McKenna V. | Youth Wilderness Program Participant
June 7-11, 2025
Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness
The following are excerpts directly from my trail journal over the course of the incredible 4-day trip I took with the SBFC Foundation:
This is my THING. Dude, I was built for backpacking. Ok yes, I have it easy because I have guides and other people to split the load of things to carry (pulaskis, saws, etc.). However, this definitely is still my jam.
We started off our day in McCall at Brown Park, where we packed all of our stuff as a group. This is where I found the first thing I love about backpacking—there’s no folding!! Everything just gets shoved where it fits, and you don’t have to worry about wrinkles or caring. It’s great!
Anyway, after packing and saying goodbye to my worried parents (truthfully, I think they were glad to have me gone because I wouldn’t shut up about how happy I was to be wearing socks with my Chacos), we took a short drive up to the McCall airport, where we boarded by far the smallest aircraft I’ve ever been on. Honestly, I expected this part to be a lot sketchier than it was, but it was actually very relaxed and safe.
I don’t think I am eloquent enough to express how beautiful our 20-minute plane ride into the Frank Church Wilderness was. If you’ve ever been on a commercial airline flight, imagine those views—but you can see out three sides of the aircraft and you’re smack dab between two mountains with only alpine lakes and no civilization in sight. The landing was even more stunning—a grass runway between two tree-covered mountains and a drop-off right at the trailhead.
Once we had expressed our gratitude and said goodbye to our pilot, we discussed—intermittently, because you couldn’t hear anything over the aircrafts on the runway—our plans for the next four days. We would follow the road to a trail, hike that for four miles, and then camp at a Big Creek trail junction for the next two nights while we cleaned one of the trails that led away from the junction.
I thought, “Four miles?! That’s nothing, right?” Wrong. It didn’t help that I hadn’t tightened my hip straps for the first mile of our trek, but turns out carrying 50 pounds on your back isn’t the greatest feeling! Ok, ok, I’m being dramatic; in reality, it wasn’t bad and I felt so cool with a Pulaski strapped to the side of my pack, but it definitely was more difficult than I expected.
The trek was absolutely gorgeous though—we were surrounded by mountains and hiked by a creek the entire way. There was a snake, some stories, and a bee-moth hybrid looking thing that was trying to dig itself into a hole in the middle of a trailhead. There were creek crossings, side hills (Timothy wasn’t a fan), and history lessons. There were burnt trees, downed logs (pro tip: don’t jump off a two-foot-wide downed tree with a 50-pound backpack on if you want to have a painless backpacking experience).
Eventually, we made it to our campsite—a grass clearing right beside the rapidly flowing creek. I didn’t think it was possible for the views to continue being as amazing as they were, but they did. I claimed some prime tent real estate right next to a little alcove in the creek (which I later learned is against wilderness rules… my bad) where the sun shone perfectly through tree branches during late afternoon. It was magical.
Once we had gotten our bearings at the campground, we got to work with lessons on bear hangs, water filtering, and wilderness cooking. Once we completed these lessons, the six of us were tasked with building our own bear hang. It may have taken us 30 minutes and cost us a few skeptical glances from April and Ian, but we managed!
Now that we had everything set up, we had an hour or so to kill before dinner, so a few of us played some card games. SO MANY CARD GAMES. There was Texas Hold ’Em, Gin, Lucky Unders—you name it.
Our dinner was delicious. We had rice, beans, tomatoes, and onions. There was a little too much rice, which I was determined we could finish as a group, but nobody else was in on my mission. It was fair—there was over a half-gallon left… Safe to say we did not finish it.
Anyway, after dinner we played a few games as a group, which got very chaotic. My favorite of which was “Yeehaw,” which involved lots of laughter and yelling. With that, the first night was over—and very successful.
Day 2 began with creaky joints and a light chill in the air. It was a very relaxed morning with bagels and much-needed instant coffee. We were quick to get stuff done and pack our things, which meant we were on the trail in no time.
Today was just a trail work day, and I think we were all thankful for the lighter loads in our packs. We were intercepted by our first downed tree pretty soon after we started on the trail and quickly got to work learning how to clear it. We were shown how to clear the area with loppers, how to make sure we’re safe during trail work, and—the most fun part—how to cut the tree away from the trail and roll it down the mountain.
The first tree took a long time because everyone was getting the feel for using the crosscut and the KatanaBoy saw, but we eventually got the section that was blocking the trail cut loose. I was lucky enough to get to do the final cut, and it was such a fun and adrenaline-filled feeling when the entire middle section collapsed and was finally cut free. As a group, we got behind the log and rolled it off the trail with a feeling of satisfaction.
However, not even 10 minutes later we heard a noise and looked over to watch as the top portion of the tree slid down to block the trail again. This was… unfortunate, but I was honestly just excited for the chance to use the saw again, so it was ok.
At this point, we decided to split into two groups. April’s group would go work on cutting away smaller trees and lopping bushes from the trail up ahead, while Ian’s group (the one I was in) worked on cutting the larger logs from the trail.
Once April’s group left, we began to work on the tree that had slid back into the trail again, and got through it much faster the second time around. After a brief trek and lunch break overlooking the creek, we were quickly onto cutting more large logs that were blocking the trail.
Turns out trail clearing is a very physically demanding and dirty process. By the time we had done two logs, my muscles ached and I was covered from head to toe in dirt, sweat, and residual burnt tree soot. However, never have I enjoyed manual labor more than on this day. I felt so empowered using the crosscut saw and rolling massive logs down the sides of hills. At one point, there was a four-tree pileup, and with one cut we were able to remove all the logs from blocking the trail.
By the time we were done clearing trails, everyone was exhausted and their skin looked black from the amount of dirt that was caked on sweat. However, the feeling of fulfillment that came with this exhaustion was unmatched. I have never been so happy to be out on a trail with a group of people, and I have never felt as strong as I did today.
Ok… when I said it came directly from my trail journal, I meant it. However, at this point in the trip I had reached a level of tiredness that left me with zero motivation to write anything down. It was nap time.
So, I unfortunately don’t have any more trail journal excerpts. However, if I did, they would likely sound a lot like the ones you just read: yapping about beautiful nature, excitement over trail work, and uncomfortable descriptions of how dirty I was. So, I will spare you those details.
In the end, the important thing that I took away from this incredible experience (and that you hopefully take away from this blog post) is that wilderness is amazing, and having the opportunity to protect it is a gift in so many ways.
If you have the opportunity to explore the wilderness—whether it be through the SBFC Foundation or just on a family camping trip—I deeply encourage you to do so because I can promise you will not regret it. Additionally, if you are even considering applying for a trip with the SBFC Foundation, you absolutely should, because it is one of the most incredible, unique, and empowering opportunities that I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of, and I believe everyone should have the chance to experience it the way I did. April and Ian are some of the most welcoming individuals I have ever met, and you will not regret a chance to explore the beautiful outdoors with them as your guides.
The SBFC Youth Wilderness program is made possible by donors and sponsors, including: the National Forest Foundation, the Lightfoot Foundation, Boise Cascade , Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Fund, Weyerhaeuser, Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, J.R. Simplot Company Foundation, Lamb Foundation, Blackfoot Communications, Ravalli Electric Co-op, May Hardware, Missoula Electric Cooperative, Missoula Sentinel Kiwainis, the River Network, the Rapp Family Foundation, the Montana Department of Natural Resources, the Connie Saylor Johnson Wilderness Education Grant, and private donors!