Truly One Foot In Front of the Other – CDT Edition

22 2019.8 7/6/2021. Sunny, hot,puffy white clouds. On trail at 5:30 am. My worries about crossing Summit Lake exit stream were nonexistent. No water ford was needed. Although I was loaded down with maximum water I hiked along quickly. For the first two hours I listened for animal noises. In that time I completed over 5 mile which was my plan. Then I had my first snack and sipped just a little water. I took off my windbreaker and started to listen to my audio book. In two more hours at 9:30 I completed 5 more miles. At 11:30 I found a culvert with a pool of water about six feet across and a foot deep. I stopped for lunch there. I guzzled a bottle of water and refilled. I continued on at 12:05 and at about 2 pm I had completed my 20 miles. Then I started to look for a campsite. I was walking down a forest road. I finally found one after a gate blocking the road and set up my tent at a pull-out and sent out my daily InReach message. That’s when I saw Justin had been to this gate the day before. So I sent him a message asking him to join me here. In about 30-45 minutes he was pulled-in with COLD SODAS! Over the next few hours I drank five sodas. I must have been dehydrated. He made pork tacos and they were delicious. Tomorrow I planning on slack packing 20 miles. Water will again be tight so I’m carrying 3 liters. We will meet again and have BBQ. I’m trying to boost my daily mileage after the very hard and very slow start due to the damn blowdown hell.

21 1998.0 7/5/2021 cloudy, rain, little sun. Justin and I packed up, ate breakfast and hiked out about 5:45 am. Justin had his backpack with both his and my stuff. I had my daypack and tent. We chatted on the way out which made the time fly by. Soon we were at the Jeep at the Howard Easton Trailhead and it started to rain. Hurriedly I unpack my daypack and Justin gave me my gear he was carrying. I organized my pack contents. My food was already prepared. At about 7 am I hiked out on my own. I walked by many steaming geothermal items and the morning was cool so they were especially steamy. About half way I had a steep climb that i pushed to complete. I was dripping sweat for the 1500’ elevation change. Once done I hiked quietly and arrived at my OE1 campsite. The clouds were threatening so I put up my tent. Got water, dug a cat hole and jumped into my tent just as a half hour rain storm arrived. It was cool, but every so often the sun broke through the clouds and warmed the tent. I did some chores such as stitch holes in my “not so new” shoes. It’s only been two weeks since I bought them in Pinedale! I read and enjoyed Justin’s blog entries.  Now I am doing my daily chores to prepare for tomorrow. It looks like the next section is much drier and I need to load up on water and refill at every water source I find on the way to the next meetup.

See “Yellowstone Backcountry Transit” for Justin’s description of the last few days.

20 1984.1 7/4/2021 sunny with puffy clouds. Justin woke me at 5 am although I had been awake since 4 am. We packed up the Jeep and Justin drove me 40 minutes to Heart Lake Trailhead where I had left off yesterday. Then I was off at 6 am on my slack-pack hike. I listened to a book on tape for the first time. And I arrived at 1:20 pm with a 20 minute lunch stop. Justin was already there. After lunch I took a nap and it was only when Justin woke me at 6 pm that we started dinner. I had curry which was fine. Justin forgot his spoon and sucked stroganoff out of his mountain house bag. The wind picked up and it started to rain so after dinner we hung our bear bags and went into our separate tents for the night.

19 1963.6 7/3/2021 sunny, some clouds, some dark clouds in distance. Got up, packed and shortly after 5:30 Justin and I were hiking. We stopped at Heart Lake for a snack and talk to the rangers who stopped by our campsite yesterday while I was sleeping. We only had 12 miles to the Jeep. There was a medium climb of 600’ about halfway. For the entire hike Justin and I chatted and the miles sped by. So nice. We got to the Jeep at Heart Lake Trailhead at about 11 am. We drove from there to the Howard Eaton trailhead where tomorrow Justin will park and hike in 3 miles to meet me with our overnight equipment. I will be slack-packing 20 miles to OA1 campsite. Next we drove to Old Faithful Lodge.  Check in time was 4:30 pm so we went to eat at the Geyser Grill. I got a double bacon cheeseburger. Then we sat out, relaxed until about 3 pm and got to our cabin. Justin took his shower first while I repaired my gear. I had to sew some rips and a button. Justin washed his clothes in the sink. I showered with my clothes and washed them along with myself. Then I organized my slack pack for tomorrow which is a first for this section. Then it was figuring out the gear for tomorrow’s overnight and food for the next three days by myself. Finally after all this prep we got dinner of pulled-pork at the lodge. A busy wonderful different day. Thank you Justin! I was so tired that while Justin called Stephanie I could barely keep my eyes open so I went to sleep. Stephanie has been helping Katie with hiking and camping stuff. I really appreciate her helping Katie prepare for her hike.

