Richard Layne's long walk is finally over.

The Helena backcountry hiker emerged at the Sam Billings Memorial campsite on the West Fork of the Bitterroot River on Wednesday morning.

He'd been walking for 19 days, picking up where he left off in early April, when a busted snowshoe and fiercely cold weather forced him to temporarily abandon his plan to make a 125-mile trek through much of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

"Well, there were some surprises, and probably the worst one was that I really didn't bring enough food," said the 56-year-old Layne.

Layne's original vision involved walking into the mountains at Blodgett Pass near Hamilton, making his way north and west to Elk Summit, then turning south into Moose Creek. From there, he'd follow Moose Creek to the Selway River, reprovision at Paradise, then climb up White Cap Creek to Boulder Pass on his way to Sam Billings.

It was an ambitious plan that slowly fell apart when March delivered a series of gnarly storms as Layne made his way to and over Blodgett Pass. Before he could reach Elk Summit, Layne had damaged a snowshoe, making the hard going even harder.

At Elk Summit, Layne decided to walk north, toward Highway 12 in Idaho, instead of south.

"If I had turned south instead of north, I wouldn't have made it," he said then. "It's that simple."

Layne took a week and half to recover -- not enough time, he soon realized -- then got a snowmobile ride back to Elk Summit to resume the trip. That was April 12.

His reservations about his plan returned quickly.

"Day Two was very, very difficult, as I tried to make my way down into Moose Creek," said Layne, a photographer who hopes to sell pictures of his journey.

His photography equipment was just part of a massive 95-pound pack Layne carried into the mountains, and that weight proved more than just heavy.

"There were times coming down into Moose Creek when I really thought I would have to lower the pack," he said. "It was unwieldy and dangerous."

Once he got into the drainage, travel didn't get much easier, as he constantly broke through the crusty snow with his snowshoes.

"It was really a pain, and I was pretty worried about hurting myself on every step," he said. "I had hoped it would be beautiful down there, but it was really unpleasant."

When he finally made his way to the Selway, Layne got out of the snow for a while.

"It was springtime conditions down there, with some flowers blooming and lots of elk," he said. "It was really a relief."

Still, Layne found himself eating more food than he planned. When he pulled into outfitter Jason Clinkenbeard's camp at Paradise on the Selway, he was famished.

"I spent three days there and I tell you what, I did a lot of eating," Layne said with a laugh.

Even so, he lost about 20 pounds in less than 20 days.

"It's a great weight-loss program that I don't recommend," he said.

From Paradise, Layne made his way up White Cap Creek and into the snow once again, as he lurched toward Boulder Pass.

"I ended up getting dumped on again as I made my way up, and it took a lot longer than I imagined," Layne said.

Still, by Wednesday morning, Layne was eating a load of pancakes and getting ready to go home to Helena.

"As much as I love being there in the backcountry," he said, "I love the civilized part of this world, too -- the roads, the warmth, the roof over my head, the pancakes. I'm glad to be going home."

http://www.richardlaynephoto.com/" rel="external">Click here for Layne's full story and photographs.