Two nighter at Bowman Lake Memorial Day Weekend

[PeteE]

I did a 2 night backpack out to Bowman Lake CG this weekend.
I'll have a complete report as soon as possible from my trip out to BOW.
This 2 minute clip was the highlight of the trip for me.
The 2nd night there when I thought there might only be one more party, it turned out all campsites were taken with a 7th party as well.
I think there were 15 or maybe more people. There were 12 here at the campfire in this clip.
The Aussie brother and sister were just hilarious!
This was a bit of the conversation regarding "powdered alcohol"


And this clip summarizes the really one annoying aspect of this trip--and it wasn't mosquitoes!



I'm tired and have a long day at work tomorrow.
I'll try to get a few pics up tonight and the video later tomorrow evening.

pete

[PeteE]

I'll put more pics here tomorrow. I'm "whupped" for the night.

2nd shift of breakfast eaters this morning.


The young lady on the left is from Vermont and now living in CO, completed the AT through hike in September 2014. She is planning on through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail as soon as she saves the money. She was very interested in Henry Shires' TarpTents of which I have two. I referred her to dorf's website to see good pics of them used in a harsh environment--The Wind River mtns and the Beartooth. The gal on the right is her friend who lives in WF. She and her b/f, In red jacket next to her in previous pic, are avid hikers and backpackers. He is a triathlete. She will compete this year. The boy can go too. They all can!


I stopped at the Northern Lights for some "real food" after 3 days of "hiker food".

[scott-atl]

that is a hassle. don't know about that area but on the eastside springtime treefall like that would be loaded w ticks. you have to look yourself over after climbing/crawling through. ticks out west are big and easy to see though.

[Jen]

Pete likes ticks as much as I like snakes. Right, Pete?

[elscout198]

Was it really warm enough for shorts ? Thanks for the videos

[teapot57]

Seems like you were in good company. Looking forward to the full report!

[PeteE]

Pete likes ticks as much as I like snakes. Right, Pete?

Mighty Right Jen!!

Scott-Atl
Trust me, I was ACUTELY aware of the possibility of getting ticks while thrashing around in the brush and crap dodging the blow downs
All I could think about was what a BC ranger told me a couple a weeks ago. LOT's of ticks this year, but apparently not everywhere thank God.

elscout198
Yeah it warmed up considerbly during the 3 days I was out there.
The blonde girl in the shorts is very fit. She through hiked the AT last year.
She also lives in CO and teaches skiing, so she's probably well conditioned for the cold.
Nice to be young

However, I got a bit chilly at night. I had to sleep my long undies I took just in case that happened, plus my new "action" Nike hoody.
Most everyone was wearing something warm early in the AM(like the breakfast pic), the sun being behind the mountains.
Once the sun was up, it warmed up nicely.
I was maybe overdressed but I wore long pants and long sleeve shirt because I treated them with Sawyers permethrin.
Blowdowns or not, I knew there might be ticks and I was "covering up" head to toe just in case

Teapot
I will try to get more content up tonight.
I was moving gaming machines all day from 0800-1630--and they are heavy.
So i'm not sure how much "gas I have in the tank tonight"
I will do what I can though.

Thanks everyone for the comments.
Bowman Lake is not a particularly exciting hike.
I was thinking that the video may be useful to new visitors(lurkers?) to GNP.
Plus as most know--I like to run my mouth

pete

[PeteE]

Here are pics from Day 1

Just after 12 noon Saturday. While I was camping the lion was seen walking through the car campground


I had to get a haircut and check the joints before starting. So it was about 12:20 here. Nice day.



Early on the trail


The trail crews have not been out here yet.



Rainbow


Have I got enough "stuff"?


Most of the walk is in the woods, but there are some decent views of the mountains along the way.


More *&%#@&% blow downs! Not a big deal with a light daypack. A little trickier getting across some with a full backpack.


Looking back at more of the mess


Lil plank bridge. Don't fall in






The bridge over Numa Creek. The campground is just .1 miles around to the right after crossing



Numa Creek taken from the Food Prep area which is only a few yards away. Very convenient.


Left to right--Food Prep area--The "inverted U" bear pole. Bridge over Numa Creek to two of the six camp sites. One is huge with room for two tents easily. The other is just feet from the lake. Great site unless the wind gets up.


Standing on the lake shore looking back at the Food Prep area.


The geezer's tent site. This one is the first site after you leave the Food Prep/fire ring area headed east. Closest to the outhouse. There is a "trail" from this campsite to the outhouse that makes it easier to get to. The tent is a Big Agnes Copper2. I'll be damned if I know how two people and gear sleep in one. Gotta be REAL GOOD friends



That be it for Day 1 pics.

pete

[Jay w]

Enjoying it Pete. Were people making it up (or down) from Brown Pass?

