Four Seeley-Swan High School students, and one family member recently completed a 70-mile trek through the Bob Marshall Wilderness earlier in July. The students ventured through the wilderness without adult accompaniment. From left are Will Batchelder, Crystal Lopez, Eric Lorentz, Asa Batchelder, and Oskar Murphy.
SEELEY LAKE - A group of Seeley-Swan High School students traveled around 70 miles in 10 days by foot through the Bob Marshall Wilderness as part of their own independent expedition. The group included recent graduate Eric Lorentz and incoming seniors Crystal Lopez, Oskar Murphy, Will Batchelder and his cousin Asa from Sandpoint, Idaho.
The group left Sunday, July 4 from Holland Lake and returned Tuesday, July 13 via the Benchmark Creek Trail ending in Augusta. Murphy estimated that they traveled seven or eight miles daily. Their bags weighed roughly 75 pounds each going in but as they went through their food, their loads became progressively lighter.
They originally planned to go on a trail that was 90 miles long but they opted for another one that was about 70 so they could get a better view of The Chinese Wall. The highest elevation they reached was nearly 8,500 feet along Haystack Mountain.
Their hiking schedule changed depending on the day but usually they would wake up by 9 a.m. and go to bed by midnight every day.
Murphy and Batchelder had the idea a couple of years ago but they were unable to coordinate a group big enough until this year. To prepare for the trip this year, the group mapped out their trek, bought supplies in Missoula and organized a smaller three-day trip outside the Bob.
"We just really loved the idea of just being out in the woods for 10 days and going on a journey," Murphy said. "We had everyone come over to my house. We just laid the map out. We all looked at it, made sure we agreed [on the route]. We actually realized that Eric and Will both had two different trailheads in mind. And they didn't know that until we looked at it, which would have been confusing. ... [We] discussed what lakes we wanted to pass by because we wanted to make sure we were camping by water every night because we just had our water filters."
This was the first time Murphy and Lorentz formally backpacked through the Bob.
"It was pretty surreal," Murphy said. "It really is different than the [woods] around Seeley Lake. You can tell right when you cross the border that ... there's way more life."
Overall Lorentz felt the trip went "smoothly."
"I was kind of concerned something would happen and we'd be in a bad situation but nothing happened," he said. "Other than some blisters, it was great."
Both of them said they did not encounter any extraordinary wildlife although they were able to go fishing and make dinner out of what they caught. Outside of fishing, the group spent much of their downtime cooking, hanging out and sleeping.
The weather was fairly consistent for the group although they did experience a couple of lightning storms along the way.
"The last night it was terrible when we were up like 30 minutes out of Augusta," Murphy said. "Crystal and Will ... said they heard a tree fall near their tent."
Murphy said that he overestimated how much flat ground they had to work with when choosing a campsite.
"I thought we were going to be able to find a campsite anywhere but there's [only a few] spots where you can camp," he said.
Lorentz said his favorite portion of the trip was making it to the Chinese Wall which was about 70% of the way to Augusta.
"It was just an awesome experience," he said.
His least favorite portion was the second day.
"We were hiking through this super dense forest and there were lots of bugs and mud," he said. "And we didn't have a decent campsite, so we just went in the woods that night. It was rough."
For Murphy, the best and most difficult aspect of the trip was being around the same group for several days straight with minimal times of solitude.
"I love them and we really bonded out there, but sometimes I just need to be on my own and not constantly in a social interaction," he said. "And that was kind of stressful for me sometimes. ... But I think overall the best part was the camaraderie."
The biggest lesson he has taken away from the trip was endurance.
"You just have to get through it and if you're getting cut up by branches, you can't just let it just ruin your whole mood," he said. "You just gotta sit through it and bite your tongue and know that the campfire is at the end of the day."
Reader Comments(0)