Bridger Ridge Line Hike

On Monday and Tuesday, I enacted my hair-brained idea to hike the “trail” along the Bridger Ridge line. The trail runs some 19.7 miles of exceptionally rugged terrain. Even without a few wrong turns, it would have been a challenging hike. With the help of a closed road, however, and a few wrong turns, I managed to add another five miles or so to my trek.

Frankly, it’s the most strenuous thing I’ve ever done. I took the wrong trail after Ross Pass, and ended up going down about 2000 feet, rather than up 1000 feet back to the ridge line. So then I hiked, basically, straight up the side of the mountain back to the ridge line. I don’t exaggerate much when I say basically straight up– I have an amazing video clip of me kicking a tree down the mountain… and I tipped over a huge flat rock, and heard it bounding down the slope for a full 45 seconds– I kid you not. If I had actually SEEN anyone in the 24 hours proceeding the rock incident, I probably would have been pretty worried, actually– it’s velocity was pretty amazing.

To tell the story of my hike, I’d begin with snow and a scree field, I’d interlude with exhaustion, melting snow for water, I’d climax with a thunderstorm– rain, wind, fog and thunder– and conclude hitchhiking my way back up Bridger Canyon to my car.

Actually, in that vein, I learned that, unlike me, not everyone always stops for hitchhikers … even honest looking ones… Hmm. I called Kimbree, anyway, and she was gracious enough to come pick me and take me to my car– just in time, too!– it rained for two days solid from about 15 minutes after she picked me up! The mountains that I had just crossed were–and are–covered in snow, and I was grateful that I slept in my own bed, last night.

What’s exciting, though, is that I finally summited Sacajawea and Baldy peaks– I’ve attempted both, previously, but unsuccessfully. There was no unsuccess, this time…

I’ve uploaded a few photos from the hike, which can be found here:
Bridger Ridge Hike Photos

Every August, there’s a trail-run along the ridge line trail that I, basically, hiked. Details are available here.