Continental Divide Trail: Days 129 - 139

Day 129

Forward progress: 10.0 miles

Total distance on trail: 1,952.9 miles

It would have been so easy to stay in town another day. There are so many ways to exit Butte, one of which would cut off 25 miles -- a full day, if we wanted to.  But we didn't.

We did only have a short day planned today, so we hung around town until around 2:00. Vibes and I hoped to get Bushwhack and Zoolander to come out with us, but they wanted another day in town and are planning a different route. It's weird to think, this close to the end, we may not be running back into them.

The hiking was actually kind of fun, even though we gained about 4,000 ft of elevation in those 10 miles. It wasn't stunning but it was pretty and largely cruisy.

You want to hear something crazy? This will all be over in decidedly less than a month. Let's. Freaking. Go.

Day 130

Forward progress: 22.8 miles

Total distance on trail: 1,975.8 miles

I had one of my best sleeps on trail last night, and dragging myself up was tough, especially because it rained overnight so my tent was wet, and I hate packing wet gear.

The first 5 miles were our hardest part of the day, and then we hit a dirt road and basically stayed on dirt, paved, or gravel road for the remainder of the hiking day. It was wildly simple; we got to camp before 3:30. We're at a paid National Forest campground because there's water here, and otherwise we'd be dry camping until water in 11 miles, and going from mid-afternoon until tomorrow mid-morning with a water ration didn't sound fun, so here we are.

My favorite part of the day was those 5 challenging miles, though, if for no other reason than I got to enjoy an abundance of wild raspberries along the way!

Got the worst rain of the trail on that road walk, though. Thunderstormed for 2 hours, and the downpour was pretty torrential at times. My rain jacket was useful for about 5 minutes, and then everything was wet. And cold. One of the worst parts of being wet, in my opinion, is not being able to put on dry or warm layers because then they'll get wet and that doesn't help anyone. So I just walked, head down, grinding out miles, until I could set up my tent and change out of my damp clothes. Fortunately, the sun came out close to the campsite, so I was able to dry off a little.

This campsite is forested and moody. I put on a Bon Iver album to match the vibe while writing this journal entry and doing my daily sudoku, and I realized that I need to listen to more vibe-specific playlists rather than podcasts to help with hiking. Even my entertaining pods just remind me that I'm distracting myself rather than trying to enhance the experience.

Vibes and I did some planning for Glacier National Park -- the last 100 miles of the trail -- and it's wild that we are already able to think about the end in a tangible kind of way. Not just some abstract destination. A real place with permits and resupplies and logistics to sort out. And we're almost there.

Day 131

Forward progress: 28.4 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,004.1 miles

I knew before getting out of my tent that the condensation would be heavy. The door to my tent was sagging under the weight of the water, and my quilt felt damp from the muggy air. When I stepped out, I saw that we were totally submerged in a cloud. The sun was trying hard to dissipate the moisture in the air, but it took a while for the air around us to clear. I had made a note that the sky surrounding us looked blue and cloudless, so I didn't anticipate there being any storms until at least the afternoon.

Naturally, it started raining around 9:30. Luckily, it wasn't as hard or as long as yesterday's storm, but it was frustrating getting wet after being so close to drying off.

The sun came back with a vengeance in the early afternoon, and we were able to dry out our tents and rain jackets and bodies and shoes and socks and basically everything at our lunch break.

Shortly before lunch, we came across three glorious coolers near a dirt road intersection. A couple named Sue and Rick live off that dirt road and maintain a cache of water, other assorted beverages, tons of snacks, and a bag to take trash. We didn't meet them, but I'm guessing they come by every day to check for trash, since there was no garbage in the bag before we put ours in. Super kind. I've been so happy about the trail magic on this trail, since I genuinely expected there to be almost none. Just cool that the community is so willing to help us out.

Honestly, I thought I'd be in a worse mood from the climbs and the longer miles today, but I was pretty content letting the miles go by. I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack all the way through, which I haven't done in a long while, so maybe it helped to have an engaging story with fast-paced music to get me through a few hours.

Our campsite tonight is not ideal, but nothing in this area looks ideal. Surrounded by cow patties, near a meadow so will likely have condensation, and the patch of dirt is so small, our tents are barely a few feet from each other. But we've made do with worse, and we will make do again!

Day 132

Forward progress: 26.0 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,030.1 miles

It's getting harder and harder to wake up early to start hiking. It makes sense; the sunrise is getting later and later every day. We've noticed that we're both still groggy around 6:15 but can reliably drag ourselves out of bed at 6:30. Just a few weeks ago, 6:30 was when we would start hiking.

