Pre Sundance Pass

The last full weekend in August 2007 I went on a backpacking trip with my friend Darrel and his friend Susan Raye. Her husband had died nine years ago. After he died, she had hiked to one of his favorite backpacking places - the Lake Fork Trail and Sundance Pass - and buried his medicine pouch there. She felt a need to visit that place again, thus the reason for this trip.

Since the trail and pass are near Red Lodge, Montana - and in my neck of the woods - Darrel invited me to join them. When I say 'my neck of the woods' I am being slightly facetious. Darrel assumed because the hike was in Montana it would be close to me. While he and Susan had to drive a little over one thousand miles and across several states from Minnesota to reach the trail, I had to drive 500 miles.

It was a spur of the moment adventure for me. Darrel had emailed me earlier that week about the possibility of backpacking this weekend or Labor Day weekend. Their initial consensus was for the Labor Day weekend but on August 23, a Thursday, Darrel emailed me that they were going to do the trip this weekend, meaning the next day. What the heck... my cattle are gone and so is Colleen... so why not?

Since I learned of the plan at Thursday noon, I only had that afternoon to find my gear and assemble it. Now where was my backpack, tent, sleeping bag and whatever else I needed? I set my tent up to check that all the parts were there and working. Ten years of storage left the tent with a slight musty smell. Oh well, not much time to air the tent out - it'll have to do.

Friday morning Darrel and Susan Raye didn't get their planned 6 am start. It was 10 am (Central Time) before they started on the road. They had an estimated driving time of 13 or so hours versus my estimated time of 6 hours 45 minutes. Their late start meant I had more time to prepare for the trip. I watered my garden and that used up my morning into the afternoon.

Their estimated arrival time in Laurel, Montana was 11 pm. Laurel has a park by the river where Susan had camped the previous time she had done this trip.

I wanted to reach the park before dark. I figured if I left by 2 pm I would get there before dark.

I stopped at my local gas station and filled the car. When I went to start the car it quit mid-start. Then when I turned the key: "Click. Click. Click." I had no jumper cables. I asked several people if they had a jumper cable and no one did. Then one guy asked if my car was a stick. Yes! He and another man pushed my car. I popped the clutch and the car started right up.

At home I got my jumper cables. Then I turned my car off as a test to restart. It failed! I checked the battery. The water in the battery cells seemed low so I filled them. I checked the battery warranty. My battery is a 72 month battery and this day was the month 64. With no one to push my car I had to jump-start it using my pickup.

Hmm... what to do? I really wanted to go backpacking but I was leery about driving 500 miles on a bad battery. I didn't have time to go battery shopping. Besides, maybe the battery just needed charging with the added water. I don't drive all that much and perhaps the battery charge got low?

I decided to chance it. My plan was not to turn the car off until I reached the park in Laurel. By then the battery should get charged up from the drive.

Off I went. 3:09 pm. My estimated arrival time would be between 9:30 and 10 pm. After dark.

I took a connecting series of back road highways to reach the interstate.

Note: Red Lodge, Montana is below Laurel on the map.

The small touch of green at the bottom is Yellowstone National Park.

Highway 83 through the town of Seeley Lake was open now that the firefighters had gotten the forest fire that threatened the town under control. Smoke was heavy in the air and signs directing the firefighters to parts of the fire were noticeable along the highway in this area.

The traffic wasn't too bad once I left the Bigfork area. A number of pickups came quickly whipping by me as I drove. I was reminded of my friend Brian's comment about how fast the cowboys in pickup trucks drive in Montana.

From the interstate one can see on a mountain on the Continental Divide a giant statue, Our Lady of the Rockies. The statue is 90 feet tall and is in the likeness of Mary, mother of Jesus. I think the statue is a little distracting as one tends to look at the large white statue when one should be paying attention to the road.

The interstate down the east side of the Continental Divide is a 6% grade for quite a few miles. The speed limit for large trucks is 25 mph while the rest of the vehicles is 75 mph. One had to pay attention for trucks.

The interstate east of Livingston flattens out into foothills and prairie. The changing colors of the landscape in the sunset was pretty. The sunset was behind me. A near full moon rose ahead to my right over the foothill mountains and was quite pretty also.

After dark I came upon a slow moving pickup towing a large utility trailer that had no lights. That was not a safe thing to do.

The Laurel exit had a large Cenex oil refinery that lit up the night. A few miles later I crossed the river and found the park.

I reached the park at 9:39 after exactly 6 and 1/2 hours of driving. I looked for Darrel and Susan Raye and did not find them.  A dozen or so RVs and camping trailers were parked and hooked to electricity. There were two large circular grassy areas which had a half dozen tents between them. I checked them both and selected the one closer to the bathroom building as the grass there seemed to be better for placing a tent.

The bathroom building had several lights on it and I selected a spot where only one light shone my way. In addition I placed my tent so a small tree partially blocked the light. Once I was certain this was where I was going to spend the night I turned my car off. I didn't attempt to restart it; I wanted to believe that it may start in the morning.

It was a good thing I had practiced setting up my tent the day before as I ended up setting it up in the dark and mainly by feel. Before I went inside my tent a car came and delivered a man in his 60s back to his motor home. Based on their behavior and comments to one another the entire group of four appeared to have been out at a bar. One man drunkenly helped the 60ish man wobble into his motor home, before the group left. The old man had a light on in his motor home as he prepared for bed. He should have closed the curtains as it was not a pretty sight.

The temperature was "not too hot, not too cold".  The night was clear and beautiful. I fell asleep laying on top of my sleeping bag.

Darrel and Susan Raye arrived around 12:30 am. Lots of road construction had slowed them down. I woke up when I heard their car park behind mine and I went outside my tent to greet them.

They were tired but hyped up on caffeine and the long drive. This was the first time I met Susan Raye.  We made our introductions, me sleepily and she in a bouncy mood. Darrel and Susan Raye set up his tent for her to sleep in and I shared my tent with Darrel. I was relaxed and sleepy and did not have much in me for conversation with Darrel who was awake and who wanted to talk.

It wasn't long before I fell back asleep.