatch in mid-June). The three women and I experienced one dinner-time rain shower for about an hour and that was all the precipitation we endured! Spring wildflower blooms on the mountain tundra were spectacular, with hillsides covered by Lapland rosebay (a dwarf Arctic rhododendron with spectacular magenta blooms), Arctic dryad, lupine and many more colorful wildflowers. And over the course of the week the tundra greened up before our very eyes. My group watched for nearly an hour as a grizzly foraged on a hillside directly across a small stream from one of our camps, and we saw a wolverine as we were breaking camp on the last morning. David’s group saw a lot of Dall sheep and caribou and experienced the same wonderful weather, as our hiking routes were not too far from one another, including a few miles of overlap on the last day. The timing was staggered by a day, though, with David’s crew (all from Colorado) beginning and ending a day earlier than mine.

For lucky me, it was back to Alaska late in August for the Custom Trip with the two men from Missouri. One of them had been backpacking in Yellowstone with us a few years ago, and for these adventuresome fellows I planned a route in a part of the Arctic Refuge that I had never visited. We saw caribou nearly every day. Spectacular autumn tundra colors exploded as the week progressed. We ascended and crossed at least 5 different mountain passes, and though the weather was pretty good for most of the week, we began and ended the trek in cold rain. And on the 8th day we were glad when we spotted Kirk’s Cessna approaching the landing area under the thickening lowering rain-clouds. With fresh salmon awaiting at my favorite restaurant in Fairbanks, we were happy to be in the air, though at the same time sad that this wonderful trek had come to an end.

In the far northeast corner of Alaska lies the immense Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the iconic wilderness that is in the news these days as conservationists try to protect this amazing place from Trump Administration plans for massive oilfield development. More on this later.  At 19 million acres — an area about the size of South Carolina with no roads and almost no trails — the Refuge actually constitutes just a portion of a huge sprawling wild-land that also includes the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge and the White Mountains Recreation Area to the south, and two Canadian National parks to the east. All of these protected lands taken together constitute one gigantic unbroken expanse of wilderness! This diverse wilderness of boreal forest, wetland, tundra, mountain and coast is, indeed, our “Biggest Wild,”perhaps the largest and wildest chunk of protected landscape remaining anywhere on Earth!

Since 2001, Big Wild Adventures has run about fifteen 8-day guided backpack treks in the refuge during most, but not all, years. Our next scheduled trek in “ANWR” will be in 2019, though we are always open to the possibility of Custom Trips before that.  I was lucky enough to lead two Alaska adventures in 2017: our Scheduled Trip in early June, and a Custom Trip for two clients, in the latter half of August, which is autumn, not summer, in the mountains of northern Alaska. Because we had two groups for the June scheduled trek, I led one group, and Big Wild guide David Ellis ran the other. In the next blog, I will describe some of the highlights of our 2017 Alaska backpacking adventures.

But first, let’s circle back to the threat of massive oilfield development. I mentioned that this is a “protected” landscape. But Congress can “unprotect” anything, and the current Congress and “President” Trump are planning to open the Arctic coastal plain area of the refuge to massive development. The coastal plain can be viewed as the ecological soul of ANWR, home for polar bears and tens of thousands of nesting waterfowl — and it’s also the calving grounds for the massive Porcupine caribou herd. By the time you read this, political disaster may or may not have struck. But if it hasn’t, please write your Congressional representatives and tell them to oppose drilling and keep the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wild!

You’re on the trail enjoying a Yellowstone guided hiking tour deep in the wild and beautiful Yellowstone backcountry. What began as a clear morning with blue skies and a few wispy cirrus clouds has morphed into early afternoon cloudiness, with big dark-bottomed cumuli bubbling upward toward the stratosphere. The wind is picking up and you can hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Here are a few things that your guide will consider.

First, remember that to some extent avoiding lightening strikes is like rolling the dice. If your number comes up, you’re toast, and there are no guarantees in the wilderness. Yet every good gambler knows how to skew the odds in his/her favor and wilderness travel in thunderstorm weather is no different. Follow a few simple rules and you are extremely unlikely to come to an abrupt electrical ending. First, recall that every 5 seconds that elapse between the lightening and when you hear the thunder represents a mile. So if 25 seconds elapse, the bolt was 5 miles away. Five miles is the threshold at which you need to head toward a safe location.

