Wednesday, August 28th

Wednesday, August 28th. Day 71
Today's miles = 14 Total CDT miles = 1063.7
This morning I woke up to Baboon telling me that there was "probably the best sunrise I have ever seen, Spinzers, you should prolly get up and come look at it.". I grunted, waited a few minutes and then poked my head out of my tent. I saw some sun but it didn't look that impressive so I laid back down. A few moments later Baboon told me that I was going to miss it. So, this time I actually got out of the tent to see what all the fuss was about. Surly it couldn't be the best sunrise? Welp, it pretty much was. I was looking in the wrong direction the first time because I was too lazy to get out of my tent.
I made coffee and oatmeal this morning and was hiking by 8am. Right after a steep downhill there was a meadow with a river flowing through. At first I thought I was going to have to get my feet wet but then I saw pup prints leading off to a crossing a bit down the river. I followed the prints and it led me to a safe place to cross. When in doubt, follow the pup prints. They usually find the best way around something. We ran into Panama and Beth at Shadow lake and stopped to have a snack break with them.
Baboon and I decided to hike the 'Cirqur de Towers' alternate today. The Cirque is a spot where there are literally towers of mountains surrounding it in all directions. To get there you have to hike over Texas pass and to get out you have to hike over Jackass pass...so it's a lot of work and not worth it in poor weather. Well, this morning was poor weather. There were thunder clouds in every direction but we still decided to give it a try. By the time we were about to go over Texas pass (11,480ft) the sun came out!! Once we descended down to a lake in the Cirque the sky was clear and we could see every peak! It was truly spectacular. We got a little misplaced climbing over Jackass pass and ended up hiking a bit more than we would have had to and when we got to the lake just down from the pass we had to rock climb some boulders around a lake for a while. All in all it was an extreamly difficult day tactically.
We ran into a big group of guys from Colorado that we stopped to talk to them for a while. The one had asked me, "How long ya been out?" and when I replied, "71 days" it took him by shock. That fueled a conversation about the trail and one of the men offered a place to stay when we pass through Aspen Colorado.
Right at the end of the day there was a moose in the grass by a lake gracefully grazing the area for food. She eventually walked to the lake and took a swim. She swam out to the center of the lake and all I could see was her head popping up out of the water. She swam straight across the lake to the the other side (maybe 100 yards or more).
Tonight I'm camped by a lake at 10,200ft. Tomorrow is more climbing. I had hoped to make it farther today but there was no way. It was a miracle I made it this far.

Tuesday, August 27th

Tuesday, August 27th. Day 70

Today's miles = 20.4 Total CDT miles = 1049.7

Panama and Beth were camped across from me on a grassy area. They were far enough away not to hear too much noise from them packing up but I still heard enough to know that it was probably time for me to get up too. Last night felt like a late night and I didn't get good sleep so getting up this morning was even harder than usual. Panama and Beth left earlier than us and the pups looked happy and ready for some hiking. They spent the morning playing with each other and chasing each other through the meadow while Panama and Beth were packing up. 

Baboon and I leapfrogged with Panama, Beth, and the pups all morning until lunch. The trail today was by one lake after the next. There are so many lakes nestled in the mountains up here and the trail pretty much goes right next to them. You could swim in each and every one of them. Panama and Beth had taken a dip in Pipstone Lake despite that it was chilly and cloudy. I saw them sitting on a rock next to the lake looking quite cold and wet.

It began to rain around lunchtime but I propped up my umbrella and cooked my broccoli and cheddar rice under it's  protection...next to a lake. After lunch I began to feel a little sick. I'm not sure what it was. Most of the time out here I don't feel quite right. Hiking like this and eating shit will do that I guess. It took a few miles for me to begin to feel better and to pass the time Baboon and I initiated 'Story Time' - one of us choses a topic or a time period and the other has to tell a story that fits into those categories. Usually a story sparks a conversation and thus the silence is broken and time passes more quickly. Thats exactly how today ended. Baboon got into a long story about India and before we knew it we were at camp for the night. We walked across the creek to cook dinner and hang our food then off to bed!!

Monday, August 26th

Monday, August 26th. Day 69

Today's miles = 14 Total CDT miles = 1029.3

I ate at the continental breakfast at the hotel which consisted on Belgian waffles, bagels, and juice, then packed up all my things and headed out to the gear store in town. Panama had met a father and son the day before that offered to give us all a ride back to the trail and we were to meet them by the gear shop at 10am. We all sat in the back of their pick up for the very chilly 15 mile ride up the mountian to the trail. We had to hike the same 10 miles we had hiked yesterday back to the CDT! *Grrr*. But I had an efficient and enjoyable town night last night so I tried not to think about it so much. I didn't feel so well for the hike today; perhaps all the town food upsetting my stomach. I hiked until 8:15 and bunkered down for the night. I did not sleep well.

Sunday, August 25th

Sunday, August 25th. Day 68

Today's miles = 10.5 Total CDT miles = 1015.3

I wanted to get up early this morning so that I could make it to the trailhead early and have all day in town. I didn't know how the hitch to town was going to be so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get there. The 10 miles to town were bumpier than I had expected and there were SO many people on the trail. The trail to town wasn't the CDT. In this section (Wind River Range) there are no good exit points from the CDT to roads. So, I had to hike 10 miles out of the way to get to a trailhead that had a road that led to Pinedale. The Winds is about a 170 mile section of really hard and really beautiful terrain. The amount of food I would have needed to carry to make it through this section would have been absurd and almost impossible for me personally. If it were a normal section and I wasn't going over pass after pass at elevations 12,000+ I would have been able to do it. But because that wasn't the case I sucked it up and hiked the 10 miles off trail. During that 10 miles I kept leapfrogging with a weekend hiker about my age or so. We would talk a little and continue hiking. I got to the road first before him and when he got to the trail head he offered Monkey and I a ride to Pinedale. He dropped us off right in the center of town in front of the Chinese restaurant. I went in immediately! I had gotten a text from Panama and Beth saying they were in Pinedale and did we want to do lunch. I responded that we were at the Chinese place and they should join us. We all gorged ourselves on Chinese food (I had sesame tofu) and then went over to the hotel and split a room four ways. The shower was fantastic and the hotel had laundry so it wasn't too hectic to get all my town chores done. After I was all clean I resupplied at Family Dollar. There was a full service grocery store in town but it was a mile away from the hotel. I was not about to walk a mile there and back when there was a Family Dollar across the street from the Hotel. I didn't quite get the food selections I wanted but I bet I saved a bit of money.