18 1951.6 7/2/2021 sunny, clear, puffy white clouds. Woke about 4:45. Justin and I were on trail about 5:30. Lots of little ups and downs which were tiring. Overall the terrain was flatish. I led and Justin followed. He was gracious to chat to keep me entertained to make the time go by and to scare off any bears. We stopped for lunch by Heart River. And soon we were at our reserved site 8J3 after 14.6 miles. We had a little trouble finding the site because we had to cross Surprise Creek to see our marker. Our tents are up and we’re each in our tents to keep the mosquitoes away. Although dark clouds threaten, no rain has happened.

17 1937.0 7/1/2021 clear, sunny, cloudy, rain, thunder. Although it rained yesterday afternoon it was clear when I awoke. Unfortunately because I had both side flaps down/sealed the inside of my tent was wet which got the inside dirt and dust wet too so the ceiling became muddy after I packed up the tent. I was on trail at my regular time but since today was a meetup day I sent a message to Justin telling him I was leaving camp. The first few miles were easy, but then I started a 2000’ climb over 3 miles. I got it done but it took time and a lot of energy. I messaged Justin when I summited. The descent took time because I used my poles to slow myself down – they are my “brakes”. I got to our initially planned meetup spot but decided to go on to shorten his hiking distance. I finally stopped just at the YNP boundary and sent him a message. The rain was threatening and delayed Justin a bit. Justin is here now and we’re sharing our adventure stories – his first hitchhike and his hike along with my hike.

16 1922.1 6/30/2021 Sunny with white puffy clouds. Although the knoll I was on was windy everything stayed ok all night. The morning was warm there too. I was on trail at 5:30. The first climb was uneventful but there are more than average number of blowdowns to circumvent. I got tired of them real quick. There had been a massive forest fire that instigated these blowdowns. Several horse groups passed me and I got out of their way for them. At one small creek crossing there was mud on the far side. Not thinking I crossed, stepped in the mud and sunk. I pulled my foot out of my shoe but the gaiter keep it attached. I hobbled to the creek side, sat down and took off my shoes. I washed my socks and shoes, and put them back on. What a mess. Later I had to cross the sibling North Buffalo Fork River. No bridge and the current was moving fast. Again it was slow and careful, but my stress was high – did not want to fall. The water depth reached my crotch and the water flow caused my poles to vibrate again. Sheesh! I met three hikers going southbound. Then I had one final climb of the day. Slow and steady I climbed. On the other side was my objective – a creek at mile 1922. Once refilled I found a flat spot right beside the trail. The mosquitoes were swarming so I put up my tent, jumped inside and killed any mosquitoes inside. I was done for the day. But wait. A few minutes later someone outside asked if I was in my tent. I said yes and they asked if I would get out and step away from the trail about 20’. Ok I did that and then as he passed he loudly complained that I put my tent too close to the trail. Since I barely have seen anyone over the past two weeks I ignored it. A few minutes later another group of pack horses. So I got out and moved off. However, this time the second horse and rider got spooked by my tent and his horse turned around. This cause the remaining four pack horse to get detached. These horses went around my tent on the other side – very nearly trampling my tent and equipment. I got back in and tried to relax. Just as I decided I’d move my tent back 15’ off trail yet another set of horses came by. Where the hell are all of them coming from or going to. So I moved my tent, re-killed all the inside mosquitoes and hopefully it’ll be a little less stressful from now on. Naturally no other horses came by after that. What an ending for a day!

15 1905.5 6/29/2021 sunny, some clouds. It was cold yesterday night and I pulled and put on my puffy overnight. The ground and tent had frost on it. Another reason not to sleep in a basin. I left at 5:35. The bear can is heavy but it’s my choice to carry it. The trail started fine but devolved into a hard lumpy mess that wore out my ankles. The mess was caused by cattle and horses using the trail in spring when the track is soft mud. Later the hardens and is much like rocks. The problem is that it goes on for miles. My left ankle is not 100% right now.  Then I had to ford the South Buffalo Fork. It was wide and crotch deep. My poles hummed in the very fast current. I got across but it is only a matter of time before I could slip, fall and get totally soaked or worse – dragged down river. I got to the goal creek only to learn later the I was a mile early. So after loading up on water I searched for a campsite. Finding nothing nearby I continued on climbing. Finally I found a flat spot and put up my tent. It’s a bit windy which I hope is ok. Also I came to realize that the NEXT creek should have been my ending point so I’m short by 1/2 miles. Oh well I’ll make it up tomorrow.