I forgot to mention that we saw the most evil bull last night. All black but a mixed white/black face like am inkblot. Reminded me a lot of Rorshack from the comic/movie Watchmen.

Both Chance and I got our warmer sleeping bags while in Dillon, and last night we both avoided being cold the whole night. I had been waking up each night at 3-4am to pull on my down jacket the whole trip. I kept expecting summer to arrive but it seems that won’t be happening. Nights are just cold.

Today we climbed up to Darkhorse Mine and walked through some of their abandoned buildings, then bushwhacked up to a pretty pass overlooking the whole area. After that we stayed on the divide the rest of the day. At lunch we put up Chance’s tarp due to threatening rain, which started falling about 30 seconds after we got under. Lucky! Then to top it off, when we were about to pack up and leave, the rain stopped and the skies started clearing.

All afternoon the trail was mellow, under young lodgepole pines, killing all the views. I pretty much just zoned out until dinner. After that, we got to Lehmi Pass, which has some historical significance to do with Lewis and Clark. We have passed lots of stuff about them, I think I should probably read a book about their journeys. Amy suggestions?

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 2, 2011
Day 39
Daily Distance: 25 miles
Trip Distance: 676.5 miles

As we were packing up a grey fox trotted by with something in it’s mouth. 15 feet away. For some reason I thought foxes were shy. Didn’t have time to get a picture sadly…

We had a great climbing morning with lots of views to the west of the Lemhi Range. We met our first northbound CDT hiker too! Evan, seemed like he was moving fast but stopped to give us condition reports for the next couple hundred miles. Sounds like Yellowstone will be fine, but we have to get permits and follow them (he got fined for not following his). He also raved a bit about the Winds, which are after Yellowstone. I was already excited about them, now I’m eagerly anticipating getting there. He did say that crampons and ice axe are needed, so that’s one more logistical piece to sort out.

After lunch we ran into some real cowboys! We’ve seen lots of horse riders, but usually it’s a guide with se tourists. I asked these guys what they were up to and they said “looking at the grass”….. Took me a beat to remember it would be for the cows. Duh. They also had a pack of dogs who were very well behaved, basically ignored me. They had lassoes and spurs 🙂

Rain threatened all afternoon, so dinner was somewhat quick, with most stuff staying packed. In the end there was no rain, so we hiked down to Bannock Pass. This is where we would normally have stopped to resupply, but we have enough to get to the next town.

We did find a case of beer laid out by a CDT marker just off the road… Our first official trail “magic”. Things like this were common on the PCT – previous hikers lugging out a cooler of beer or pop to somewhere random on the trail. Tasty!

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 3, 2011
Day 40
Daily Distance: 26 miles
Trip Distance: 702.5 miles

Slept a bit poorly due to a windy night combined with scratchy grass making weird noises on my tent. It was good to be off my feet either way though.

In the morning we started climbing on the divide with great views into Idaho. We got up to our highest point yet on the CDT – 10,200ft on top of Elk Mountain. 360 views from up there. I felt pretty good getting up there, as I used my secret climbing weapon – Gatorade powder. It comes out rarely but works wonders.

After the big mountain we climbed up and down the divide for another 10 miles while thunderstorms threatened all around us. Eventually one got us, blowing hard in our face with hail and pinpricks of rain. We eventually dropped down to a pretty lake and had dinner. 20 minutes into dinner though, another storm rolled up, so we headed out with dinners still in hand.

During all the climbing today, I had some ridiculous songs stuck in my head. The first one is 100% Hailey’s fault as she played it for me while visiting. I know one line from it, apparently it’s a SNL skit called “The Only Gay Eskimo”. Very tedious when you only know the one line. Next up was Jingle Bells, no need to explain how annoying that was. Finally, Laundry Day from Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (amazing if you are nerdy and have not seen it). Unfortunately, I just had the first two words on loop in time to my walking. Regardless, they all helped me get through a long day, so I guess it’s not all bad 🙂

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 4, 2011
Day 41
Daily Distance: 27.5 miles
Trip Distance: 730 miles

Tough morning today after yesterday’s rollercoaster. We both had trouble getting in gear, so it was slow for sure. Then we got to a spot where you could summit Cottonwood Peak (11,024ft) relatively easily and come out on trail on the other side. We debated briefly but really we both wanted to do it.

It was pretty easy going to get up, except the elevation made us stop for breath regularly. Great views from the top, but we didn’t linger long as an icy wind was blowing up there. The descent was way steeper and tough on the knees, but eventually it leveled out near the CDT.

Overall we didn’t make it 10 miles by lunch, 5.5 hours of hiking… But it was awfully pretty up there. After lunch we made up a lot of ground, and by dinner we were in range of normal mileage.

My only other interesting incident was that after dinner I hiked down to a lake and ran into a 20 person, car supported, hiking group finishing up dinner. I stopped and chatted and ended up with a plate of food. They seemed pretty happy to be out there and thought doing the CDT was interesting (or crazy, they were being polite 🙂

I saw Chance walking by below as I finished up, so I excused myself and tried to chase him down. In the end I caught him too far away to go back, so we just went on and eventually camped at an exposed saddle. We should have a beautiful morning.

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 5, 2011
Day 42
Daily Distance: 23.5 miles
Trip Distance: 755.5 miles

Today’s journal could be called “Cow Rant”. Just a warning. First though, we had a great morning walking the divide in relative flatness. Then we got to a great spring and hiked on nice forested trail til lunch.

Things started getting ugly after we dropped down from the divide and cows started making their presence felt. First it was just some dried out cow patties. No big deal, you just step around them. Then some streams I wanted to get water from were turned into mud-holes by cows stomping around in them (and shitting everywhere of course).