Panama, Beth, Baboon, and I all walked down to a bar for pizza and beer for dinner. Wyoming has no idea what real pizza is either but we were all too hungry to be picky. Around 10pm or so Beth and I walked back to the room and Baboon and Panama went to the Brewpub for some more drinks. I was glad I hadn't gone when I got back to the Hotel and saw that Batman was on TV!! Score! I fell asleep to Batman and woke up only when Panama and Baboon came stumbling in a few hours later.

Saturday, August 24th

Saturday, August 24th. Day 67
Today's miles = 11.4 Total CDT miles = 1,004.8
It poured all last night. The rain lately has been unforgiving. It stopped right about the break of dawn and by the time I got out of the tent it was just a cloudy mess in every direction. This morning came with two options for hiking. One of them being taking a low pass (11,000 ft) for 7 miles. The other was climbing over Napsack Col pass at 12,260ft for 10.3 miles. Napsack Col is supposed to be one of the best sections on the CDT, well, it's not actually on the CDT but climbing it is an alternate that connects you back to the CDT. Baboon and I didn't want to pass it up despite the looming thunderheads so around 8:30 in the morning we set off across the lake towards the pass. Around 9:30 the sky started to look very grim. We kept huffing it up to the pass refusing to turn back. And I'm glad we didn't because the rain held out until we were on the other side. The first few miles of the climb were pretty normal; steep, rocky, slippery. But the last 700 feet (in elevation) were brutal. There was no trail. There was no indication of where we were suppose to climb. All there was was more rock scramble like last night. But this was straight up and the rocks were much smaller and loose from the mountain. Most steps I took I began to slid down the mountain. It was easily a 70° angle up to the pass on this sprawl of rocky horribleness. Monkey and I kept screaming to each other "What the F. Is this for real?!?!" We couldn't believe that this was actually the way you were suppose to go up the mountain. No wonder it's not part of the CDT. It was difficult - beyond difficult, even for the CDT. I was so happy to make it to the top that I didn't bother looking at the path I would have to take to get down the other side. I sat at the top and ate a snack and thought that there was NO way the climb down was going to be like the way up. I was right. The climb down was exponentially harder and more dangerous. It was a boulder scramble straight down for about 1,000 feet!! It was one of those rare moments on trail where you realize that one wrong step could end not only your trail but possibly your life. Those moments don't happen often out here but when they do -for me at least- I become more focused and on point than any other time on trail. I scaled down the rocks with what felt like effortlessness and by the time I thought to look up Baboon was still about 300 feet higher. I busted up my thumb when rocks underneath me gave way and I was holding myself to the mountain with my weak thru hiker arms... but other than that all was well with the climb down.
We took lunch about a mile down the pass on some boulders and right as we were finished up it started to rain, of course. Not only did it rain but it began to hail! It hailed for about 45 minutes before the sun came out and warmed up the mountains for the first time all day. Looking back at the pass a few hours later was unbelievable. I couldn't believe that I had just climbed over it and made it to the other side to tell about it. It was an empowering feeling. I don't remember the last time I only hiked 11 miles because of difficulty and not because of laziness. There was nothing lazy about today.
Tonight I am camped at 10,400 feet at Little Seneca Lake. 10 miles to town tomorrow!!

Friday, August 23rd

Friday, August 23rd. Day 66

Today's miles = 18.4 Total CDT miles = 993.4

Last night I suggested to Baboon that we sleep in the privy. Now, hear me out... the privy's at the campground were brand new log cabins. They did not smell or have any trash or dirt in them. They were perfect shelters minus there also being a pit of poop 15 feet below them. There was enough space on the floor to sleep four people and to be honest they were a hundred times nicer and less smelly than most of the shelters on the AT. Baboon disregarded my suggestion and we set up behind some trees on a slant. It STORMED throughout the night and my sleeping pad and sleeping bag got wet. In the morning after he returned from using the privy he said,"Ya know Spins, we really should have slept in the privy."

I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee at a picnic table this morning. I really do love picnic tables! During breakfast this morning I watched a squirrel steal a potato chip away from a bird. I got rather mad at the squirrel because it was me who gave the chip to the bird in the first place. I then spent a bit of time trying to coax the bird back so that I could give it another chip. The poor little bird was so scared of the squirrel that it took more time than Monkey had patience for. But eventually the bird got a chip and all was back in balance in my world. We started hiking by 8:15 or so. Right before the trail started from the campground we met these two men from Chester county PA. They were out for a week in the Wind River Range and we hiked with them for the first two miles today. Their trail took them elsewhere after that two miles. The morning hike went by quickly and followed Green river. It was a silty glacier run off lake surrounded by jagged peaks. All day today was remarkably beautiful. Lunch was 12 miles into the day and of course right after I finished up eating it began to rain. It has rained in the afternoon pretty much every day in Wyoming like clockwork. A ways up I climb a couple was coming down as we were going up. The man looked familiar and so I asked him if he had hiked the PCT last year. He had and his trail name was Strider. I had met him a few times along the trail last year. I stopped to catch up with him for a bit before hiking on.

