CDT Day 146 Walking the Chinese Wall

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10th September

28.8 miles

Sth Fork Sun River (2439.1) to My Lake (2467.9)

It’s called the Chinese Wall Montana in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. A long geological formation similar to the better known Chinese Wall not in Montana.

Again it was an early start and easy hiking on the horse superhighway. Benchmark Ranch was nearby and some trailheads that allowed easy access for horse riders. Horse riding in the Bob Marshall wilderness seems to be a big thing in Montana.

It was 12-15 easy flat miles of hiking. I met a couple of hikers heading in the opposite direction. The Chinese Wall Montana is the big attraction in this part of the Bob Marshal Wilderness. As are the high concentration of bears.

I stopped to photograph a fairly recent print of a black bear. Five miles later I bumped into a fellow CDT hiker, Hotshot. The last time I saw her was at Silver City before I even started hiking the trail. More than 2450 miles later I caught up to her. She mentioned that she saw her first black bear five miles earlier, same place I took the photo of the print.

We hiked together and chatted for a couple of miles where we caught Third Monty and Fix It. A mile or so later I caught up to Elusive. It’s a traffic jam of hikers. We were all on hiking the Chinese wall Montana trail.

We all spread out as we entered the famed Bob Marshall Chinese Wall, Montana. An escarpment several miles long and maybe 150 meters tall. It stretched for several miles. It reminded me a lot of home, the Arnhem Land escarpment. But unlike home there was lots of evidence of bear activities. Prints and scat, some very recent.

It was getting late in the day as I entered the Bob Marshall Wilderness Chinese Wall area. The bear activities had me a bit nervous. It was grizzly tracks and scat that worried me. There was little in the way of flat campsites with trees nearby that could be used to hang my food. I continued hiking till later than I wanted. Lately I’ve started looking for camps around 7pm, and taking whatever I could find by 7.30pm. By 8pm it is subset time. But campsite selection is a little more important in Grizzly bear country. I wasn’t happy with my site. Starting tomorrow I’m going to start looking for campsites earlier.

Bob Marshall Wilderness sign
Bridge in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Montana
Bob Marshall Wilderness hiking trail
Hiking through the Bob Marshall Wilderness
montana river
Hiking trails montana
Grizzly Bears in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Montana
The chinese walls montana
Chinese Wall Montana
Bob Marshall Wilderness Chinese wall
The Chinese Wall Bob Marshall Wilderness Montana
The Chinese Wall Montana
Chinese Wall Bob Marshall Wilderness Montana
Big Grizzly track Chinese wall montana
Bear poo near the Chinese Wall

Next – Day 147 Hiking through a Winter Blizzard

Everything you need to know about hiking the CDT:
Complete Guide to Hiking the Continental Divide Trail
CDT Resupply Guide
CDT Gear List

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About the Author:
Brad is an Australian who has completed the hiking Triple Crown after he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail. He has hiked on every continent (except Antarctica) and has cycled from Alaska to Ecuador. He is an expert on outdoor gear currently living in Chile.

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10 thoughts on “CDT Day 146 Walking the Chinese Wall”

  1. Oh my god! Watch out! Anyway, Montana always reminds me Frank Zappa´s song ;-) and Grizzly Bear is such a wonderfull band… think positive ;-)

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