Truly One Foot In Front of the Other – CDT Edition

40 ROADWALK #5 7/24/2921 chill in morning, sunny, very hot. I packed up my tent after 5 days at the Wisdom RV park and headed out. Letting Justin sleep-in for once. The weather was quite cool and chilly. I had my windbreaker and gloves on for the next two hours of hiking. The dirt road was east and the miles flew by. I got to Pintler Trailhead at 12:15 and there was Justin! We took it easy the rest of the afternoon. I did my prep by converting from slack pack to backpack. Food, water, and set up tent all took some time. A guy stopped by the trailhead and we chatted about 15 minutes. Otherwise it was quiet. Dinner was a steak celebration for completing the road walk. As we were eating we saw a puffy white cloud appear over the tree tops. Our antennae were alerted that this might be a forest fire. So we drove a few miles to learn that it was, but on the other side of the valley. Justin is going to Anaconda tomorrow and will investigate. I’ll keep my InReach on to get messages. If I encounter anything I’m returning to this trailhead. Tomorrow will be a very hard day for me with a full pack, bear canister and two big climbs.

39 ROADWALK #4 7/23/2021 cool, sunny, puffy white clouds. Today Justin drove me 20 miles to where I had ended yesterday just south of Jackson MT. I started hiking about 5:25 am which is even earlier. It was quite cool this morning so I wore my windbreaker. I listened to The Last Town and started on The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. I found the latter slow so far. I met Gaia SOBO thru-hiker after Jackson. I finished in Wisdon around 12:15. Ate lunch and prepped for tomorrow. Then Justin and I took showers since we are paying for them. I’m uncertain what to do for a new air mattress. I’m going to try to make do with the super short one I have left. The rest of the afternoon we just chilled and chatted. Dinner was pork tacos, corn chips and bean dip. They were filling and good. The fire is dropping ash on us. I’m trying to get to bed earlier today. Tomorrow I’ll probably start hiking before light – a first on this section. I’ll be using Avenza app for the first time too to get to the Pintler Trailhead. Night night.

38 ROADWALK #3 7/22/2021 cool, sunny, puffy white clouds. Because I’m getting closer to Wisdom MT it’s taking less time to drive me to the start point. Today Justin drove me 40 miles to where I had ended yesterday. I started hiking about 5:45 am which is early. I met Breezy and Ridges on my way up Big Hole Pass. Otherwise I saw no one else. I was zooming along at 3 mph slack packing. I got to Justin at 12:15 and sucked down a Coke. Then we drove 20 miles to the RV park. He suggested that we buy pizza for lunch at a local bar/saloon. We walked over and went in. We ordered beers and a pizza. We talked to the bartender and 2 motorcyclists at the bar. He and his girlfriend were characters as was the bartender, Tad. The pizza was very good. We came back to the RV park and sat in the shade. We tried to repair my two air mattresses that have holes. I think I need to buy yet another air mattress. I’m slowly writing this log and nodding off. So I took a nap for two hours. Then had tortilla soup with some extra chicken. I talked to Katie on the phone and told her we’re excited about her hiking in Glacier NP. It’ll be an adventure!

37 ROADWALK #2 7/21/2021 sunny, hot. Got up again at the butt crack of dawn. Drove 60 miles to start. I decided to go from 324 to Bannack Bench to 278 and forgo the walking shortcut that was shorter but more complex. Listened to Infinite audible book. It allowed me to just walk and ignore the route. The time flew by. Got to Justin about 1:45 pm. We were invited to Greg’s front porch to chat while I drank my cold sodas and ate my lunch. Greg had allowed Justin to park on his property while he waited for me to arrive. Afterwards on the way north to Wisdom RV park we stopped to give 7 sodas again to all the SOBO hikers from yesterday. And two more to “Breezy” and “Ridge”. We got back to my tent which had partially blown down having pulled out a pole stake. We can see the smoke of the forest fire rising from the mountains in the distance. Justin made each of us 2 cheeseburgers with onions. I finished with 2 cherry tootsie roll pops.