About 2 miles from Peak Lake -where we are camped tonight- we had to climb up to 10,700 feet. At one point the trail just ended and turned into a jumbled pit of boulders. I began to scout around for the trail and found what I thought was a way to get back to trail. Baboon being the one currently holding the GPS said that it was not and that the trail went through the steep jagged pit of boulders. So, we began to climb hand over hand up these giant boulders. It was arduous and exhausting. I spoke up again and said that I didn't think it could possibly be the trail. About an hour of climbing up later I saw a trail on the ridge. Baboon said, "Ya know Spins, I guess we should have taken that way up that you saw down there.". We had no choice but to continue on the path we were on and try to get to the trail. Eventually we were able to (after some sketchy climbing). We looked down the trail and saw that the whole boulder field could have been avoided if we had joined with the trail down at the base of the climb. We laughed it off out of good sport but I think we both were a bit upset. That was not how I wanted to spend the last few miles of a day's hike.

We made it to Peak Lake tonight and have some gnarly climbs ahead tomorrow. Hoping for decent sleep.

Thursday, August 22nd

MThursday, August 22nd. Day 65

Today's miles = 20.6 Total CDT miles = 975

There was what I'm assuming was a moose playing around in the lake all last night so I was up even more than usual during the night. It seemed like it was having a lot of fun. It sounding like it was deliberately splashing in the shallow end of the lake. If I hadn't seen two moose (a momma and a baby) right before bed maybe I would have let my mind entertain the idea that it was a bear... luckily I saw them. I didn't get out of the tent to check it was a moose in the water but I told myself it was and after every time the splashing woke me up I was able to fall back asleep rather easily.

I woke up this morning just like the past few with a very upset stomach. I've been really nauseous and not wanting to eat. I of course force food down my face but I gag at every bite. I don't know if it's the same ole' food getting me down and perhaps if I switch up my breakfast it will be easier to eat or if it's just my stomach. I've started taking probiotics every morning now (thanks ma!) so hopefully they will help. By the time lunch comes I'm starving and want to eat everything in sight. Maybe I'm waking up so hungry that my stomach is angry at me for not eating a Snickers halfway through the night like I did on the other trials (once the food is hung at night it's not coming down until morning). Who knows...

Anyway, The morning was alright. It has been really chilly at night but by 9am the sun warms everything up and I'm back in just my skirt and long sleeve. I've liked it that it hasn't gotten too warm during the day for it to be uncomfortable. It's a little unnerving that it's already been getting so cold at night. Although, we have been at higher elevation than usual. Last night we camped at 9,500 feet!

By lunch time I was able to see the mountains I have to climb in the distance. They were underneath a brewing storm cloud. I decided to take lunch tucked in some trees by a stream before it started to rain. It wasn't long after lunch that the rain began and it was accompanied by huge rolls of thunder and actual thunderbolt shaped lightening strikes up on the peaks. It just so happened that I was about to go over Gunsight pass (10,500ft) right around this time. I had two choices - turn back or hurry up and get to the other side. Well, I didn't really hurry up but I did get to the other side. The other side of the pass was cow free! The cows on the North side of the pass were mean. My opinion of cows has changed since hiking this trail. Not that I ever particularly cared for cows to begin with but now I just think they're stupid and mean. You look into the eyes of a cow and you just see nothing back. Then they charge you! I don't like cows...but the little ones are cute; they're ok.

After the pass the trail was closed due to fire. We had to hike a detour around a mountain that had been on fire. The fire was mostly out now because of all the rain from the past few days but I was afraid all the lightening would start another one. There were two rivers to ford today. The second one was about 40-45 feet wide, although it was only knee deep so it felt kind of nice on my feet and sore legs.

Tonight I am stealth camped in the trees behind a campground. There are cars here and even privy's and picnic tables. I ate dinner at the table before finding a stealth spot behind all the sites for the night. I didn't want to pay 12 dollars to camp when I camp for free every night. I did not expect to come across a dirt road and a campground out here in the Winds but every now and then the trail offers a pleasant surprise. I'm hoping one of these car campers sees my tired and hungry face tomorrow morning and offers me coffee and eggs.

Wednesday, August 21st

Wednesday, August 21st. Day 64

Today's miles = 19.5 Total CDT miles = 954.4

Monkey slept in this morning. It's usually me that doesn't want to get up. Not to say that I wanted to get up but I had an easier time getting up than usual. It took SO long to hang our food last night. Usually from start to finish it takes about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how well we throw. We first have to attach rope to a heavy rock and throw that rock over a branch that is far enough off the ground and far enough away from the base of the tree. This ensures that a bear won't be able to have a picnic with our food during the night. Then we attach our food bags to one end of the rope and pull up with the other. Then we tie the one end of the rope to another tree so the foods stays up there. Last night when we went to hang our food it was dark, there were no good rocks, and we couldn't throw very well. So, it took about an hour to hang the food. Baboon got so frustrated that he went into his tent and that was it. I didn't hear from him until morning. And when morning came he said he was still frustrated about last night.

The morning started with a climb up a pass. Then when we got to the top -so I thought- and it kept going up! It was uphill most of the day. I don't know how this is possible as I don't really ever recall saying that it was downhill most of the day. I know we have to climb up in elevation because we are approaching the Wind River Range.

Today it rained. Today I saw five moose, stood under three rainbows, saw 26 chipmunks, forded one river, and ate 2,670 calories.

I'm camped at Lake of the Woods tonight and can currently hear the pitter patter of the rain on the tent.

Tuesday, August 20th

Tuesday, August 20th. Day 63

Today's miles = 14 total CDT miles = 934.9

I woke up this morning wondering if I was ever going to get back on trail. Baboon got up and went outside looking for Liz because she said that she would give us a ride back to the trail but there was a note on the door saying that her truck broke down and she was getting it fixed and that Harley (the cleaning lady) could give us a ride. While reading this note I heard Monkey scream out Michigan Wolverine's name. Michigan Wolverine is a guy we hiked around last year on the PCT and he is hiking NoBo this year. So, the three of us sat outside the motel for a while swapping stories about trail. I walked over to the doughnut shop and got a dozen doughnuts and coffee for us all (not escaping all the 'howdy's' of the construction worker boys working in the street on the way over- God, I love my hat!) I could have stayed another day in town. I knew more people from the PCT were going to get to town today and if we didn't get out before they got here there would be no chance of getting out. So, I reluctantly accepted the ride back to trail from Harley. About 5 miles into the hike we ran into some of them. Virgo, Trip, and Catcus, all 2012 PCTers were hiking together. We stopped for a while to chat with them and catch up. They told us a story a few nights ago about the grizzly that came into their camp. It apparently still had blood on it's teeth from something it ate earlier. *yikes*.