The following are not safe locations: ridges or summits, even relatively low ones; open areas, especially on ridges or summits but really, just about anywhere that your body would be the tallest object; water; atop a horse or in the mouth of a cave. Avoid these places assiduously during thunderstorms! In addition, avoid isolated trees or small groves of trees. They might act as lightening rods! The “cone of influence” is about twice the distance of the tree height, so get at least that far from the tree/lightening rod. That’s because many injuries and deaths due to lightening are from ground currents near the strike, rather than a direct hit. Again, get off the mountain and as far down into the valley as you can. Valley bottoms are best. Large stands of forest are good, too, as opposed to isolated trees or groves of trees, but don’t stand under the tallest tree in the woods. And if the lightening is very close (minimal time between flash and boom), make sure that only your feet are in contact with the ground, with boots on, crouching like a baseball catcher atop any additional insulation that might be available (pads, clothing, etc.) If you are in a group, spread out, so if there is a hit, some will escape unscathed and be able to perform any necessary first aid or securing of help.  Speaking of first aid, lightening strikes are among the only situations in the backcountry in which cardiac arrest can be reversed via CPR. So if you are in the unfortunate position of organizing triage after a lightening strike, take care of those who appear to be “dead” first. Save other injuries for after you’ve performed CPR! For this reason alone, every outdoors-person should take a CPR class and maintain their certification.

Again, though, if you follow the basic rules outlined above, you’ll probably be safe even in the most severe thunderstorms. Don’t be a goal-oriented climber who just has to reach the summit, despite incoming stormy weather. Safety is mostly a matter of making good choices. Nonetheless, in the wilderness there are no guarantees. And in the end, that is one of the great things about wilderness travel.

As previously discussed, thunderstorms are common in the high country. They often seem to materialize out of the clear blue, and that is exactly what they do! That’s because under the right conditions, which are frequent in the summer, a clear blue sky morning can quickly become a stormy afternoon with lots of thunder and lightening. Of course, thunder is lightening. They are one and the same. Thunder is the noise made by the lightening flash, and when you see lightening, you’ll hear thunder after a brief interval, depending upon the distance. Since sound travels at about a mile every 5 seconds, if you count to ten immediately after the flash and then hear the thunder, the lightening was two miles away. If there is almost no time lapse, the high voltage is way too close! The general rule is that at five miles or less, take cover!

Of course, the first warning sign is to get a weather forecast before you leave for your guided Yellowstone backpack trek. If the Weather Service forecasts a 20% chance of afternoon thunderstorms for town (in the valley), then you can easily double that percentage to get your odds for a storm in the high country. Weather forecasts become less accurate with time, so on an extended wilderness trek, after 4 or 5 days don’t expect the forecast you heard back in town to hold up. You’re on your own! The wilderness rules! As it should. And hopefully, you’ve left your electronic communications device at home so you can experience the big wild on its own terms! Yet with a bit of practice and some simple study of a few basic meteorological principals, you can make your own back-country weather forecast. Here are just a couple of ideas to ponder.

Note the humidity. A dewy morning means there might be plenty of moisture for storm formation. If the air feels humid, then it is, and in the relatively dry Rocky Mountain climate, in the summer that usually means possible thunderstorms. Note the nighttime temperature. A cold night usually means clear dry air, but a warm night means moisture and the potential for rain or snow including thunderstorms, depending upon the situation and the season. Cumulus clouds forming shortly after breakfast? That’s a warning sign. Watch their development. If they are soon “bubbling upward”, plan for thunderstorms because those puffy cumulus will quickly grow into big dark cumulonimbus (thunderheads) clouds. In fact, buy a cloud chart and learn the basic cloud groups. Cirrus clouds with “mares tails” can mean upcoming thunderstorms or possibly a major storm front system. Morning alto-cumuli or different cloud types visible at the same time can also foretell possible storms. Forecasting weather when you’re out in the wilds does take practice, but in terrain that often produces violent thunderstorms, it’s an important skill that could possibly save your life. In the final installment of this 3-part series, we’ll look at what you should do to maximize your safety, once you are actually in a thunderstorm in mountain wilderness.

Thunderstorms are a part of the wilderness experience in most high mountain regions during the warmer months of the year. This is certainly true in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which includes Yellowstone National Park and  surrounding mountain ranges such as the Absarokas, Beartooths, Wind Rivers, Tetons, Gallatins and Gros Ventres.

A couple of geographic/meteorological factors are responsible for most thunderstorms in this unique highland region. First, the GYE is a very expansive highland of alpine mountains and high plateaus, rising well above the much lower grasslands, croplands and sagebrush steppes of the surrounding terrain. The expansive upland forces moist air to rise and condense into clouds, regardless of the direction from which the moist air arrives. Moist Pacific fronts and air masses and moist subtropical air flow can each produce sudden, sometimes violent thunderstorms when the moist unstable air is forced upward by the terrain. There’s an old saying that “mountains make their own weather”, and although highlands do so in many ways, orographic lifting (air masses forced to rise over high topography) in conjunction with convective daytime heating is probably the most typical example of thunderstorm formation in the mountains. It also facilitates cloud formation and precipitation during other seasons in addition to summer thunderstorms, so in general, the high country climate is cooler and wetter than that of the surrounding lowlands.

