I’m in Montana! Bye Wyoming!

Debris flow cutting through the forest.

From Dubois I walk through the hills leading up to Yellowstone. I’m now deep in Grizzly country. Not all thru hikers decide to carry bear spray, but I’m carrying it for a few reasons:

1. The Revenant
2. The Revenant
3. That scene from the Revenant

Thanks a LOT, Leo…

I encounter a southbound Spaniard who quickly asks me, “Any Federales ahead?” the topic of discussion of late has centered around ranger danger… I have a permit but my itinerary makes no sense. A 35 mile day followed by an 18 mile day. I get to my campsite at 11 am on the second day… I decide to push onward to Old Faithful.

I hit Old Faithful Village and go to the all you can eat buffet. I realize that since I’m here I probably have to see the geyser thing. So did 2000 other. I delay my hike out to witness… It goes off… It’s um… As expected. I did get the photo…

The other geysers aren’t bad!

The CDT follows pretty dense forest through Yellowstone. The outer lands of the park are desolate. There have been many fires in the last few decades and there’s absolutely no one out here – in stark comparison to the day before in the village. I have cold misty mornings walking through the park alone, the sun dark orange through the smoke and haze.

It’s now fire season up here and the sky has a perpetual glow. Makes for eery mornings.

I crossed another state line. 3 down and I’ve got 700-800 miles left. I’m at the point where I can reminisce fondly of my days down in New Mexico. Starting to forget how brutal hiking 30 mile days in the desert was. Soon the memories of tribulation will fade and I’ll be left with a different perspective on this adventure.

The variety of landscape in Wyoming was stunning. I criss cross the Idaho/Montana border frequently in the next couple days.

There are a bunch of sheep in the area, some of the sheep dogs are good at their jobs running at me barking and growling… This guy was just chillin though. Havin a good day.

I get to I-15 at 6 pm on Friday the 11th. An interstate hitch. It’s cold and windy and night is quickly approaching… Not only is it an interstate hitch but the trail crosses under at a seemingly random point on the road, no exit, no sign, nothing. So I’m just a guy standing in the middle of nowhere on the freeway. I don’t blame em all for not picking me up. What the hell is that guy doing there on the interstate – and how did he even get there in the first place?

This is one of those… What am I doing out here moments.. A brand new Buick will never stop. This road is all Buicks.

BUT after an hour in the cold wind, the trusty beat up mini van pulls over! Ahhhhh! Lima, Montana here we come!

There are probably 15-20 hikers in this town. I haven’t seen this many hikers since Pie Town. I’ve been going for almost 100 days and I’m still meeting new people.

There’s talk and excitement about finishing the trail. We’ll be up there in about a month. We’re close and people are starting to feel it.

Talk of going to Mexico and sitting on a beach. We just want to sit for a day, two days… a week. Sitting is so nice. But for now we push hard hitting 30+ mile days to each town stop. I’m looking at a late Sept, early October finish. The miles now are an insurance against cold/bad weather over those last couple weeks. Delays now may put us in a bad weather window. I’m not too worried but I might start packing a down jacket again.

The trail has been quite pleasant these past few days. The prospect of finishing is bittersweet. I have a bunch of fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks, Caitlin is visiting in a week!! I’ll have a few days for some much needed recovery time. We’re staying at some hot springs resorts/campgrounds. This is so good.

We’ll try to navigate the hordes of people for the eclipse. The locals are prepping for the end of the world.

I’m on day 86 of this think! About 1900 miles in. There are fires in Montana so the future of our routes is uncertain… Will just have to be flexible and see what happens!

So much has happened since my last post. But basically, I crossed the Great Divide Basin and. I traversed the entire Wind River Range.

My camera broke in the Great Divide Basin, so I took photos on a disposable, those will have to wait! But in general it’s 100 miles that look like this. Extremely flat, it certainly gave me some perspective in the scale of this area.

But the trail changes dramatically as I enter the Wind River Range. From scrub to high alpine in 20-30 miles.

I do a few alternates to get into the high routes. They’re pretty straightforward with Cirque of the Towers and Knapsack col.

There is so much flowing water in the Winds. I see so many lakes, alpine lakes on the CDT have been few. A lot of Colorado is too high on the divide for big lakes.

I guess someone in Pinedale was saying knapsack was impassable so I didn’t see many people on the route. The suncupped snow gave satisfactory but by no means great grip for me to get over by 8 am.

And then I drop into the Green River Valley. There is so much variety in Wyoming in the CDT. The trail will completely change in distance of 5 miles.

I even see three bears off in the distance. Not sure if they’re Grizzlies but they were golden brown and I’m in Wyoming… I’m picking up some bear spray in Dubois.

There are so many mosquitoes in some of these basins. I have to keep my mouth closed to avoid swallowing them as they hundreds swarm and bump into my skin.

I wonder how many calories are in a raw mosquito…

I needed a quick shoe replacement once my altras blew out at 550 miles. The outfitter in town had $130 salomons and keens… Not quite what I was looking for. The xa pros might work but they’re 130 for a much different shoe.

I also lost my fleece on day one into this 6 day stretch leaving me with no insulation layer. The outfitter has $80 fleece goodies…

$130 for shoes and $80 for insulation… I go next door to the church thrift store (the Opportunity Shop)!

I find a fleece and trail runners pretty quickly, the lady working proclaims “God is good!” and I get out the door for a total of $8.50!

These will last me at least another 100-200.

I’m currently sitting in Dubois, WY… Taking it easy for a bit to recover from the 165 mile push through the Winds. I’m a bit beat up but this is a perfect town to hang out in for a day.

I’ll be in Yellowstone in a couple days, Wyoming is incredible! So much geologic diversity. The folks in this town of 1,000 are expecting 30,000 people for the eclipse and are preparing for service losses just due to the sheer number of people.

Caitlin and I are gonna make it out to Idaho to witness!

Yellowstone soon! Montana soon! Wow wow wow.