Tonight we are camped in some pines. We made sure to hang our food very well tonight. I don't want any surprise visitors tonight.

Monday, August 19th

Monday, August 19th. Day 62

Today's miles = Zero. Total CDT miles = 920.9

I woke up at 7:30 today. The clinic here opens at 8am so I called shortly after. The earliest they could get me in was 12:30. The lady that cleans the motel rooms gave me a ride to the clinic. It took a while but I left the clinic with 3 different inhalers (on top of the one I already have) for the asthma the doctor said I had. She also said I may have COPD (chronic bronchitis -which makes your lungs feel like you have bronchitis all the time) which the steroid inhaler she gave me is suppose to help. *sigh*. I'm really hoping all of the inhalers help because It's already been almost 1000 miles that I've been having trouble breathing and I don't think I have it in me to hike another 1000 feeling the way I have. Liz the motel owner picked me up from the clinic and when I got back to the room Baboon was busy sewing his pants back together. He and I called the zero because it was already 3 or 4pm. I walked over to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients for two huge Greek salads and we hung out, ate, and watched '007', and 'Phenomenon'.

Sunday, August 18th

Sunday, August 18th. Day 61

Today's miles = Zero. Total CDT miles = 920.9

I woke up thinking today was Monday and I wanted to go to the clinic. I have still been having trouble breathing and last night was a bad night for me. It wasn't until later in the day that I realized it was Sunday and the clinic was closed. So, I called the zero and told myself I would go to the clinic in the morning. I ate more pizza and watched 'Notting Hill', 'The Hunt for Red October', 'While You Were Sleeping', and 'Tombstone' (probably one of my favorite movies ever!!).

Saturday, August 17th

Friday, August 17th. Day 60

Today's miles = Zero. Total CDT miles = 920.9

I pretty much planned on taking a zero today so when I woke up I didn't feel in a hurry to pack my things. Baboon and I walked over to 'Moms Cafe' for breakfast where I had the best omelet on trail!! Raffle and Flyboxer were already there finishing up their breakfast and were talking about hiking out today. We managed to convince them not to and they ended up zeroing today as well. On the walk back from breakfast I passed a general store with a man playing a piano right on the porch of the store. He was dressed like olden times and was playing all classical songs. I stopped for a while to sit down and listen. This is when I fell in 'lust' with Dubois! After listening for a while I went to the other general store and bought myself a Stetson Cowboy hat!! I wore my cowboy hat to a convenient store which is home of the worlds largest stuffed Jackalope!! When I climbed on the saddle on top of this 6 foot Jackalope this is when I fell in 'like' with Dubois. And it wasn't until (because of my hat) that every one in town said 'howdy' to me and smiled a big smile that I fell in 'love' with Dubois. Perhaps love is too strong a word for my affection towards Dubois. I've never been the best at commitment so I guess I'll just stick with 'like' for now (I 'liked' Dubois enough to stay another 2 nights). For dinner tonight Liz let us cook a frozen pizza in her oven and I curled up in the bed at the motel and watched 'pretty Woman', and 'The Music Man'.

Friday, August 16th

Friday, August 16th. Day 59

Today's miles = 8 Total CDT miles = 920.9

I woke up at normal time today and hiked the 8 miles to the road to town. A young couple headed home to Colorado for a funeral picked us up and drove us the 40 or so miles to Dubois. We got a room at the Black Bear Motel, did laundry, then headed out for dinner. I had a salad and sweet potato fries at the 'Cowboy Cafe'. After dinner the owner of the motel had a camp fire down by the water right behind her motel and invited us out for s'mores. Raffle and Flyboxer were there eating as well. The motel had no cable but Liz (owner) had a ton of VHS tapes we could borrow and watch. We watched 'Twister' and 'Xmen'.

Thursday, August 15th.

Thursday, August 15th. Day 58

Today's miles = 22.1 Total CDT miles 912.9

Today was considerably better than yesterday. I still woke up late but I've almost given up on trying to wake up earlier. Trying to get myself out of my sleeping bag while it's still dark out is almost impossible! I was hiking around 8am or so. Last night I camped nestled in some trees along a ridge. I was going to hike a little farther yesterday but when we looked at the maps we realized that where we would end up was a meadow. Baboon has a fear of meadows and I have a fear of the bears that mosey around them at night. So, we camped along the ridge. A few miles into the hike this morning I heard Monkey screaming from behind me, "Baby bear. Baby bear cub!" I looked up the ridge to the left and all I saw was a little baby bear butt running up the side of the mountain. They are so cute you want to run up to it and pick it up to give it a big squeeze. After seeing the baby bear my eyes immediately starting scouting the ridges for mamma bear. All I could do was to hope that I didn't have myself positioned between baby bear and momma. I didn't and there was no trouble as baby bear appeared to be running to meet up with it's mother who was further up the mountain. The rest of the hike today was rather uneventful. There were a lot of ups, a lot of downs, and a lot of flat hiking today. Eat, sleep, hike. There are a few fires around the area. Once we crossed over one of the passes today we could see part of it burn. I looked at the maps immediately and saw that we were going in the other direction. All was well.

