Primal Quest Montana Epilogue

…and just like that, another Primal Quest is history, with truly epic visions of Montana eternally etched into our oxygen-depleted memories.

Wow! The numbers are still a bit too staggering to wrap our heads around (550+ miles traveled, 8 total hours of sleep, 38 degree whitewater, 5 *real* bears encountered, 40,000 calories consumed daily (and that’s just Mike’s portion!), 2100 vertical feet of dizzying, straight-up, technical rock ascending, etc.,.).

And, alas, the numbers only tell a small part of the overall experience. We were fortunate to have a professional photographer (and also a pretty darn good Blogger) in our good friend Hlavs to follow us around and document our travels. If you haven’t done so already, you can get an up-close-and-personal summary of our team’s race from www.nextepicadventure.blogspot.com, where Hlavs was generous enough to post excerpts from is journal and some awesome photos and video clips.

It was a Primal Quest to the very core, and the life-altering lessons we will carry with us forever.

Throughout this epic adventure, the four of us stuck up for one-another like a small platoon of Navy Seals, moving as a single unit through challenge after challenge with silent and fluid efficiency. We encountered many break-downs and seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way, but each time we re-grouped, re-assessed and executed with cautious discipline, and came out the other side on top. There are no numbers, or pictures or words that can capture the sense of accomplishment we gained from this week of experiences in the Montana wilderness.



And, in spite of the “party on!” attitude we maintained throughout the race, we absolutely could not have finished this race without the expert care and selfless devotion of our two-person support crew, Beau Johnson and Tanya Wood. They did everything from haul equipment from TA to TA, to treat feet for blisters and strains, to cook meals, to boss us around like the helpless children we were when we came through camp. They were as much of the team as the four of us racers.

We did all we could to provide a return for the investment that our sponsors made in our team to make this huge financial and logistical endeavor possible. Of course, we are deeply indebted to Nike and Gore-Tex , who provided the critical financial foundation. They also donated a bounty of superior technical footwear and outerwear, which we put to the ultimate test during PQ-MT. Additional products and services provided by our other sponsors proved to be invaluable through the hundreds of hours of training, planning and execution that went into this race for us: Backcountry.com, Ellsworth Bikes, Tifosi Optics, Knead a Massage, Kahtoola, Spot, Petzl, TyRy Foods, Hyland Cyclery, Fat Tire Farm, Luck Labrador Brew Pub (yes, beer at the finish line is a powerful incentive!). We hope we made each of them proud to be a sponsor of Team Nike ACG / Gore-Tex.



Thanks to all of our friends, family and acquaintances for taking interest in our race. Believe me , we felt your presence and your encouraging thoughts, pulling us through during the darkest hours. We hope that our brief, 7-day, jam-packed journey will inspire you to go and embark in your own epic adventure, however you define that term.

Cheers!
Mike Dawson and Team Nike ACG / Gore-Tex (Ken Meyer, Peter Courogen and Julie Leasure)