I got a text from a friend today who, quite frankly, I didn't think was terribly invested in my hiking journey -- she's a friend from my sorority, which was before the hiking version of me existed -- and it said, "You're so close!!!!" And that text made me tear up for numerous reasons. One, that text made me realize that people are watching this journey, supporting me from afar, hoping for my success, even if I don't realize it all the time. Two, I am so close! As of now, I am under 3 weeks and 400 miles until I step into Canada, and that is a wild thought. Three, those numbers simultaneously feel so small and so big, and I'm ready for them to just feel small.

The hiking today was beautiful in a casual way. I didn't take many photos of the trail, but it was lovely hiking. Not too strenuous, although it's getting freaking hot now that we're so low in elevation, so I was sweating like crazy on the climbs, and a liter of water gets me a lot less far than it did even a few days ago.

Our goal today was 22.2 miles, but we got there by 5:30, even having taken a ton of longer breaks today (20-30 minutes for each water filter break, over an hour for lunch), so we kept hiking. We're currently set up on a pullout on a dirt road -- it's flat enough, and we didn't want to go into the grass where the condensation would be awful -- under 10 miles from the road to town. 8.7 feels a lot more reasonable than the 12.6 we'd originally planned, so we know we can get to town early and get a jumpstart on relaxing.

Day 133

Forward progress: 8.7 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,038.8 miles

I woke up to a puddle of drool, so I know I slept great!

We did the 8.7 miles in a little under 3 hours. We didn't take any breaks, and we moved swiftly even through the blowdown sections, called, as always, by the pull of town.

It didn't take us long to get a ride to Helena. We were at the post office by 10:15, and while Vibes did some mail and gear errands, I went to a restaurant and bar to enjoy as much food as I could stuff in my body. My friend Caleb booked us a really nice room on credit card points, but we couldn't check in until 3:00, so we made sure to have all our errands done before then so we could just relax. And relax I did.

Day 134

Forward progress: 9.1 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,047.9 miles

Today was a reminder that flexibility is key to thru-hiking. When we had initially looked at the upcoming stretch between Helena and Lincoln, we figured our goal was a half day out of Helena, two full days of hiking, and a short day into Lincoln. Because of a fire between Helena and Lincoln, and the fact that there isn't an official reroute, we've had to piece together our own route in and out of Lincoln.

We had heard from a few friends in town, Fomo and Rudy, neither of whom I'd seen since Colorado, about a route that goes directly into Lincoln, instead of having to hitch from the highway junction, and, for our current needs, would skirt the fire. That route is part of the Great Divide Mountain Bear Route, which occasionally intersects with the CDT but often traverses the networks of dirt roads around it. In our research, we discovered that there is a llama farm along the GDMBR that we obviously have to stay at, even though it makes our miles really weird. It's only 28 miles from Helena, which means we can do a pretty short day today and still do low miles tomorrow to get there. Fortunately, the GDMBR shaves off a fair few miles, which we would have had to do, anyway, to get around the fire, so we'll be getting into Lincoln a day earlier than planned.

Anyway, all that to say that the fires that keep popping up are making it hard to plan particularly far in advance, and since my parents and partner and Vibes's parents and partner are coming out to Glacier for a specific finish date, we can't get too ahead of or behind schedule.

When we realize we could do really short miles today, we spent a long time at a coffee shop in downtown Helena. It worked out really well because a good friend of mine happened to be apartment hunting in Helena this afternoon, so we were able to hang out for a few hours, and she even drove us back to the trail.

The hiking was pretty, albeit rather uneventful. The best part for me was berry picking. I learned this afternoon how to identify huckleberries, and I found a single bush with berries. The surrounding bushes all looked picked over.

Vibes and I are camping far enough from a cow trough to keep from disturbing thirsty cows but close enough to the cow trough that there are tons of cows nearby. Their moos are very loud and not at all peaceful, but the spot is established and flat and we will take what we can get.

Day 135

Forward progress: 17.1 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,065.0 miles

Guys. I'm at a llama farm. Well... it used to have llamas. It's called Llama Ranch but now they have pet alpacas instead. But still!!

Despite doing 17 miles, today truly felt like a nearo. We didn't get a particularly early start, and I don't remember pushing extra hard until the last mile or so, but we crushed all 17 miles before 12:30. Then the rest of the day was truly just relaxing.