Wednesday, August 14th

Wednesday, August 14th. Day 57

Today's miles = 20 Total CDT miles = 890.8

This morning was by far the most difficult morning for me on the CDT yet! I could not get up. Everything hurt. My body was sore, my head was pounding, I could feel that my muscles were weak from dehydration and lack off proper nutrients. I'm just over 1/3rd of the way through this trail and I've already lost 20 pounds. I'm eating all the weight in food that I can carry and it's still not enough for this trail. I eat myself crazy in town and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I don't know how I could possibly eat more. The hike today was one of the hardest for me so far out here. It's not that the trail was particularly difficult today; it was just my body that was suffering from 57 days of hard use. There are many days out here that I forget the amount of miles I have hiked but today was not one of them. It was like I felt every mile I have ever traveled and it was miserable. I wanted a fireplace, a book, a blanket, and a cup of tea today but instead I ate some candy, loaded up on water and hiked through the mountains. I don't remember what I saw today. I spent most of the day starring down at my feet willing them to keep moving; to keep hiking. I put myself into a daydream about Batman...I did everything I could to keep my mind off of how weak I felt. Somehow I made it 20 miles. Now I must sleep.

Tuesday, August 13th

Tuesday, August 13th. Day 56
Today's miles 25.6 Total CDT miles = 870.8
I slept in this morning because of getting to bed late last night. I felt like I was too tired to hike and wasn't quite sure how I was going to be able to put in any miles today. I struggled up the first few climbs this morning but I still had ten miles done by lunch. I took lunch at the outlet of a beautiful big lake. I had to ford the river to get to the other side where the trail was first. There were a few people on canoes that came by the river and into the lake while I was making my butter and herb rice and one of them even shook my hand after having found out who I was and that I was hiking the CDT. I was watching a storm brew across the lake and just kept hoping that the rain would hold out until I was done using my stove. Luckily it did and I was able to eat my lunch in peace. The rain didn't start for a few hours later and it poured!! I haven't been rained on like that since the beginning of the trail in Glacier. I had my umbrella and stayed almost completely dry. It had stopped raining by the time I passed a ranger station (or danger station as we call them. Ranger Danger!) and I got to ask them what the deal was with all the empty campsites last night. They gave me some politically correct answer and my opinion of Yellowstone rangers got even lower. Baboon and I night hiked again until 9:45 and got to the camp spot. Raffle, Flyboxer, and a NoBo named Beef Stew were already there and had a fire made. Baboon and I cooked up our dinner quickly and went to sleep. I was even more tired tonight than last.

Monday, August 12th

Monday, August 12th. Day 55

Today's miles = 21.7 Total CDT miles = 845.2

Last night Baboon and I gave the trail name 'Raffle' to Dan because of his winning the grand prize of a grill at the gas stations customer appreciation raffle in Sawtelle. He accepted the name and is now Raffle. Baboon, Raffle, and I sat around this morning eating breakfast and getting out things ready for the 10.8 mile hike to Old Faithful Village. As usual, when I know there is mint chocolate ice cream awaiting me, I hiked quickly and got to the tourist town of Yellowstone around 11:30. The first 8 or so miles were trail and the remainder was boardwalk swarming with tourists. They were all looking at the geysers and taking pictures. After a few moments thats exactly what I started doing. I especially liked the ones which had cerulean blue boiling water in them. It seemed that Baboon and I had impeccable timing today because right as we went by certain geysers (that only go off every so often) they would errupt. We passed a few huge geysers that just happen to be erupting right as we walked by. All in all (minus the swarms of tourists) it was a pretty cool experience. We hung out around Old Faithful Village for about 5 hours this afternoon getting lunch, picking up packages at the post office, and getting our permit for camping in Yellowstone. While getting our permit the lady told us that the only available camp spot for tonight was 13 miles away from the village. We had already hiked almost 11 and spent 5 hours in "town" and she was telling us that we had to hike another 13 miles!! Baboon and I both knew that by the time we left it would be around 5pm and the chances of making it 13 miles was unlikely. But we accepted it because if all the campsites are full...they're full. It wasn't long into hiking that we began to pass campsites. The first few had people at them. All the rest did not. This is when Monkey and I began to get angry. I had specifically asked the lady if there was any place closer that we could camp. She replied with a firm "no". Ten out of the maybe 13 or 14 sites we passed were empty. After a while we decided to just camp at one of the open spots and in the event that a ranger comes by we would explain our situation (that we didn't want to night hike in grizzly land) hoping he would understand. But then we had some doubt. I began to think that there might have been a reason we were not assigned to those spots; perhaps bear activity there. So Baboon and I chose to hike on to a spot where there was already people and stealth camp around there. Well, the next few campsites didn't have people at them either and we both began to get a strange feeling. We saw HUGE grizzly prints in the sand by a lake and ended up night hiking almost 2 miles to the next spot. There was a tent there. So, we tried to be as quite as possible in setting our things up for the night. By the time I was in my sleeping bag it was past 11pm and I was exhausted!! The second my head hit my sleeping pad I was out for the night.

Sunday, August 11th

Sunday, August 11th. Day 54

Today's miles = 28.5 Total CDT miles = 823.5

I actually didn't mind getting up this morning. I had a picnic table to drink my coffee at and a bathroom with running water 50 yards away. I was hiking by 8am. The first 12 miles flew by. Originally today I had planned on hiking the 20 or so miles to the border of Yellowstone National Park but because of how quickly Baboon and I hiked the first part of the day we realized we could make it the 28.5 miles to the first camp spot in Yellowstone. You need permits to camp in Yellowstone so I called the office right from trail and got the OK over the phone to hike into the park and camp at Summit Lake tonight. At this time it was almost noon and we had 16.8 miles to the camp. We put on some music and HIKED!  We got to camp by 7pm. Flyboxer was here sitting by the lake eating his dinner and Dan came in while we were eating dinner. Dan is camped by us while Flyboxer is on the other side of the lake. This lake is the first source of water we have seen all day! It was wonderful to come across it.

Tomorrow I will be hiking 10 or so miles to Old Faithful and hopefully get to watch it erupt. I believe the permit for tomorrow's camp spot has us camping about 25 miles away from where we are tonight. I need to get up early tomorrow so I have time to hang out at Old Faithful village and get to camp before dark. Yellowstone is the land of the Grizzly and I will not hike at night here.

Monkey and a Mushroom.

