Daily Log: Day 5

05 1763.8 6/19/2021 sunny and some clouds. Woke at 4:45 and did my abolition’s, then went back and waited for Justin to wake at 5. I ate breakfast in my tent waiting. Then we packed up and we’re off. Overall the trail was better but we still had 4-5 bigger blowdowns. We got to the Big Sandy River and his campsite about 8:30 am. A neighbor stopped by to say hello. He mentioned the trail was ok north for three miles and then it had blowdowns. We packed up the Jeep and drove about two hours to Pinedale. We got a room and took showers to get the dirt off. All my scratches were yelling ow, ow, ow. But I felt so much better by scrubbing the dirt from the wounds. We went for lunch at a brew pub. Next door was an outfitter where I bought two pairs of pants and new hiking shoes. Oh and a pole tip. The pants were too long so we dropped them off to be altered. Justin is a great help. I couldn’t get all this done without him. Ate dinner at Pitchfork Fondue.

Colorful sunrise for Justin and I approaching the Wind River range of mountains
Together we hiked out towards the Jeep with bug nets on, because the mosquitoes were miserable (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Some of the blowdowns have been cleared. This one had the CTD logo sawed into it. Look how disheveled I am after only a few days on trail. The bug net makes me look even dirtier.
Justin, my savior and hiking buddy, with his bug net on and happy to have a bridge to cross over this rushing stream
Finally at the hotel in Pinedale WY and ready for a shower to get some of the trail filth washed off
Now the dirt is washed off. My legs are clean but chewed up from climbing over, under, and around the blowdowns.
Justin’s text message to family: “Better (read: worse) angle” (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Pitchfork Fondue consisted of a large tank of hot oil and used actual pitchforks with the chefs dressed as grizzly old cowboys – or maybe they were actually cowboys playing the part of chefs! (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Skewered streak à la pitchfork fondue (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
We had the choice of steak, chicken, fish and corn so we tried all four – all very deep-fried and very very well-done, which bespeaks to the assumption that the chefs were probably real Wyoming cowboys. Yet it was quite fun and I needed that after the last few very difficult trail days. (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)

Daily Log: Day 4

04 1759.9 6/18/2021 sunny, some clouds. Got up at first light, did my toilet first, came back and packed up, was on trail at 5:05. Started my climb. I was glad that I waited until the next day, because there were blowdowns. Many and dense ones. I sometimes need to climb up and balance to tightrope walk to the next one and the next before slowly getting down. I realize that I did one mile in one hour and 45 minutes. I sent an InReach message asking Justin to head my way with another days food. The InReach messages looked to be out of order or missing some. Today I lost my InReach itself when I took off my pack to crawl through a little hole of blowdowns branches. I noticed it was gone later. So I got to water, filled up and then went back. In the meantime I had gotten LTE so sent Justin some messages. I got back and found it – whew! But that would put me even later. I finally got to my stopping point and Justin messaged me that somehow he had passed me. Oh no! So I told him where I was and he had to get back to me. He did over 4 extra miles through all the awful blowdowns. OMG! He set up his tent. We ate dinner together and went over what we should do next time. First use only InReach – no cell phone. Include time and trail mileage with each message. Tomorrow is an early zero day. My pants are in tatters. I’m all scraped up especially my shins and need a shower and bandages – many, many bandages. 

See “The Blowdown Lowdown” for Justin’s description of the whole affair.

Stopped for the day at Dutch Joe Creek. Awaiting Justin’s arrival.
Once Justin arrived I showed him my thoroughly scratched legs (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
And my tattered pants (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Scratched inside right leg. Notice the ripped up pants leg.
Scratched outside right leg.
Scratched inside left leg.
Scratched outside left leg.

Daily Log: Day 3

03 1755.1 6/17/2021 sunny, clear. Woke at 4:45 and was on trail at 5:20. Lots of mosquitoes buzzing my head so I ate fast. Later the mosquitoes were so bad I put my bug net on. First thing was a climb. Lots of huffing and puffing. Gotta get in shape. At the crest I began to encounter more blow downs. All day was one blowdown after another. Some were stacked six feet high. I would try to hike over but many required me to stop, climb up and descend. Bunches of blow downs looked impenetrable. I tried to go around but getting off trail is unsettling. And all I did was encounter more blowdowns. It’s exhausting. In four hours I did four miles. Embrace the brutality is the CDT. Today was brutal. I ended at 3 pm and covered about 7-8 miles. Oh and somewhere I lost my sleeping mat but still have my air mattress. And I ripped my pants on a stick and sewed them up. Tomorrow is 10 miles to Justin – OMG it might take me even longer. 

Blowdowns across the trail, one after another after another, very slow going. This was not what I expected especially just starting out hiking.
Not easy for a short guy. Miles of blowdowns. My pants are shredded having caught on branches over and over.

