Is this a reasonable trip?

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I need some advice on whether this is crazy or not... (posted in a few places in order to get as much feedback as possible since time is important).

My resolutions this year include 2 for running: Complete a 10K and a half marathon. Additionally, I've been wanting to do a backpacking trip for about a week in Glacier National Park and was planning for August.

Currently, the plan is to complete a 10K is actually to do a trail 12K on 4/1/17. I'm working on building /training for it now.

I'm thinking about signing up for the Glacier Half Marathon on 6/24 and then starting out on a backpacking trip through the park on 6/25. If I did that, I would spend twice as long driving as normal for a road trip. Normally when I do road trips, I drive straight through with plans to hike or see historical sites along my route during the day and some extra time built in to pull off and sleep in my car for a couple hours here and there as needed... but mostly drive at night. So I would be well rested compared to normal because I would stop in hotels along the way and spend way more time getting there. Also, I would plan to arrive 1.5 days before the start of the race in order to have time to get used to the elevation and to check out the route / area.

The Glacier Half looks like it is mostly roads and much less elevation gain than the 12K trail run on 4/1; so I really think it will be comparable in terms of difficulty. Obviously there are sleep, familiarity with area, elevation (around 5K ft. elevation vs. 1K ft. where I live), and probably some other challenges with the Glacier Half. But I'm really thinking this is something I can do before backpacking.

Is there anything I'm missing that makes this a bad idea? If I'm going to do this, I can save some money by signing up today (early bird registration is ending tonight).

NorthCascades

I'm not much of a runner. As such, I found a 10K pretty exhausting. Backpacking in mountainous terrain is also pretty hard on the legs. I wouldn't want to do both on consecutive days.

DavidKuhnsSr

If you are an experienced backpacker, then this sounds like a fun trip, to me. Those with little experience carrying their home on their back, tend to overestimate their capabilities. If you have not hiked in the Rockies before, I'd say to be conservative in your daily mileage goals, so your fun trip doesn't end up being a grueling endurance test.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I signed up for the half marathon yesterday to get in before the early bird deadline. And I will put in for backcountry permits when they start taking them for the year.

patrickjd9

Check conditions and snowpack to make sure you're not too early to be up in the passes

T1DCarnivoreRunner

patrickjd9 wrote: »

Check conditions and snowpack to make sure you're not too early to be up in the passes

Yes, for sure. When I pick up the back-country permits, I'll ask for information and see if the route can change if needed. Nonetheless, I'll bring snow-shoes just in case. I may end up leaving them in the car when I head out, but at least I can make that decision at that time.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Since I haven't posted any updates on this for awhile, here is where I'm at:

In Mar., I had a knee injury but still ran a 10K late Mar. and then a 12K early Apr. Finally, later in Apr., I decided to get the knee looked at (it seemed to be getting worse). The dr. really helped and we put together a plan to recover and be able to do the half marathon coming up in June. Then, at the end of Apr., I was sidelined again for over a week due to a severe electrolyte imbalance (long story, but there were times I could not even stand).

Since then, I've been recovering well. I got a PR on a road 5K and completed a trail 5K too. I've been gradually increasing running mileage and I am confident I'll be ready for the HM.

I'm also looking forward to the backpacking trip starting the day after the HM. I have back-country permits at Glacier NP for 6 days with a 68.2 mile route and 11K+ elevation up/down.

I eat low carb and have been almost entirely carnivorous for most of Mar. - May (except half of Apr.). I'll stay low carb for this trip, but will have to add some nuts for obvious reasons. In the next few weeks, I'll get my stomach used to higher fiber, and higher (but still low compared to most people) net carbs again.

The tough part about my food plan is the weight of food to carry for 6+1 days supply. A few things I'm doing to help ensure low carb calories without as much weight: Powdered eggs, protein powder, and using an Esbit folding stove rather than the larger Dragonfly and fuel bottle. I'll really only need the stove for hot water to make coffee and for the powdered eggs.

I'll see how things go, but I'm really excited! *And I totally feel like I'm capable at this point.

