Adventures of a Math Geek: The Devil's Backbone/Gallatin Crest Traill

I met Al Parker while working on my PhD in Bozeman, and our lives have remained intertwined ever since. We've gotten together at least once a year to do a hike or backpack; we've written a couple of math research papers together; and we both lived and worked in the same place, and with the same guy (Colin Fox), in New Zealand.

Al was introduced to doing 20+ mile days on the trail by a former statistics professor at Montana State University named Robert Boik. He has a few routes around Bozeman that he's done several times. One of them is the Devil's Backbone, or Gallatin Crest Trail, which stretches from Hyalite Peak, just south of Bozeman, all the way to Yellowstone Park, along the top of the Gallatin Range. The furthest north 25 mile stretch ends (or starts, as was the case for us) at Windy Pass, which is about as far south as Big Sky.

Al and his buddy Justin wanted to hike the route in anticipation of a Devil's Backbone trip they are leading later in the month, through the Montana Wilderness Association. I jumped at the chance to go. Even better, I was able to bring another old friend along, Matt Roscoe. Matt is also a math professor at the University of Montana; he's a big wilderness guy; and as with Al, our lives have been intertwined for years.

Matt and I left Missoula at 4pm last Friday, made it to Bozeman by 7:30pm, had dinner with Al's family, and were in bed around 11pm. I was so ramped up that I didn't really fall asleep by the time we were awake at 3am. We picked up Justin on the way to the trailhead, which we got to at 5:30am. The trail to Windy Pass and cabin was about 2.5 miles and we made it up there quickly. I was not prepared for the terrain that followed: high grassy meadows along the Gallatin divide, all at near 10,000 feet. The views were spectacular: to the west were the Madison Range and the Spanish Peaks, and to the east was the Absaroka Range. We walked and walked and walked, saw lots of mountain goats, and finally reached Hyalite Peak at around 3pm. Then it was down the last 8 miles to the car, which we got to at 6pm. My ankle was sore through it all, but hung in there. Once back at Al's, Matt and I hit the road, stopped for pizza along the way, and were back in Missoula at around 11.30pm. It was a truly awesome and exhausting day.