Saturday, August 10th

Saturday, August 10th. Day 53

Today's miles = 20 Total CDT miles = 795

It was still dark when I woke up this morning by the lake. I had given Monkey my word that if he woke me up early I would actually get up and start packing my things. It wasn't until he woke me up and I realized that it was still dark outside that I began to regret my word. I begrudgingly rolled to my side, unscrewed my Neoair (sleeping pad), and laid there trying to convince myself that the darkness didn't mean it was early. It was lies...it was all lies. It was F*cking early!! The sun was still struggling to peak over the mountains by the time we got hiking. The first 7 or so miles were through a valley and up over a pass. There was not a trail for most of this section. With Baboon and my forces combined we were able to navigate over the pass and even get ourselves to a road that led to a Subway where we ate lunch. Across the highway from the Subway was a gas station that just happen to be giving away free hotdogs, some other meat product, and soda for a customer appreciation day. They also had a raffle. There is one other hiker around at the moment and he happen to win the grand prize of a grill!! He sold it for 100 bucks. I stood outside the gas station for a good time this afternoon watching the people drive up in their ATVs (with their 5 year old kids driving), and eat eat eat like they were thru-hiking. American flags waved from every car and ATV. Kids running around the store unaccompanied and barefoot. Every of age male with a six shooter had a cold one in his hand. No helmets, no seat belts, small children in the back of pickups cruising 70 down the highway, 10 year olds riding dirt bikes in the street. Man, it felt like America!! Haha.

Baboon and I took a ride from the man that bought the grill from the hiker to the Macks Inn resort. I ended up riding in the back of a pick up that was covered in oil and grease and full of random tools and other things. I sat on the chain saw between the dog sleeping on the tire and a bucket of gasoline. I will say it was my first time every positioning myself and a pack on top of a chain saw. Once we got to the resort we got a camp spot for the night and did laundry and showered before heading over to the cafe for ice cream and pizza. I ate myself silly like the Idahoans and their hot dogs and meandered back to the camp site to have a little fire and wind down from my 'American Flag-packed' day. My brain hurts from today. I came out of the mountains over a pass this morning after having a snack at the "most remote headwaters of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers" into the land of grills, guns, gasoline, and obesity. *Culture Shock*

Friday, August 9th

Friday, August 9th. Day 52

Today's miles = 19 Total CDT miles = 775

It rained last night for two or three hours. I enjoyed listening to it hit my tent. It never got too bad where I had to worry about water getting in anywhere so it was a nice relaxing night. I woke up during the night when the coyotes caught some game and were screaming over it for about 20 minutes but other than that I slept pretty well last night. I got up around 6:30 and was hiking by 8. The morning was cloudy and chill and it even sprinkled for a while before the sun came out.

The morning was uphill again just like the past few mornings. It was uphill 4.5 miles to a spring. The spring was suppose to be .2 down a steep ridge and it was our last recorded water source for 13 miles so we had to hike down to it to fill up. It was very obvious when I started climbing down that there was not going to be any water there. The whole area was bone dry. I hiked down to where the spring was suppose to be anyway out of desperation. I had one liter of water left and 13 miles before my next water. Sure enough there wasn't any water there. I walked back up to the trail very thirsty and a bit worried. I knew I had another at least 5 miles of uphill trail and the sun was beginning to come out. 13 miles in the sun on an exposed ridge uphill with one liter of water was not how I wanted to spend my day today. And luckily it was not! It was only 6 miles. Right at the top of the climb I came across a mining area with 5 or 6 open pit mines. The first 4 were dry and the top 2 (which Monkey and I checked with fingers crossed) had little pools of water in them. We didn't expect them to have any water and I was shocked when I saw the grey silty mixture of mine goodness. Bring on the heavy metals!! I was so thirsty by that point and knew it was still another 7 miles to water so I ran right down to that mine and scooped up some of it's precious polluted water and filtered it up. I added a drink mix to try and mask the flavor but my mouth still tasted like metal the rest of the day.

The afternoon hike was more enjoyable than the mornings because I had water in my belly and when it was time to decide to take the new CDT (around and up a mountain) or take the old CDT (straight up and down the mountain to a lake) my decision skills were not functioning at peek performance. Baboon and I have discussed before that when the CDT is trying to be easy we need not attempt to make it harder. Well, we decided to go straight up the mountain and straight down. And shit was it straight down!!! Once we got to the top we looked down at a cliff. Eventually we had to backtrack and bushwhack down to a trail that led to the lake. Our shortcut ended up taking quite a bit longer than if we hadn't attempted it at all. One adventure later we made it to the lake and fueled up on water before hiking the last 2 or so miles to Lillian Lake; our camp spot for the night. While eating dinner tonight I saw a moose and a baby moose across the lake. They eventually walked down to the meadow and I got to watch them for a bit before bed.

Tomorrow is "town" day (nothing there except gas station type stuff I think). As always, I'm attempting the early wake up.

Thursday, August 8th.

Thursday, August 8th. Day 51

Today's miles = 20 Total CDT miles = 756

I woke up late and dehydrated again. I know I was dehydrated because I didn't have to get up once during the night to pee. Usually I'm up 3 or 4 times a night when I have had the proper amount of water. But luckily for me I had camped about 20 yards from a spring. While I was still drinking my coffee this morning and ordering new shoes online with my phone (I had 3G) a group of NoBo's came by the spring. They stopped to get water and chatted with Baboon and I for a bit.

The morning hike went by quickly. Part of the morning was in a burn section. The climbs today were steep but short(ish) so I didn't mind them too much. The downhills were also very steep and I took a few falls twisting my wrist the one time and my ankle the other. Both were able to be walked off. Haha! What I did enjoy about today was the forest I got to hike through. I feel like most of the CDT so far has not been in many trees. At night I'm always looking for some trees to set up my tent by. But today I felt like I was under the trees all day except for the last few miles. And sure enough I was scouting the horizon yet again tonight for some trees to become my home this evening but this time in the rain. The rain held out all day until about 20 minutes before I was done hiking. I have a feeling it's going to drizzle most of the night. I managed to get my tent set up and stay decently dry. I love my umbrella more everyday. It's actually nice when it rains at night sometimes (as long as it stops by morning). The sound of the rain is calming and puts me right to sleep.

