Jon, my high school friend, has a new identity, one which only a few know of, but which is of inestimable value to Jon. This new identity was won over the course of two or three arduous sojourns in the wilds of Oregon, Washington and California, hiking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail.. Somewhere along the way, Jon became known to his fellow long-distance hikers as "Basmati."

In 2006, he walked the last mile of the trail to completion, from Mexico to Canada, all on foot, and to the tune of 20-30 miles per day. ... During summer 2007, "Basmati" took on a new challenge, the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, his goal to hike the northern third of the CDT from Glacier National Park to approximately Yellowstone.This, it turns out, is in most ways a tougher proposition than either the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail. There are grizzly bears nearly everywhere, and rattlesnakes in the lower, drier stretches. Mostly, there are endless miles of tough route-finding and potential frustrations. It is very, very easy to go astray while trying to follow this very undeveloped trail.....CDT history-- famed "Triple Crown" hiker Eric Ryback was one of the first "big name" hikers to do the CDT-- that was in 1972 (he did the Applachian Trail in 1969, and the Pacific Crest Trail in 1970).

All images on this page are compliments of Basmati from his 2007 hike. He describes the scene below, "this is a thru-hiker from Martha's Vineyard threading her way through the meadowed moraines below the Chinese Wall in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness." Most of the Chinese Wall Trail runs between about 7000 and 7400 feet, with the rim above running generally about 8000 to 8300 ft...The Wall is massive and runs for many, many miles. The topo maps show a gentle, sloping west side, and then the steep cliffs breaking eastward, very likely the result of faulting....8576 ft. Cliff Mtn. is probably the highest point of the official, named portion of the Wall.

The final CDT image (below) is of Dean Lake. The lake is located at the north end of the Chinese Wall. It's elevation is 7,365 ft, and Pentagon Mtn. above it is 8873 ft. The lake lies a mile or two west of the Continental Divide, and lies within the mountain's east cirque. My maps show that this lake is actually in the headwaters of the middle fork of the Flathead River, which flows north and ends up in the southwest corner of Glacier National Park near famous tourist-trap, Lake McDonald.