36 ROADWALK #1 7/20/2021 sunny, hot.  Left Best Western hotel in Dillon at 4:50 am. Got to Bannock Pass at 6 am and started hiking about 6:20 am. Made great time and completed 8 miles in 2 1/2 hours. Listened to audible books to pass the time. Got to Justin at mile 20 at 1:10. I was zooming! Afterwards Justin drove tomorrow’s route. I was a rough dirt road. More a trail than a highway. Then we got on 278 and went through Jackson MT. Justin saw some hikers and pulled over. He said to me “Ask them if they want a soda”. They did. We met and talked to the following SOBO Thru-hikers: “Blue”, “Dine and dash”, “Sliders” (a woman hiker), “Rugg”, and finally a few miles further we gave a Coke to “Water boy” in the rain. Just got a campsite spot in Wisdom MT RV park. He made a chicken and corn chowder mix which was nice, spicy and filling. Tomorrow I’ll be doing another 20 miles road walk #2 slack pack.

34 2236.3 7/18/2021 sunny, hot. Packed up my tent at the pass and on a slope. I didn’t sleep well because my air mattress kept sliding inside my tent. I was up early and did my morning chores. I’m so glad I climbed 1000’ up to the spring yesterday. The remaining climb was still hard to near the summit of Elk Mountain and I was so glad to have already done most of it. Then there was a second peak to surmount and finally the descent. The mountains are getting more rocky and thus the trail was too. These aren’t small ones but 3” to 6” ones which can twist an ankle so I’ve got to be careful. Down and down I went until I got to Justin and Bannock Pass. After a soda or two we drove to Dillon for lunch. On the way we stopped at the US Forest service office although it was Sunday and closed they had posted the closures on an outside bulletin board. As we were reading it one of the Forest Service people came out and was kind enough to talk to us. He said in the next two days they would be closing Lemhi Pass, which was going to be our next meet up in two days. In other words I was walking into the fire. So we talked about skipping ahead. From Bannock Pass to Mystic Lake. We posted this to the family. Katie phoned and asked if I was considering coming back after Glacier National Park to do this piece. I told her no. Justin phone Stephanie. While they talked I started think about walking around the fire by slackpacking and meeting Justin each day. It would be about 105 miles and an awful 5-7 days but doable. So we got out maps and went over our options. We shall see. BTW we had pizza for lunch and a restaurant BBQ brisket sandwich for dinner followed by a pint of Cherry Garcia. Yum! Oh, and a shower too. Tomorrow is my first zero day and I need this break. I have to do laundry tomorrow too.

33 2224.9 7/17/2021 sunny, dry, hot. Got up while it was dark about 4:30 am and used my headlamp to see. Even though I was up early I got on trail about 5:20 am. I walked the trail I had been on looking for a campsite. When I got to Tex Creek I said to myself let’s not get my feet wet when I cross. And then I lost my balance and stomped my right foot into the creek water. Ugh! Clumsy! I met a bunch of SOBO thru-hikers: “Beats”, “Too hot”, “Gasket”, a triple crowner, “Stamps”, and “Wanted”. I got water at three different springs. I like springs, just water pouring into of a pool or out of a pipe on the side of a mountain. How cool is that! I finished my allotted 15 miles at 1:15 and decided to go on another 2 miles to make tomorrow easier. It also required me to climb 1000’ which was slow but now I don’t have to do it tomorrow. Tomorrow I will meet Justin at Bannock Pass and only have 11.5 miles to get there.

32 2207.3 7/16/2021 sunny, some clouds, sprinkles at dinner time. Woke to a clear sky. All my gear is lightly damp especially my tent after yesterday night’s rain. Packed it all up. It is heavy with 3 days of food and 2 extra liters of water. Climbs were OK. I’m glad I’m only doing 15 miles today. Met two SOBO Swiss thru-hikers, Jan and Lars. At the end of the day met another, Raphael (sp?). Originally I went farther on trail, but could not find a good campsite so walked back to a better one. This is something I never do, but I was having troubles setting up my tent in a shady spot at the further spot near a stream.