I have to thank my best friend Milagro for taking care of my cats this week while my parents are on vacation! They love you and will be very happy to see you Milagro!! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Wednesday, August 7th

Wednesday, August 7th. Day 50

Today's miles = 16.8. Total CDT miles = 736

I woke up in the hotel room completely exhausted from not going to sleep early last night like I said I would. 'So you think you can dance' gets me every town day! Panama had texted asking if Baboon and I wanted to grab breakfast with him and Frankin Feet at the cafe across the street. Of course we did but it took us both a while to get moving this morning. After I was all showered and mostly packed up Baboon and I walked over to meet them. The breakfast there was as good as the last meal we ate at the cafe. It's definitely one of the best diners on trail so far. After breakfast all four of us walked back to the motel room and panama and Frankin Feet took showers in our room because they were camped out behind the motel instead. I took this time to sort through my pack. It's been feeling particularly heavy lately and I was wanting to lighten up a bit. With all the food I've been eating (more than any other hike) and all the water I've been needing to carry my pack has been way too heavy for the climbs of the CDT. After all my effort this morning I was only able to send away 1 and a half pounds.

Around 11:45 the owner of the motel drove Baboon, Tim, and I back to the trail. Tim is a kid I just met today going SoBo. He was hiking with his friend up until Lima but his friend decided he had had enough and went home from here.

The hike today was mostly uphill. That seems to be the theme out here. We hiked with Tim for the first 5 miles or so before Baboon and I hit trailside to take a snack break. We somehow managed to hike almost 17 miles after 12:30pm and get to camp, eat dinner, and be in our sleeping bags before 9:15!! Some days just happen like that...and it's glorious.

Tuesday, August 6th

Tuesday, August 6th. Day 49

Today's miles = Zero. Total CDT miles = 719.2

Today was an efficient zero day. I woke up and was at the dentist by 8am. I left the dentist at 9:45 after having had a root canal and a new tooth built for a whopping 150 dollars!! Baboon and I left the hotel at 12 after organizing our packs and resupply food. We walked a few hundred yards toward the highway when a woman in a mini van pulled over and asked us where we were going. We replied "South" and she responded with "Me too! Want a ride? I'm going as far as Colorado." We then told her that we only needed to go the 50 miles Lima and she told us to hop in the van. I sat next to her crying one year old son. She dropped us off right at the motel in Lima and I got a room for the night because the Novocaine was beginning to ware off and I didn't feel like setting up my tent. Frankin Feet ended up hanging out in the room with us most of the night as well. She was waiting on Panama to get into town. She had gotten off trail in Leadore with her dog and only made it a few days before she had her friend drop her off in Lima. She decided not to go home and instead wait in Lima for Panama. So the three of us just hung out all day. I got sucked into the TV and didn't get to bed as early as I had wanted but other than that today was a pretty perfect day.

Monday, August 5th

Monday, August 5th. Day 48

Today's miles = 27. Total CDT miles = 719.2

Today I woke up earlier! Can you believe it?? Today was also a nice hike. What!?! I felt great and killed today's hike. Baboon and I got to the road and there was a car pulling up. Two NoBo hikers got out of the car. I went over to say hi and introduce myself and I got to meet the whole family. The mother was dropping off her husband and her daughter and she and her other daughter we leaving today to return home to Oregon. She offered Baboon and I a ride to Dillon. I was first telling her about my broken tooth and how I've been having a really hard time eating. I've heard there are dentists in Dillon (which is not a trail town). The trail town for this section is Lima. This is also where our resupply boxes were sent. She had a room in Lima and needed to go there to pack her things so she first drove us to Lima where we went to the post office, got food at the diner, and then ran into Pappa Smirf - a guy we had met and hiked around on the PCT. After Monkey and I were both full to the brim the lady drove us 50 miles to Dillon and dropped us off at the motel 300 feet from the dentist I had made an appointment with for the morning!

Baboon and I spent the night eating and watching trashy television (Hunny Boo Boo) with the air conditioning blasting. There is something so wonderful about the combination of food, air conditioning, and trashy television that just makes me love being a thru hiker.

Sunday, August 4th

Sunday, August 4th. Day 47

Today's miles = 18.1 Total CDT miles = 692.2

I was exhausted this morning. I grunted, wined, and almost kicked to stay in my sleeping bag but Monkey managed to talk me out of it and reminded me that morning equals coffee. I begrudgingly got up. We were not hiking until 8:40am. The morning was slow moving for me and all uphill. I had to stop a lot today to eat because I really skimped on dinner last night. I wasn't feeling too well last night and had a hard time getting down my cheesy mashed potatoes. Baboon ended up having to eat most of them.

Today's hike just seemed really difficult. No matter how hard I pushed I couldn't go any faster than I was. There was a cool part about today though. About 5 or 6 miles in we came across a vertical cave. Naturally we climbed into it. About 15 feet down was the cave floor completely covered in bones! The bones were most likely from bison and there were tons of them. You couldn't walk on the ground without completely disturbing this grave site and stepping all over the bones. We hung out here for a while before realizing that it was getting late and we hadn't really put in any miles. So, we hiked on. Shortly after we ran into a group of three NoBos. One of which we had met last year on the PCT. Baboon and I stopped for a while to talk to the three guys and get some water information from them about the trail ahead.

I didn't eat lunch today until after 4pm. I took lunch at the first water source for the day. It was a pretty decent spring so I didn't treat the water. I hiked until after 9 and didn't get to where I wanted to be. I would have kept hiking but the trail was back to being cross country (no trail) and Monkey and I knew it would have been too difficult to try to navigate in the dark and there was a storm rolling in. So, we bunkered down in some pines on a horrible slant. It didn't ended up raining that badly and we both had to sleep at horrible slants. Ah well. I guess you can't have a flat camp spot every night.

Saturday, August 3rd.