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, there’s another important factor in thunderstorm formation. Most summers, a true monsoon develops over Mexico and the American Southwest, bringing moist tropical air from the Gulf of California, the Gulf of Mexico and the subtropical Pacific into the region. Typically, this moist flow brings daily scattered but intense thunderstorms during July, August and early September to Arizona, New Mexico and the mountains of Colorado. But occasionally, the monsoon continues north into western Wyoming and southern Montana. It often drifts far enough to the east to miss most of Idaho and far western Montana, resulting in drier summer for the Bitterroot Range and neighboring areas. When the monsoon does drift to the north and east, the orographic effect of the Greater Yellowstone highland facilitates cloud formation, and boom! Before you know it the temperature has dropped 20 degrees and you are cowering in the trees, trying to stay warm, dry and non-electrical! Yes, those picturesque puffy white morning cumulus clouds in the deep blue sky sure look innocuous. But they can grow into massive thunderheads before you can say “head for cover!” In the next installment, we’ll discuss some signs of thunderous danger and then we’ll look at some of the best ways to avoid getting zapped by lightening while backpacking in Yellowstone and adjacent mountain ranges. Stay tuned!

The Big Wild Adventures Clothing/Personal Gear List instructs our clients to utilize a time-proven layering system for warmth and safety in mountain environments, or, for that matter, in any area where cold wet conditions are possible. Begin with wool or synthetic long-johns (top and bottoms) that wick moisture away from your body. The next layer is a loose-fitting wool shirt or fleece pullover, followed by a warm insulated jacket and then a good quality breathable 2-piece rainsuit. Don’t forget the ski hat, gloves, and wool socks, either. Buy outdoor clothing that’s loose fitting, especially outer layers that will go over the inner layers. Tight cloths might be fashionable in town, but in the wilds tight layers compress and therefore don’t insulate well, while looser layers don’t compress and also form air pockets for extra warmth.

Note the sky. Pay attention to your guide’s warning that cold wet conditions are on the way. Remove your cotton T-shirt and get your additional layers and rain gear on before the storm! Cotton is great in hot weather, but it will sap your body heat if you are cold and wet, so put it in your pack until conditions change. It is also important to regulate your layers regardless of the weather, in order to minimize sweating. So wear appropriate layers, but don’t overdress. Being soaked with sweat is no way to enjoy a sudden storm! Wet is wet regardless of the source, and in cold weather wet is bad! Of course, getting out of the open and into the trees or maybe into some protected topography is also important, and our guides will always look for sheltered areas during storms. But sometimes there simply is no nearby shelter, and in such situations common sense and quality mountain clothing will do the job of keeping you warm and safe. With today’s modern outdoor fabrics, there is no excuse for getting hypothermia. But your clothing is only as good as your ability to use the layering system properly and to get the proper layers on before all meteorological hell breaks loose!

Hypothermia is the lowering of the core body temperature below 98 degrees F (98.6 is considered “normal”). Feeling cold is the obvious first symptom, followed by shivering and then by a loss of coordination and eventually reductions in the victim’s “level of responsiveness”. When the shivering stops (unless it stops because the person has warmed up), that means the patient has declined into severe hypothermia and the situation is potentially life-threatening! There are various medical reasons why one’s body temperature might drop, but for our purposes as a wilderness backpacking guide/outfitting service, weather conditions and our response to them are primary. On our Yellowstone guided hiking tours, hypothermia is a serious concern because Yellowstone is known for sudden weather changes, including cold wet storms with rapid temperature drops.

Because we lead very few trips in true winter conditions, hypothermia situations such as that which Jack London depicted in “To Build A  Fire” are not really relevant. It will not be 40 below zero on a Big Wild trip, and it is unlikely that any of our treks would be exposed to really extreme temperatures. Nonetheless, overnight lows occasionally fall into the single digits on a September Yellowstone backpacking trip, and even in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, an April morning in the teens is not unusual. Both of these examples typically occur at altitude, in clear dry weather with little wind on days that rapidly warm once the sun is up. Yet despite Jack London and despite Yellowstone’s cool climate, severe cold is not usually a big worry, so long as you stay dry. That’s because subfreezing temperatures are obvious and folks tend to bundle up. Yes, I’ve seen clients emerge from their tents in shorts and t-shirts on 30-degree mornings, but they usually self-correct rather quickly. So clear, cold, dry weather is not hypothermia weather. But wet weather is. Particularly when the temperatures are in the 30’s to 50’s! That’s when most backpackers get into trouble. Add wind to the equation, especially in exposed open country, and a blowing rainstorm at 45-degrees F. is a recipe for hypothermia. The next installment will summarize some simple ways to avoid it.