DavidKuhnsSr

Have a great time. Glacier N.P. is spectacular.
When I hike my only dietary goal is to get the most calories per pound carried that I can, including lots of carbs, fats and protein. Your plan will certainly present some greater challenges, but, you know your own needs.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Just wanted to let everyone know how this trip went...

I did the HM on 6/24 and ended with a time of 2:10:07 - not too bad for my first HM considering my nutrition change over the past month with somewhat higher carbs and fiber has not been as smooth as I had hoped. Next time I do a big backpacking trip, I'm going to figure out how to continue a very low carb carnivorous diet.

As to the backpacking trip... on 6/24 after the HM, I went to go pickup my permits. On that day, Going to the Sun Road was not yet open for the year. While this road didn't affect my trip to the Many Glacier area, it is just an indication of the late snow challenges at Glacier this year.

My first day had originally put me going through Ptarmigan Tunnel. That was not yet open, so the first change to my back-country route was to start at Apikuni Falls trailhead and hike around the tunnel and over Red Gap Pass to camp the first night at Lake Elizabeth Head (18.2 miles, 3K up/3K down). The next change to my permits were because Stoney Indian Pass had last been evaluated on 6/12 and it was heavily snow covered at that time with ice axe and crampons highly recommended. According to the back-country ranger, the trail between there and the campsite where I was originally planning to go is mostly forested and there are not any particularly spectacular views. So I decided to avoid the risk, despite that it was 12 days old information, and he got me setup with a 0 day at Mokawanis Junction before heading back to Elizabeth Lake Foot, then Poia Lake, and finally back to the Apikuni Falls trailhead.

On 6/25, I set out on the first and longest day to Lake Elizabeth Head. Before leaving the car, I weighed my pack with a full 3L water reservoir and 7 days of food (6 days + 1 extra just in case). It was 48 lbs. (yikes!) In hind-sight, I probably brought too much food, I didn't need the down coat I brought at all nor the wool hat or gloves (I figured it would be much colder than it was). It was a slow-going trip, in the 70's Fahrenheit, and I sweated a whole lot. Along the way, I ran out of water and filled up most of my 3L reservoir again from a stream along the way. I found some sheep on the other side of Red Gap Pass... these were much larger than sheep I've encountered at Zion National Park - another of my favorites.



When I finally reached camp for the night, I ate, hung up my food, and set up camp. I was out of water again, so I tried to filter from the lake. It was at this point that my water filter had become plugged and wouldn't function. It is a Katadyn Hiker Pro - for those familiar, it was so plugged that when I unscrewed the filter element, there was a lot of pressure released due to pumping water into the reservoir without it being able to get back out through the filter again. In the field, they say you can rinse the filter element in water to get a little bit more life from it even though it would need to still be replaced soon. So I tried rinsing it in the lake. That didn't work.

6/26 - On the next morning, I tried once again to clean my water filter, but it was still plugged. Another camper let me borrow their filter and I was able to fill my reservoir about 2/3 with that before their group left for the day. These campsites are set-up very nicely with a sleeping area, a pit toilet, a food prep area, and a food hanging area. The idea is that no food or scent items should ever go to the sleeping area, of course. So as I sat in the food prep area eating breakfast, I notice a large black bear as it came through the woods wandering towards me. It was perhaps 200 ft. away when I first saw it, and it didn't appear to have seen me yet (though I'm sure it had smelled my food). So I grabbed my bear spray, threw my food back into my food bag, and shouted at it to leave; which it did. Then I went to hang my food back up again before returning to the sleeping area to alert others. When I got to the food hang area (not even a min. later), I noticed the bear again as it was somewhat circling around camp. So I yelled at it again as I quickly hung my food. I went over to the sleeping area and let the 2 groups currently packing up know about it. None of us spotted the bear again and we all left around the same time.