Saturday, August 3rd. Day 46

Today's miles = 21.1 Total CDT miles = 674.1

It was another cold morning this morning. The trail today was not a trail. It was mostly all cross country hiking. This means that sometimes there are posts sticking out of the ground to let you know where to go and other times there was nothing. I actually enjoyed this kind of hiking. It forces you to look up more and it also lets you kind of pick your own trail. For example, there was a climb today that would have gone straight up if there had been a trail but I got to switchback up it instead. There was a lot of climbing in general today.

I ran into a bunch of NoBos today. I stopped for a while to talk to most of them. This took a lot of time out of the day. When it was time to eat lunch I had only hiked 7 miles. I got pretty bummed out and after lunch had the motivation to huff it the rest of the day. Water was scarce and the sun was brutal. I didn't eat dinner tonight until after 9 when I had gotten to camp. Camp was in betwern two trees lakeside. There was a large animal that visited me tonight. It grunted and went away; perhaps an elk.

Friday, August 2nd

Friday, August 2nd. Day 45
Today's miles = 17.6 Total CDT miles = 653
I woke up late because I didn't sleep too well with how cold it was last night. My sleeping bag got soaked from all the condensation last night and I had to dry it out this morning in the sun so that it would be ready for tonight. By the time I made my coffee and ate breakfast it was already way past the time I wanted to be hiking by. I have no idea what time I started hiking today but I know it was late.
About 3 miles in to the day I started to get really dizzy up a climb. So I sat down on the side of the trail to eat and hydrate for a while. This took up a bit of time today. Lunch was 8 miles in by a spring seep. Right after lunch 3 men on ATVs came hauling down the trail. They jokingly offered me a ride to the lake just down the hill then took off again. By the time I got down to the lake they were standing there drinking beer. They waved for me to come down to the water then offered me beer, soda, chocolate, jerky, and granola bars. I accepted some of it and hung out to talk to them for a while. This took a lot of time out of today's hike too.
You would have never believed that last night was so cold with how hot it was today in the sun; especially with all the uphill again today. At one point (who am I kidding), at multiple points today I got so frustrated because I kept wondering how in the hell I could still be going uphill. I kept saying that I have been climbing uphill since we left Leadore. Monkey didn't agree with me but I think he was just trying to disagree on purpose.
Dinner tonight was by a trickling stream. This is where I ran into our second set of Nobo's (North bounders). The first two people I saw earlier today. The couple was from Seattle and sat and had dinner with us. This took some time out of today's hike...there was a pattern today; I kept getting distracted and spent a lot of time not hiking today. I was also not feeling well today. My energy was low and my breathing was poor. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day!

Thursday, August 1st

Thursday, August 1st. Day 44

Today's miles = 16.2. Total CDT miles =  635.4

I was motivated to wake up this morning for coffee, cinnamon rolls, and egg sandwiches. The coffee and rolls we got from the general store but the egg sandwiches we made on our camp stoves. We scrambled 12 eggs in Monkey's cook pot and put them between four potato hoagie rolls with "processed imitation American cheese flavored product". They were delicious!! I would eat them every day on trail if I had the time in the morning to cook all those eggs.

Thomas came to pick us up to take us back to the trail and gave us a history lesson of the city of Leadore in the process. We were on trail and hiking by 11 or so. Today was another primarily uphill day. We followed the fence marking Idaho from Montana. We were on the Idaho side. The trail today didn't have very many trees. It was mostly exposed dry grassy balds with lots of sagebrush everywhere. It mostly looked like the high desert. This meant that you could see where you were going for miles and miles ahead of time. As we were in this area we could see some clouds rolling in. There were two large fronts headed right toward each other. We made it to a section of trail that was tree covered and began to asses the situation. We knew we were about to hike out of the trees and back onto exposed ridges. We waited a while by the trees to see what the storm would do. After about 30 minutes Monkey and I both felt the threat had passed for where we were headed and began to hike again. With the clouds also came the cold and wind. It was freezing! I was bundled up in most of my clothes while making dinner at a spring. That's when it started to rain a little. We booked it to our camp spot tonight and found it to also be exposed. I saw a small patch of trees kind of far off to the left side of the trail so we walked down there to check it out. I really didn't want to be the tallest thing on the top of a grassy bald in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm so we camped among the trees but not under them.

While setting up camp it got even colder. I had all my clothes except for my rain gear on and was bundled up in my zero degree sleeping bag and I was so cold! Half way through the night I felt the tent wall and it was frozen. It got COLD. I'm looking forward to the sun tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 31st

Wednesday, July 31st. Day 43
Today's miles = Zero Total CDT miles = 619.2
I enjoyed last night in Leadore oh so much that I couldn't resist spending another night in town. (Haha). What actually happened is that I drank my coffee and ate breakfast and bummed around too long. By the time I walked the 6/10ths of a mile down to the city park (I love that they call Leadore a city considering it has a population of 105), the park host was not there to let me into the showers. I waited for about an hour before deciding to wash off in the bathroom. I was halfway through washing my hair in the sink when there was a pound on the door and Monkey saying that the park host had returned. So, I took a proper shower. The only public laundry machine in town was located in the only apartment complex in town (4 apartments) and it was broken. So I washed my clothes in the shower with me and hung them to dry back at my tent. By the time all of this was done it was already 2pm and a thunderstorm was rolling in. Thats when Baboon and I called the zero and bought a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and sat down and ate it all. We were planning on going to the bar again for dinner but they decided not to open tonight so we all had to eat camp food. It was quite disappointing. The storms were on and off today and are suppose to continue tomorrow as well. I'm not looking forward to being up in the mountains if the clouds still look like they do today.

Panama and Frankin Feet are spending another night in town. The one pup has had enough and one of their friends is driving to Leadore to pick him up and take him home. The other pup is doing really well. Everyone agrees that she still looks like she is having a lot of fun and wants to be out here.
Thomas, the guy who gave us a hitch into town also gave me his phone number for when we need a ride back into town. Baboon called him and set up the ride for 10am tomorrow. I'm ready to leave Leadore.