Jay

[PeteE]

Hey Jay:

Yeah, I believe two people staying at BOW Sunday night got up to Brown pass and beyond.
A young guy and his girl friend arrived by canoe at BOW in the late afternoon with big packs, skis, boots, crampons etc.
We all kinda looked at them like wtf?
Their plan was to get up early Monday, hike to Brown Pass, then bushwhack, and "crampon" up to the top of Chapman Peak.
Then ski down the West face if I recall correctly. How far and to what point I don't know.
Then hike back out to Bowman, canoe back to their car...since they had to be at work in WF Tuesday AM.
Talk about a long day! God love 'em!
Young kids(and Jay) have way too much energy.

They are in the campfire video (same as one above)

The guy is wearing a blue jacket and his friend is to the right laying back with a lavender head band.

I kind of jokingly asked the guy what it would be like skiing down that big West face of Rainbow that looks like a "ramp" from the car camp ground.
And he told me he knew two people who had done it
They skied from Polebridge, where they parked their car, to Bowman car campground. Spent the night there.
Then they skied across Bowman lake(frozen at the time) to a starting point where they climbed rainbow and then skied down it!
Incredible feat imo.

I'll get day 2 going after work today.
You will see that I misnamed Chapman Peak in my video(and maybe other mistakes). I called it Custer peak
I didn't do so well "orienting" myself at the Pocket Creek bridge.

later

pete

[scott-atl]

thanks for the report. i'll be out next week.

[PeteE]

thanks for the report. i'll be out next week.

You should come over and visit the North Fork sometime this season Scott.
Build a second cabin, have one for each side of the park

pete

[PeteE]

On day two I slept in. I rolled out of the bag around 0830.
The only other party, a couple from Los Angeles, had left early.
The "plan" was to hike out towards Brown Pass to see what there was to see.
And so I did.
I stopped at the Pocket Creek bridge to rest, eat a snack, and make some embarrassing video.
Misnaming mountain peaks and other terrain features
I had a compass, but no map other than the tiny one on my GPS which is hard for me to correlate with what I'm looking at and the terrain.
But In the video I do ask for folks to correct me on that stuff

I'll try to get the video out tomorrow night.

pete

I messed around and ate breakfast before setting out at about 1045. This is looking back toward the foot of the lake and the outflow of Numa Creek.


The Wurtz couple told me that wolves have been known to "chew" these signs. A sign like this is similarly chewed up at KIN.


This one I didn't know at the time but remembered later. It's a White Trillium. They turn to purple with age. There were these aged white trilliums everywhere.


This grouse hen has nearly perfect "camo" doesn't she? And when she stops and holds perfectly still, it's really hard to see her.


I saw bear scat regularly the entire length of the 10+ miles I walked.


And of course more $%&#@*% blow downs


Ones like this are easy for me to step over. Not so much for the height challenged folks


Blowdowns like this one are the tough ones for me. I do a "scissors step" over them when possible. That said, a scissors step on this one risks one of those lil limb stubs poking out of the trunk tearing important parts of one's anatomy. So the geezer is sometimes reduced to crawling.



Pocket creek bridge is where I stopped and turned back around after checking blood sugar, snacking, looking around...and making stupid videos because I didn't know half what I was looking at. And so I'll let y'all name peaks you recognize here in the next couple shots


Looking down Pocket creek.


Taking a break


Sometimes I get sort of mesmerized staring at streams...


Looking up Pocket Creek.


Looking down creek


On the walk back I took this pic of Bowman creek. It shows pretty well the total flow of the creek at this point.


Along the same place as above. I had stopped here on the way in for a break.



The "mother" of all blow downs on this trail. This tree was maybe 60-80ft tall and about 3 to 3 1/2 feet in diameter where it crosses the trail. I climbed over it with no problem since I was tall enough to get on top of it fairly easily. Dunno how the short folks did it. I reported it to the BC Office today because it's going to be a bugger to deal with---even with a big chain saw.


Eric caught three rainbow trout bing, bang, bong. I watched him catch the third. Nothing after that. Guess I should leave the fishermen alone!


Three of the campers who came up in kayaks on the far side of the head of the lake. One brought back a "larch ball"(she later returned it to the same spot where she found it) More on that in the video. Fascinating thing a larch ball.


Nice evening after dinner



The triathlete fellow and his aspiring triathlete g/f are on the right checking out the larch ball. Their AT Through Hiker friend is on the left.

The nice community campfire that was made,and maintained for all of us, by the kayaker gals from Missoula and the Bitteroot.

Later that evening there were 12+ campers by the fire. Great conversation since it was a diverse group. Several groups of young people...The two doing the summit/ski thing. A brother and sister from Australia--The three mentioned in the picture above.
Then us older folks--me being the oldest A retired US Navy Senior Chief and his girlfriend who are working this summer at the East Glacier Lodge--The four gals from the Bitteroot and Missoula in the kayaks.
The Aussie brother and sister had us all in stitches laughing. The next day I hiked part way out with them. Just FUN people the Aussies are.
It was a truly terrific "fireside chat".



I'll try to get the video out tomorrow night.
pete

[Jen]

Excellent reporting, Pete!

[paul]

Looks like 2 great days weather-wise. You didn't happen to get a shot from the Bowman site lakeshore, did you? I seem to remember it being really nice but it's been a long time since I was there.