Llama Ranch is the wildest trail magic I've ever experienced. They've built a few tiny homes on their property that are all stocked with clean water, nonperishable foods, a one-burner propane stove, and two bottles of wine. They stock coolers on their front porch with sodas and beers and sandwiches. And they won't let you pay a cent for any of it, even as a donation. Instead, they ask that you pay the kindness forward out in the real world. I'm not even sure how to begin putting that kind of goodness out there.

The owners, Barbara and John, have been hosting Great Divide Mountain Bike Route bikers for about a decade, and this is one of their first years getting hikers. With fire reroutes becoming more prevalent in this stretch, hikers have started walking the dirt roads of the GDMBR instead of going up to the trail, partially because you never know how much the fires will spread, and partially because there's actually water down here (there's a 30-mile water carry up on the ridge that none of us are too keen to do). They said they've noticed some differences in how the bikers and hikers behave, and they've had to learn to adapt to hikers to better cater to our needs and not feel overrun by us. By this point on the GDMBR, which is usually done southbound, bikers have been out for maybe a couple of weeks. They'e in a town every one or two days and are accustomed to basic comforts. The thru-hikers are more greedy. And I don't even think it's that we're greedy; I think it's that we're more feral. We've been hiking for 4 months to get here going northbound, and the southbounders are about a month in. We're not getting the comforts of towns as often. We're literally starving. We want and want for more. And I feel badly that that comes off as greedy. We tried really hard to leave a good impression of hikers. I don't think anyone even stole a wad of toilet paper.

Vibes, Rudy, Fomo, and I stayed up late with a GDMBR biker named Emma, drinking wine and playing cards. It was so fun, we barely realized the sun had gone away until we were having to pull out lights to see the cards.

Day 136

Forward progress: 23.0 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,088.0 miles

It was surprisingly cold, even inside the tiny house, when we woke up. I didn't get out of bed until 7:00. Why would I? We'd agreed to leave at 9. We had pancakes for breakfast and cleaned every inch of the tiny house before we left.

Me, Vibes, Fomo, and Rudy continued on the GDMBR, which was a series of dirt and gravel roads, until the paved road that led to the town of Lincoln. We all arrived before 5:00, even with a lunch break and several stops to filter water. I'm gonna miss easy hiking moving forward.

We're able to camp for free in the yard of a bar. The pros are that we don't have to pay to set up our tents, there's a port-a-potty on site, there's a hose with potable water back here, and we can charge our stuff on the side of the building. The biggest con is that this place is open until 2:00am, so there's still a bunch of noise and light, even though it's late. But it's free so can't complain too much.

Day 137

Forward progress: 18.2 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,106.2 miles

If I were a little more extraverted and a lot more interested in meeting people, the playlist last night would have driven me out of my tent. It was so fun, I eventually had to plug in my earbuds to a more relaxing playlist so I could tune it out and fall asleep. We all slept poorly, and breakfast was a silent, groggy affair.

We left town around 9:00 and headed back to the trail. Well... not the trail. We were advised by the CDTC to find an alternate path even past the official fire closure, so we mapped one out that walks directly out of town and reconnects with the trail about 25 miles in. I think it only adds 2 or 3 miles total.

I honestly had a blast this morning. While on the dirt road, surrounded by pine trees, I found myself beaming at the crisp morning. It felt like a perfect autumn day, even though it's still August. The opening vocalizations of the song "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez just magically fit the vibe, and I played it on repeat several times, already feeling nostalgic about the trail coming to a close. At the same time, I'm excited for fall mornings, car camping with Mitch, making hot apple cider, cooking a hot breakfast, and curling up with some blankets to watch a movie or read a book. I am 2 short weeks away from that life.

I even had fun when the trail became a bushwhacky mess, an overgrown and brambly obstacle course that involved several instances of navigating through plants taller than your head and thick and impossible to see through. I think a few days ago, this would have made me scream. Today, it made me giddy. Doing that, plus stopping every few miles to pick huckleberries until our hands were red with their juices, made me feel wild.

We stopped for lunch at a national forest campground that had pit toilets and picnic tables. We joked about how posh it felt, dining at a table instead of finding adequate ground to spread out on, and enjoyed a long lunch. Even with a late start, we'd done most of our miles by lunch, and only had 6 to do when we left.

We're camped at Heart Lake. Last night, when choosing between an 18-mile or a 26-mile day -- there isn't camping between Heart Lake and where this trail reconnects to the CDT -- we opted for the shorter day so we could enjoy this site, and I'm really glad we did, because realistically, we would have gotten here and decided to forego the longer day in favor of this spot. There are bunches of established (read: relatively flat and relatively without ground obstructions). An open-air pit toilet is nearby. The lake is scenic and made for a fantastic afternoon swim spot. We watched a bald eagle hunt for fish. It was a spectacular way to end our hiking day.

