Backpacking in Bear Country

Spend three nights in “bear-country Montana” backpacking in designated wilderness that may include the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat Wilderness areas. Course will include instruction for bear safety, backcountry cooking, gearing-up for wilderness hiking, map and compass orienteering, as well as the general history/geography of Montana’s premier wilderness. Hikers should expect moderately strenuous trail conditions, averaging seven to twelve trail miles each of four days in the backcountry and up to 8,000 feet of mountain elevation.

Course Content:

Participants/hikers will learn :

• about bear safe hiking and backpacking in grizzly bear wilderness country
• creative backcountry cooking methods and recipes
• backcountry orienteering using a map and compass (you will be tested!)
  
• about the history of wilderness in the United States, including the details of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex, as well as the geography, wildlife, and flora of the northern-Rocky Mountains

Monday, August 30

• 7:00 p.m.    -    Welcome and Introduction event at the Hampton Inn Hotel (the official hotel of Backpacking in Bear Country)

Tuesday, August 31

• 8:00 a.m.    -    Transportation from the Hampton Inn to The Base Camp
• 8:30 a.m.    -    Overview and Discussion of the backcountry hike and Montana wilderness areas
• 10:00 a.m.    -    Bear-safe hiking and backpacking
• 11:00 a.m.    -    Meals and food preparation in bear country
• 12:00 noon    -    Lunch on your own
• 2:00 p.m.    -    Map and compass basics…and GPS introduction
• 3:00 p.m.    -    Gearing-up for the backcountry

This will be an opportunity for final gear preparation and purchase

• 5:30 p.m.    -    Short Hike/Travel to Helena trail location
• 6:00 p.m.    -    Backcountry Dinner – catered to a Helena trail location

Wednesday, September 1

• 7:30 a.m.    -    Departure for Trailhead (from the Hampton Inn Hotel)
• 10:30 a.m.    -    Begin hike
• First night in Wilderness Backcountry
  

Thursday, September 2

• Second day and night in the Wilderness Backcountry
  

Friday, September 3

• Third day and night in the Wilderness Backcountry
  

Saturday, September 4

• Hike out of the Backcountry
• Return to Helena
• 7:00 p.m.    -    Group Dinner, Photos, and Farewell at downtown restaurant

Cost: $350

Cost Includes:

• Book on bear safe hiking
• Wilderness trail map
• Helena South Hills trail map
• Light refreshments at Monday evening
• Welcome Dinner on Tuesday night
• Dinner on Saturday night
• Transportation to and from trailhead

Hikers will be responsible to provide their own backpacking gear, including food. Gear list and other preparatory information will be sent to hikers shortly after course registration is received.

Instructor: Alan Peura

Course instructor Alan Peura is an accomplished distance hiker and backpacker who lives and works in Helena, Montana. Prior to moving to Montana in 2003 from Pennsylvania, Alan backpacked the southern half of the Appalachian Trail, together with his wife Rachel and their teen-aged daughter. The group hiked 1135 miles through seven states from Georgia to Pennsylvania in 89 days.

Since 2003 Alan has led hikes and backpack trips in some of Montana’s most beautiful backcountry areas including the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the Pintlar Mountains, Glacier National Park, the Rocky Mountain Front Range, the Badger-Two Medicine area, and the Elkhorn Mountains.

When he is not backpacking, Alan is an ultra-marathon trail runner who competes annually in trail race events across Montana.

Alan is also a certified social studies/history teacher and an adjunct instructor for the University of Montana – Helena College of Technology, who serves as the Deputy Director for the Montana Department of Revenue.

Additional Details:

• Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front Range and the Bob Marshall Wilderness area is widely known as the crown jewel of all the American Wilderness areas.
• The mountain wilderness areas of Montana are subject to changeable weather, including snow and cold conditions, even in August. Hikers will need to have appropriate gear and clothing that anticipates these changeable conditions.
• Pre-hike instruction will include a session held in an outdoor sporting goods/gear retail store so that hikers will have last minute access to purchase additional gear required for backcountry.