Later on 6/26, as I was hiking from Elizabeth Lake to Mokawanis Junction, I started thinking about my water situation. I had a Life Straw to use as a backup, but that is inconvenient and truly more of a last resort. Even though it would likely be possible to borrow other hiker's filters in camp, I probably would want to filter water at some point mid-day like I had on the first day. Additionally, it was just not reliable or practical (or fair to other hikers) to do that. I wasn't even sure if anyone would be at Mokawanis Junction on my 2nd night there. It didn't help that I had only a small amount of the food packed for the first day and so my pack was almost just as heavy as when I started, my feet were sore from a long first day and I just was not in good spirits. I ran into a back-country ranger and consulted about my situation. He was thinking the same as me as far as that I would probably be able to borrow a filter at camp. But ultimately, by then I was pretty sure I was going to hike out. I felt bad about doing that, but it was around 1:30pm by then and I had already gone through the approx. 2L of water I had started with and had used the Life Straw at a couple of stream crossings already. So my decision was to continue hiking out to the Chief Mountain trail head (just inside the U.S. / Canadian border crossing), even though cutting the trip short just made me want to cry. The ranger noted there was a shuttle going by the Chief Mountain trailhead, but the last stop at that is 3:45pm - a time I knew I wasn't going to make; but he also thought hitch-hiking is pretty good from there. So I continued on with that plan.

Along the way, I stopped at several stream crossings to drink with the Life Straw. It was very difficult to do so while wearing my pack, so taking it off and putting it back on added to the inconvenience (one of the reasons I like the Camelbak reservoir with a tube and bite valve to drink as desired). At one point, I ended up stopping for quite some time because there was some shade, a spot to stop without blocking the trail, and a wide (4 ft.) flowing stream of cool water. I stopped and drank all I could, rested a few min., and repeated several times before continuing on. Several other hikers I passed on the way out confirmed that hitch-hiking from that trail-head would be easy, and I felt more spirited as I continued to get closer. I finally made it to the trailhead about 5:30pm and the 2nd car coming through picked me up (yes, that is an easy hitch-hiking spot). They were so kind as to take me all the way back to my car - I offered to pay their entry fee to the park, which they could use for another week, but they already had a National Park Pass (mine was sitting on my windshield).

After returning to my car, I set out to the highway in search of the nearest convenience store, where I bought 2L of water and 1L of soda. Along the way, I called in to cancel my remaining itinerary so perhaps someone else could get a chance to stay in those campsites. After drinking all the water and 1/2 of the soda, I was meandering towards home trying to decide what to do for the rest of vacation. I stopped off and slept in my car for several hours in Cut Bank before continuing on the next day. I've now replaced the filter cylinder and it is working just fine... I think I might put that on a schedule of some time... or at least just replace it before a long trip that I've been wanting to do for years.

TMI on dehydration:

On that day, despite the water I started with and what I got through the Life Straw, I only stopped to pee once all day. When I did, it was really really dark yellow and became a bit painful towards the end. That was a clear sign to me how dehydrated I was. I did not pee again until the next morning around 9am at a rest stop somewhere between Cut Bank and Billings. I must have been losing all of the water through sweat and breathing. I peed at a couple points along the trail on the first day, but that b

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Aside from starting with a fresh water filter, I would also do a few other things differently next time:

-Hiking boots were old and the tread was not good on snow. Plus, they are about 1/4 - 1/2 size too small. I should have gotten new boots a few months ago and had them broken in. I did buy new boots when I replaced the water filter and will have them for my next trips - whether day trips, weekends, or whatever.
-Pack weight - I could have skipped out on a few things, such as the wool hat that I thought I would need but it wasn't cold enough. Also, gloves. If I was going to bring a down jacket because I thought it was going to be cold (it wasn't), I could have skipped a pillow and used the jacket as a pillow.
-Food. Next time I figure out how to stick to a very low carb diet and keep it light weight. Pemmican was suggested elsewhere, so I may look into that.

Also, I could probably cut to a 2L reservoir and just filter water more often.

DavidKuhnsSr

Tough break on the filter. You could probably have drunk water from the streams. I've done so on many occasions. At any rate, iodine pills treat water in 1/2 hour, followed by pills to get rid of the iodine taste. Two little bottles weigh very little and would have been a good backup to the Hiker Pro.