Later in the afternoon I ran into herd after herd, so many that I couldn’t possibly avoid causing some of them to stampede off. When that happens, they often leave wet little presents for me, and when you’ve just made them run off up the trail, this is not fun. By dinner I was smeared to the knees liberally with poo. Taking off my shoes was like reaching into a toilet bowl. Dinner was somewhat unpleasant.

Finally, we climbed back up to the divide, but there were some patches where even dainty stepping couldn’t avoid plowing through more shit.

In conclusion, I’m looking forward to a nice burger in Lima.

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 6, 2011
Day 43
Daily Distance: 28.6 miles
Trip Distance: 784.1 miles

The goal today was getting to Lima. Last night we picked our campsite knowing that even if it sucked, hey, we’d be in town today. It turned out that the wind flipped 180 degrees in the night, which turned my aerodynamic tent into a kite. It didn’t quite take off, but I spent quite a bit of the night listening to it try.

We were both up at dawn, and hit the road but were quickly reminded that it was not going to be a quick jaunt into town. The divide was very hilly and rocky. We were moving slow due to lack of sleep and food. Eventually we dropped down off the ridges to the valley, but with a solid 10 miles of road to walk to get to the highway.

We eventually made it and a quick call to the motel in Lima netted us a ride into town. We were quickly into our room then off for food.

Early bed is a necessity after last night, so that’s it!

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 7, 2011
Day 44
Daily Distance: 17.4 miles
Trip Distance: 801.5 miles

Had to pick up food from the post office (sent 3 weeks ago? from Helena!). Then there was some last minute gorging that stretched out until 10am before we finally pulled out of town with a mailman. Turns out he drives a big truck from the big post office distribution centre in Butte, dropping off all the mail for little towns, ending in Lima. Then he hangs around in Lima til the evening (he has an RV, ATV, etc there) and he reverses the route with outgoing mail. Anyways, he gets bored so he helps drive hikers to the trail.

We had a nice easy hike on dirt road and then wandered aimlessly through some huge meadows. Eventually I GPS’d my way to the trail and headed on. The now usual thunderstorms rolled in mid-afternoon and stuck around for dinner. The guidebook mentioned great views around where I am now – high in the Centennials, but the clouds were blocking everything. Oh well, the glimpses I got were pretty, hopefully it clears up by morning!

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 8, 2011
Day 45
Daily Distance: 19.5 miles
Trip Distance: 821 miles

Started a bit late as we were hoping rain would let up, but eventually just got hiking. Last night and much of today, the undergrowth has been amazing. Grasses waist deep, with flowers in a riot of colours. The only minor downside is that we have to wade through them sometimes, and they really obscure the trail!

Near lunch we met a northbound CDT hiker named Handlebar. He has a giant white beard, and he gave us a bunch of positive trail beta for Yellowstone and the Winds. So things are looking good for us!

After lunch the trail got a bit vague, with lots of cross country travel through the lush grasses. I was rarely where I was supposed to be, but I found the right ridge to hike up around dinner. I was able to get great views of the Tetons (a famously excellent climbing/hiking area). They look huge even from far away. I’m somewhat sad the trail doesn’t go through there. I believe we go through the Winds instead, so that’s some consolation!

We ended up high on the divide with nowhere to camp, so we ended up hiking later than intended and settled for pretty marginal camping. Here’s hoping for quiet weather tonight…

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 9, 2011
Day 46
Daily Distance: 25.7 miles
Trip Distance: 846.7 miles

We finished with Montana today! We are on an alternative in Idaho that takes us through a tiny bit of civilization called Mack’s Inn and then east towards Yellowstone in Wyoming.

First I had some confusion where there is a spur of well signed, well trodden trail that goes off in the wrong direction… I wasted half an hour exploring that before I realized my map said quite clearly that it was the wrong way. The right way was 5 miles of cross-country up Hell’s Roaring Creek. There was some use trails through there and I tried to follow them up the canyon of the creek, but sometimes in vain. When I missed it, I usually ended up in the creek or on a steep hill, but I figured it out after a bit and made the rest of the way without mishap.

We had lunch on the MT/ID border and then picked up a busy gravel road for the trip down to Mack’s Inn. We were passed by tons of cars, ATVs and 4x4s (kinda a ATV crossed with a golf cart). I kept wondering what the draw was, as it dead ended half way up a mountain… Didn’t figure that one out.

We tried to arrange our permits for Yellowstone, but failed due to the campsite we wanted first being full. Instead we have to do a short day to the park border, then hike all the way to the park office the next day. We then beg for permits for the rest of the park from there. Tedious.

So today turned leisurely at that point and we lingered at each bit of town (a Subway and two gas stations). Toasted our completion of Montana.

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 10, 2011
Day 47
Daily Distance: 27.5 miles
Trip Distance: 874.2miles

We slept in quite late today since we only had 15 miles to hike. We eventually got rolling at 10am. The scenery was pretty boring, it was a gravel road walk in forest the whole way.

We did meet 3 brothers hiking the CDT northbound, although it sounded like they had been forced to skip around a bit. They looked to be a range from 40s-50s. One was using an external frame pack that he got on eBay…

In the end we are right beside a “Welcome to Yellowstone” sign, with about 20 miles to Old Faithful Village. We have lots of town chores to do there, so it will be a busy day, especially if we want to fit in some touristy stuff!

Daily Summary
Date: Aug 11, 2011
Day 48
Daily Distance: 15 miles
Trip Distance: 889.2miles