Daily Log: Day 2

02 1746.9 6/16/2021 clear, sunny. Didn’t sleep well. I just laid there thinking. I looked at my watch and it was 12:47 am. I’m worried about snow in these mountains. I didn’t have enough to eat and I’m cold. Gotta bring a bigger dinner and my warmer sleeping bag. Looked at watch 4:10 am. Starting to get light out. Oh well sleep or no sleep I have to hike. Packed up and was on trail around 5:15. I was worried about the climbs. I should have been worried about the blow downs. One after another after another. Slowed me down. So I won’t do 15 miles today. Saw a moose about 30 feet away as it ran off. The sudden movement scared me. At about 11 am I took a break. Just sat and rested. The climbs and blowdowns were wearing me out. I ate lunch and tried to nap. I only had about 3 more miles. When I finally started again I felt better. But near the end a muscle in my right leg cramped up. That was a first. And shockingly painful. But after it relaxed I carried on for the last little bit. I got to a stream and found a camp site. So water is plentiful. 

Daily Log: Day 1

Meetup: 01 1733.6 6/15/2021 clear, sunny. Left SLC and drove to start at mile 1722.3. Pictures, message to family, off I went at 2 pm. Justin drove ahead down the same dirt road. He got to a water crossing and it didn’t look good. So back he came. We chatted and he went off to find another better water crossing. I continued on. For the first 7 miles I climbed. I was out of breath a lot. My feet were sore too. I went from 8500 to 9200 feet. Should have been easy, but it was hard. After that it was a descent and there were many many blowdown. I kept pushing to get to Justin. I got to him at 7:30 pm. I was exhausted. A quick dinner, put up my tent, did some planning. I’ll be on my own for three days. We’ll meet up at Big Sandy trailhead.

Facing North, Ready to start hiking to Canada (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Justin and I in the wind ready for the adventures to follow (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Justin text message: “Off he goes” (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)

Daily Log: Pre-Hike/Day 0

0 Pre-Hike 6/14/2021 sunny.

Arriving in Salt Lake City and 102 degree F heat
Met up with Justin and now we’re at the hotel (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)
Previously I had sent all my gear to Justin. He packed it in his Jeep and drove it to Salt Lake City. After unloading the Jeep he wrote to the rest of the family: “The Gear Refamiliarization Process Begins!”. I call it “Becoming Tartan” (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)

Almost down for the count

As my last post said I hurt myself. I pulled a groin muscle and had to stop exercising entirely for 6 weeks. I felt that my hike was kaput. I could barely walk. But over time it began to heal. Then I tried exercising with a 12 lb weight belt. The first few weeks I took Advil each morning beforehand. I was sore. I didn’t know if I could hike. Finally I stopped the Advil but I still had pain, burning and tightness. I was depressed and still it didn’t look like I could hike. But over time the pain and tightness lessened. By the beginning of June I was up to 18 lbs and doing 10-12 miles each day. So although I had wanted to be fitter (going longer with a heavier weight) I am going to attempt this last section from South Pass City WY to the Canadian border. This will probably be the hardest hike I’ve ever done. Justin’s support is crucial. I’ll start slowly. So here goes. I have my flight for June 14 to Salt Lake City where I’ll meet Justin. Then we’ll be off to the races, or more likely off-to-the-slow-and-steady-hike.

Training again

On January 1, 2021 I started training again around Austin. I’m training for my last 1268-mile section of the Continental Divide Trail from South Pass City WY to the Canadian border. After the last hike and up until then I’d been sedentary. I started with 3.5 miles per day and so far I have built up to 9.1 miles per day. Also I started with 0 weight and have built up to 12 lbs via my weight vest. Each Saturday I do a long hike also with the vest. Today I included hills. From now on I’ll climbed Mount Bonnell on Tuesdays and Ladera Norte on Thursdays. Today I climbed Mount Bonnell 4 times after starting at Mayfield Park. This was followed by a 2.25 mile loop around and down Balcones Drive back to the park. As a result I have a sore left hip which hopefully will feel better tomorrow.

At the summit of Mount Bonnell wearing my weight vest, reflective sash, hat, headphones and buff for COVID-19 pandemic protection although I’m fully vaccinated since February.

Daily Log: PostHike/Day 70

Day 70 – Sunday 9/20/2020 – sunny. Yesterday we we drove from the hike’s ending point in the forest to Santa Rosa NM where we stayed overnight at a Holiday Inn Express. Then today we drove the rest of the way home.

On the road back to home with the remnants of the hike clearly visible on and in the Jeep
Justin and I back home with my sweetheart, Kathy. I am partially transformed from Tartan to beard-shaved Brian while still wearing my Tartan outfit or some might say my Tartan “costume“. (Photograph Courtesy of J. Watt)