By ROGER GRISSETTE, for The Democrat

It was hard to tell who was more surprised: the moose or the campers. The moose, an immature cow, was probably trying to figure out what we were doing in her grazing field with our bright tents housing 11 backpackers.

We met Ms. Moose the second evening of seven days our hikers from the Brown County YMCA were spending in Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Being careful not to alarm her, we all got pictures to document our meeting and the moose moved off to find her dinner.

Camping just below 10,000 feet elevation, we were exploring part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Intact wilderness areas like this help support the biodiversity of plants and animals Yellowstone National Park is famous for. It’s a dramatically beautiful area of glacier-carved granite near and above tree line. Heavy forests of straight, tall lodgepole pine give way to alpine meadows. Rock Creek rushes down from the heights to Calamity and Sentinel waterfalls.

In spring of last year, many of the same members of the YMCA’s core fitness class explored the Escalante River Canyons in southern Utah, a protected National Monument. This year, many of those same folks wanted to return to explore other parts of the intermountain west. The Beartooth Wilderness is a more rigorous hike with heavier loads and higher altitudes. For some, this would be their first serious backpack trip.

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Planning for our trip started almost a year in advance. Though most of our hikers were in good shape thanks to “Y” fitness programs, we did conditioning hikes in the Brown County countryside with backpacks loaded with books or weights to help prepare for fully loaded packs at high elevations.

We had 11 participants, five women and six men, mostly over 50, including one who’d recently completed cancer treatment. After our first day, a runner in the group commented, “I can already tell, this is going to be harder than any marathon I’ve run.” Our attention was held by the stunning scenery and the thrill of climbing up to a rock outcrop or seeing cascading cold, supremely clear water. Yes, we were all tired at night and had no trouble quickly falling asleep even if we set our tent up on the odd stone or slope.

We flew into Billings, Montana, and with rental vans, drove from Billings to the Red Lodge Montana, a town with lots of tourist attractions that’s not much larger than Nashville.

One of the common questions backpackers are asked is about “things that go bump in the night.” Despite its namesake, we saw no bears in the Beartooth! Probably because there’s not much a bear would be interested in above tree line. Bears in the wild usually avoid people, especially groups of four or more.

The next most common question backpackers get from friends is, “How can you stand to go a week without a bath?” Our hikers discovered a cool mountain lake and our sleeping pads worked like rafts. This made for a refreshing way to rinse off the trail dust.

No backpack in the mountains would be complete without a night filled with rain squalls, rolling, continuous thunder, and lightning. After an especially thundery night, we awoke to a clear, sunny morning, but our tents were circled by piles of sleet. I keep reminding myself, “This is why it’s called an adventure vacation.”

We had three beautifully situated campsites. The first was reached by a steep climb to a hanging valley with twin lakes. The water was clear and cool with bare granite in every direction. We were able to do a half-day hike to help getting used to hiking above 10,000 feet.

After two nights there, we had a short move to our next camp at the base of Sundance Pass, where we could see the handiwork of the glaciers that carved out these broad valleys. This pass is a steep climb up talus and boulders that looked impassable from a distance, but on closer inspection, the Forest Service had constructed rock trails that made our 1,400-foot climb a little more attainable. Even in late July, we still had to cross a snow cornice.

Our last campsite was beside September Morn Lake, another beautiful lake, fed by a small waterfall with surrounding rock, big trees and bright subalpine vegetation begging to be explored.

We returned from our adventure restored, renewed and inspired by the untamed landscapes and by the challenges of taking on nature on her own terms. Experiences like this help to consider our place in the universe. Before we got back to town, people were already talking about where they wanted to go next summer!

As a volunteer trip guide with the Sierra Club, Roger Grissette of Brown County has taken more than 1,000 people out for weeklong adventure vacations. He loves to share special wild places with others.