My most miserable day on the CDT
On 9/13 I’m walking deep through the Helena National Forest, seeing only an occasional hunter all day. It’s 80 degrees and smoky.
This section of the divide is very dry. At 7k feet this is my last water source for 16 miles.
On 9/14 it started snowing, and withing a few hours I was walking in snow drifts.
It’s not so bad, the snow brushes off my rain jacket, but I stop taking pictures when I can’t feel my hands anymore.
Because of a fire closure ahead, I re-route off Roger’s Pass down highway 200. As I drop in elevation, the snow turns to slush, and eventually rain. It’s 38 degrees and raining, after 8 hours my rain jacket has soaked through turning my baselayer into a sponge. My hands are so cold, they won’t do what I ask them to.
It’s okay, after 31 miles I make camp as the temperature drops and the rain turns to snow. It’s been a pretty rough day, started snowing as soon as I left camp in the morning, and it’s been relentless all day. Fortunately the fire re-route has me on a dirt country road so I’m not exposed at higher elevations.
Soaking wet, I set up my shelter and look forward to getting into the only dry layer I have in my pack, my down jacket. I take it out, and it too, is soaking wet. I neglected to replace my pack liner in my last town stop… Ohhhh okay… Shit…
My sleeping bag, also wet but not dripping. I keep my baselayers on as I don’t have anything dry. I’m cold all night, I wake up often to vivid dreams.
Heavy, wet snow collapses my poncho tarp twice in the morning. My hands were too cold to properly stake out the night before…
As everything is clearly not fine, I tell myself everything is fine. I’m only 18 miles from town, I’ll be there soon.
It’s pretty miserable in the wind and snow, but I make it to Augusta around 2. My down insulation was dripping from underneath my rain jacket. I try to make hot chocolate at the general store, but I can’t get my hands to open the packet.
I run into a hiker I haven’t seen since New Mexico. He gets me to the inn/hostel where I shower. I shower for 20 minutes slowly willing the feeling back into my hands. This is ethereal.
I hang out in Augusta with some hikers for a day, trying to figure out how to get through the next 5 days in the Bob Marshall wilderness with more snow storms on the horizon.
andrew batjiaka
