Day 23
2 miles on route 3 miles road walking
We finished up our chores in West Yellowstone and started the long process of trying to hitch to Big Sky. The next section on Alex’s route is very technical, and there isn’t an obvious way to redraw the technical sections, so we will skip it and pick up the route in Big Sky. We tried for 3 hours to get a ride in the hot sun and were finally picked up by a dad driving his daughter to college for her freshman year. There was a large amount of traffic due to road construction with a pilot car, and it took 2 hours to get to Big Sky. We walked a couple of miles up the road towards the Big Sky ski resort and finally got another ride with a couple in their converted van that they had built out themselves. We walked about 2 miles on the route, road walking, and at 7 pm got on trail finally-only to encounter a stern sign about trespassing on the private property around the trail amongst the million dollar ski chalets. Too bad, rich people-I am definitely going to be stealth camping on your private property in the woods. Stopped hiking about 8 pm.
Day 24
18.4 miles
We got moving at 7:09 this morning-trying to get out of the rich people private property before anyone noticed us. The trail climbed up, joined a road briefly, then connected to a series of trails that headed towards the Spanish peaks. The day was almost completely in the alpine zone, 9-10,000 ft of elevation, surrounded by incredible peaks. What a spectacular walk. Unfortunately in the late afternoon the weather turned, and we saw many different storm clouds moving quickly across the sky. We basically ran the rest of the Indian Ridge walk and luckily it didn’t start to rain until we were below tree line. We got some water from Arrow Lake and then dry camped a couple miles down, about 5 miles from the road to Gallatin Gateway. We passed a group of older ladies in the afternoon who said “three and a half weeks together? How on earth do you have anything left to talk about?” We all kind of looked at each other-Unbeknownst to them, one of us had mentioned earlier in the day that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson can pick up a grape off the floor with his butt cheeks and I think we discussed this for….2 hours….? So that’s where we’re at, lady. Send us good thoughts.
Day 25
23.3 miles
We started walking at 7:20am. 5 miles gently down to a highway, which goes north to Gallatin Gateway and also Bozeman. On the way down I met an old man named Alan hiking up-he was very kind, asking me lots of questions, and out of his backpack he pulled a handmade wooden bowl that he had carved and gave it to me! He likes to carve bowls and give them to people, he said. Jukebox needed to pick up a package in Gallatin Gateway and also kind of wanted to check out Bozeman, but I just wanted to keep hiking. The 2 others were ahead of me on the way down, and when I got there they were gone-they must have gotten a hitch quickly. I turned up the highway and walked half a mile, then turned down Storm Castle Creek road. I looked at the route-it turns steeply southeast and climbs all the way up to Garnet Peak, then makes its way right back to Storm Castle Creek road. I….stayed on the road. The other two will probably not assume that I did that, which means they probably will not catch up with me before the end of the section. It’s ok, I’d like some solitude anyway for awhile. The road went through a burn area-the wind whistling in the trees was very eery. Also the weather changed again and it rained on and off all afternoon. The road became a trail-2 men passed me the other direction, one grunting, “you’re going up there awfully late in the day…”. I continued upwards in the misting rain, and looking down in a valley, saw a deer nursing her fawn. She looked up at me with wide eyes. Sweet mama, how can I tell you that I won’t hurt you? A bluebird flitted between the dead trees. The trail climbed upwards and entered what was a massive avalanche area-trail crews had cut an incredible tunnel through the first half of the debris, but I had to climb over some of it. I soon found the trail on the other side. I was calling “Hey, Bear” through the thick forest, but soon gave up and put some Sigala dance music on my phone on loud. I pictured the grizzlies dancing to it. At least they know where I am. I climbed up to a nice bench overlooking the valley and the rain slowed and stopped. The sun, golden, slowly dipped below the cloud layer in the west, setting right outside my tent door in a palette of colors. This is the best sunset on the trail so far.
Day 26
17.8 miles
I got onto the Gallatin Crest today, which is mindblowingly beautiful. I can’t believe I had never heard of it before.
Day 27
14.8 miles
I got moving late today-about 8:20. The ridge continued with gentle ups and downs, very beautiful. I got to the Windy Pass cabin about 10:30 and got water. I kept moving, meeting a few folks from Bozeman who were out for a day hike, chatted with them for a few minutes. In the late afternoon I took trails down to Ramshorn Lake for water-it was such a beautiful, tranquil lake, and I was tired, so I decided to stay. I heated some water and took a sponge bath-I’m hoping it helps with this poison ivy, which is driving me nuts.
Day 28
18.4 miles
I got moving at 8 am. Climbed up and away from Bighorn Lake and back on the ridge. It was hot and dusty-no water on the ridge-I had drank some water at the lake and carried a liter and a half. Encountered a herd of bighorn sheep on Bighorn Mountain, as advertised. The views were pretty, and when the trail crossed back into Yellowstone there was a very “airy” section with a sheer drop off these impressive black cliffs. They looked like Mordor from Lord of the Rings. I got to Shelf Lake in the afternoon and sat down and drank a liter of water. Then I went all the way down to Specimen Creek, arrived at 5:30 pm and had my dinner of ramen and sardines. Strange sounding but delicious. I climbed back out of the creek bed, really feeling the climb-I think it’s the heat-passed Crescent Lake and saw a family, just said “hello” and kept walking. I was a little worried when the next creek bed was dry-but found a small lake and was surprised when Jukebox and Stargate showed up right afterwards! They had tried to talk to the family, but the man had hassled them, asking them where they were camping and telling them it was a “federal offense to camp without a permit.” People are absurd sometimes. Anyways, they found out I was only 15 minutes ahead and hussled to catch me. We chose a spot well away from the trail and lake and bedded down.
Day 29
18.5 miles
Got moving just after 7 today. The trail was very easy and gradual, almost no elevation change for the first part of the day down to Sportsman Lake. I ran into a ranger there, who I tried to lie to and say that I was walking out of the park, but he said “your friends said you had Verizon and would call for your required camping permit from Electric Pass where there is service.” Lol. I slowly made my way up to the Pass with 2000 feet of gain in the heat of the day, arriving at 3:30 pm. I knew the permit office closed at 4 and called every 3 minutes until somebody finally picked up at 3:57. I made the reservation for the last site before Mammoth Hot Springs, then made my way down to the site 3 miles down. Jukebox and Stargate were already waiting there and glad we have successfully gotten the reservation. We had dinner and made a campfire, the first one in this trip. It was a very cozy evening. Stargate enjoyed his nightly entertainment of watching me and Jukebox throw the bear rope, which never seems to go right the first time.
Day 30
8.1 miles
We walked down to Mammoth Hot Springs today, and hitched with a climate scientist who works for the NPS at Yellowstone to Gardiner. We did our town chores and relaxed in the motel.
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