In the previous installment, I discussed some of the basic principles of Acute Mountain Sickness, or AMS for short (the medical field loves acronyms). I also mentioned that most of our clients on our Wyoming, Montana and Yellowstone backpacking trips come from near sea level, which means they need to acclimate. Fortunately, there are a number of relatively simple things folks can do to help assure a relatively painless transition into the realm of thin mountain air.

First, adjust your travel schedule! Plan to arrive in Wyoming or Montana the day before the day of the evening pre-trip safety/orientation meeting. So if the first day of the trip is the 4th, plan to arrive on the 2nd, if you can. We often meet our groups in Jackson, Wyoming (elevation 6,200 feet) or Bozeman, Montana (elevation 4,600 feet), so by arriving early you can begin to put a dent in that initial 48 hour period when your body rapidly acclimates. Of course, on the trail you’ll still be higher than in town, but arriving an extra day early will help!

Out in the wilds, your best defense against AMS is to drink lots of water. Hydrate! Good hydration speeds the physiological adaptation to thin air. Carry as much water as you can — in your belly, not on your back. In addition, it is a good idea to “hike high and sleep low” at least for the first 2 or 3 days, though that is not always possible, depending upon the route and the trip plan. Sometimes camp is at the high point of the day, so again, your best defense is to drink lots of water. If you have a headache, a normal dose of ibuprofen will usually do the trick. Medical tests have also proven the value of “Pursed Lips Breathing” (PLB) to improve oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange at altitude. You simply purse your lips and breathe in, then you quickly “blow out the candle at arm’s length”. And repeat. Of course the simple common sense act of slowing down your hiking pace early in the trip, is an obvious no-brainer.

For those who know that they have a severe susceptibility to AMS, there is always the pharmacist. After all, this is America and people expect a drug for every malady! And in the case of AMS, there is at least one. It is called Diamox, and it is a prescription drug that can be taken prophylactically in order to speed up the acclimation process. And it works. Possible side effects include increased urination, so of course, this means that you’ll have to drink up even more to avoid dehydration, but again, the stuff works. There may also be other such products available about which I am unaware. But if you know from past experience that you have trouble at altitude, please consult your physician.

See you in the high country!

Most of our Yellowstone backpacking treks are at altitudes of 6,000 to 9,000 feet, where the air is thin. Some of our Montana backpacking and Wyoming backpacking trips are at even higher elevations, beginning at trailheads of 8,000 to 9,000 feet with some hiking routes even topping out around or above the 11,000 foot level! Which means that because most of our clients live at or near sea level, we typically expect them to experience some shortness of breath for the first couple of days. Sometimes there are additional symptoms. There are ways for folks to minimize the effects of backpacking at high altitudes, but first, let’s look at a bit of background information.

The bad news is that it takes the human body a couple of months to fully acclimate to thin air. The good news is that you acclimate rapidly for the first 48 hours — about 50% of full acclimation — and then at a slower rate for the next few weeks. The body acclimates in a number of ways, but the big one is quite simple: your blood develops more red corpuscles for better efficiency at transporting oxygen. In other words, your blood thickens. And again, it does a lot of thickening during the first 48 hours at altitude.

People vary greatly in their ability to acclimate to high elevations; some develop physical problems while others do not. It is also interesting to note that individual responses to altitude are independent of one’s physical conditioning. Some folks are just genetically more susceptible than others to altitude-related problems. These problems/symptoms used to be called “Altitude Sickness” but nowadays the correct term is “Acute Mountain Sickness” or just AMS. The typical signs and symptoms of AMS include shortness of breath during exertion, dizziness and/or headache, nausea, loss of appetite and insomnia. In severe situations, AMS can progress to High altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) or High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), which mean fluid collects in the brain and lungs respectively. Both of these afflictions are life-threatening, and the only cure is to rapidly descend to lower elevations! In 38 years of guiding, we’ve never dealt with either one of these dire problems, as they are both quite rare and essentially unheard of below 8,000 feet (and usually occur at much higher elevations than that).

So for our guided backpacking treks in the western United States, we are primarily concerned with making sure that our clients are safe and relatively comfortable, especially during that critical first couple of days on the trail. The next installment will discuss some proven ways to ensure safety and comfort while backpacking in Yellowstone or anywhere else at altitude.