We're all in our tents fairly early to try to make up for last night's poor sleep. Fingers crossed, because tomorrow looks like a big day.

Day 138

Forward progress: 27.7 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,133.9 miles

Despite today's big miles and lots of elevation gain, I mostly had a lot of fun. Especially the first half of the day.

After reconnecting to the CDT, we followed a really nice ridge line for several miles before dropping into the valley. Water sources were good, views were beautiful, mood was good.

For some reason, my stomach was really bothering me after lunch. Mostly dull, consistent pains, but occasional sharp pains. My mind raced to all kinds of ailments: giardia, norovirus, appendicitis. I tried pooping to see if that would help, but nothing came out, and I wasted time and energy digging a cat hole for nothing. I tried throwing up, drinking electrolytes, eating a bagel to see if carbs would soak up whatever was going on, but nothing. For no reason at all, the pain went mostly away after our last water filter break before camp.

We're camped in a burn zone near an old forest ranger cabin. The main draw is that there's a privy near the cabin, and the mileage tomorrow looks very reasonable for a town day. We'd debated pushing another 3 miles to a camp site that looks really good, but with my tummy being out of sorts, I told the guys I wasn't interested in doing more miles, and they were ready to be done, anyway. We did all those miles in under 12 hours, and we're pooped.

Day 139

Forward progress: 10.3 miles

Total distance on trail: 2,144.2 miles

Today was our last town day before Glacier National Park. We won't be there for several days still, but the next town is East Glacier Village. And after that, other segments of Glacier National Park. And then the end.

We got up early to rush to the trailhead that leads to Augusta, MT because we weren't sure how long it would take to get a hitch, since the trailhead is off a dirt road 30 miles from town.

The miles themselves were lovely and easy, following a meandering creek. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife and our vocal cords busy to reduce grizzly bear encounters. I haven't seen one since Yellowstone, and I definitely want to see more, but I also don't want to surprise them, so being loud is much safer, but I still want to see them around!

We got to the road that leads to the trailhead a little before 10:00 and waited. We figured we might be too early for any day hikers, and we weren't sure how many people would be out for a day hike or returning from a backpacking or horsepacking trip on a Tuesday, and the road also has a campground junction, so we hedged our bets and waited at the road crossing for any car heading toward Augusta. We saw two trucks going towards the trailhead, but none coming the other way.

There's a local man who intermittently provides shuttle services to hikers, and we had texted him a few days ago asking if we could arrange a ride, but he said he wasn't doing it anymore. We hadn't had service since Lincoln, and there wasn't service at the trailhead junction, but he had apparently texted saying that he was going to be coming up to the trail on Tuesday morning -- today -- to drop off another hiker. We were so lucky that we only waited for 45 minutes; the hiker getting out of the car said that he had waited for 6 hours before getting a ride to town.

The ride itself was one of my least favorite hitches of the trail. The guy clearly does not believe in cleaning the inside of his car, and he had two dogs with him, so we were pretty crammed in, and one of the dogs decided that I was her personal chair, and she had really long nails, and I don't really like dogs too much as it is, and for whatever reason, he insisted on a playlist of sea shanties that he kept at too loud of a volume. But it was a ride to town where rides seem to be few and far between, so I couldn't complain much, and I forked over the $20 when he not-so-subtly asked for donations for his time.

He dropped us off at the post office next to the RV campground/motel, and after we all picked up our various packages, we got a room for the four of us to share. The motel is also attached to the best rated restaurant in town, so we indulged ourselves for lunch before walking to the general store for a resupply. This upcoming stretch will be a pretty long food carry -- 135 miles, with a fixed campsite we want tomorrow evening about 20 miles in and a fixed campsite we want 15 miles before the next town, so we're packing out 5.5 days' worth of food. Especially after this last stretch, where we were in a town (or an alpaca farm lol) every other day, we're all dreading how heavy our packs are going to be.

Since we got all of our choring done early, we were able to relax pretty hard for the remainder of the day. Fomo got a deck of cards at the store, and we played games until long after we'd had to turn on a light inside to see.

Hard to believe this is all going to be over in under 2 weeks. This is the part I've been looking forward to for ages. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is supposed to be awesome, and Glacier is obviously going to be astounding. To our knowledge, the only fire north of us is blocking an alternate, not the main trail, so we should be good to go from here. I set Mitch up with trail alerts and directed him toward a few places to watch for fire activity so that, should something emerge while we're out of commission for the next several days, he can message me on my satellite communicator.

Let's do this thing!!!