Day 10, June 26. Miles: 18 We left East Glacier today, finally. I was ready to hike again after a full day off. Veggie and I left about 9:30. We had some trouble navigating out of town, but eventually found the “two-track” that led to the CDT. We walked all day; it was hot,hot,hot. The trail was brushy and overgrown, but not difficult to follow. In the evening we got to Marias Pass and met Hey Bear, a section hiker going from Helena to Canada. He gave us some good tips on the trail coming up. Veggie was feeling really tired from the heat, but I was feeling energized, which often happens for me in the evening when I am hiking. (Misha will attest that this is not the case at home, when I start falling asleep at 9…) So I hiked on another few miles to the South Fork of the Two Medicine River. Saw one big black bear while I was walking, directly in the trail ahead of me, but he ran away immediately when he saw me. I camped in a field full of beautiful wildflowers. Hoping for a 25 mile day tomorrow. Day 11, June 27 Woke up and got moving about 7:30. Was passed by Scalliwag, ED, and Whistle right before I left camp. I caught up with them in a few miles and spent the rest of the day with them. It was a really hot day, and we took a low route along the Two Medicine River. It felt nice to ford the river every 45 minutes or so in the heat. In the evening we got to Lost Horse Camp, and stopped for the day. Only 20 miles today, but I was okay with that; my feet haven’t hardened yet and are blistering. I have quarter-sized blisters under the middle toes on both feet. Scalliwag and I had a real nice conversation in the evening; he is an Evangelical Christian and was raised in the church. June 28, Day 12 Another really hot day, and 20 miles again. I woke up at 4:30 am when ED got up and was on trail by 6. Moved about 2 mph all day, 10 moving hours. Got to a forest service cabin in the evening, which was locked, but had a big porch and was right on a river, so we all camped. It was about 9 of us–me, Veggie, Scalliwag, ED, Whistle, and 3 others, one of which is active duty in the army. It was a really relaxed, social evening. Amazing there are this many southbound thruhikers in the same place. Feet are worse today, shoes are too small and ripping at the sides, heat probably making feet swell. Day 13, June 29 Hiked with the whole crew all day. Camped with Scallywag, ED, and Veggie next to a river. Hot day. Day 14, June 30 Today we walked about 25 miles and went by what is called The Chinese Wall. It is a massive, beautiful cliff that extends for about 12ish miles, and the CDT follows it for about 8 or 9 miles. Beautiful scenery all day. Hiked with Scalliwag, ED, and Veggie on and off throughout the day, and 4 other guys. I ended up camping alone on the Sun River because the others stopped to eat dinner and then couldn’t find me. Nice evening, though I got in late, about 9, and was feeling really tired. Made a full pot of couscous and couldn’t eat it all. I think I’m losing weight. Day 15, July 1 Today was Benchmark Ranch day. I had sent a box of food to this ranch about a month ago, which is down a dirt road about 2 miles from the CDT. The alternative is hitch hiking to Augusta, Montana, 30 miles down a dirt road, so we are really glad the ranch owner lets us ship boxes here. I started hiking about 8, which is later than average, and immediately ran into the other 3. Hiked most of the morning with them but then had to slow down because my feet were hurting so much and I was limping pretty badly. Finally I took 1 gram of Tylenol, which made it possible to hike and not limp again. My blisters are about the size of a silver dollar in the middle of both balls of the feet. I had drained everything I could drain, but these are under my callouses and difficult to get to. anyways, I finally got close to Benchmark about 1 pm, and was passing a log cabin, looked up and saw ED. They called to me, and I went up and ALL of the SOBOs were there! The cabin is owned by an 88 year old World War 2 veteran named Bob, who just likes to be kind to CDT hikers. He gave us cold drinks and drove us up to the ranch to get our packages. Met Darwin, the ranch owner, on the way in and thanked him for helping us out. We hung out with Bob till about 4, and I took a closer look at my feet–the right blister is pink and kind of infected looking. I drained it and put a dressing on it, and covered the whole thing in Veggie’s festive purple owl duct tape. Hopefully no river fords in the near future. I walked out alone at 4 and walked another 12 miles. Am camped on the valley floor near Green Fork River, among a bunch of burned dead trees. Hopefully it isn’t windy tonight. I’ve walked about 257 miles in 15 days, which is probably why my feet have blistered. Oops. Day 16, July 2 Woke up in my burn-zone campground and saw the group of guys–Whistle, Tortoise, Hare, and Sleepwalker– who had camped at Green Fork ranger cabin. They were hiking fast and planning to zero in Lincoln for July 4. Hiked only about 6 miles and arrived at Welcome Creek cabin and had lunch; I was feeling tired and nauseous–probably pushed it too hard the day before. As I was getting ready to leave, the Scalliwag trio arrived. They had hiked 12 miles for my 6 this morning, and caught up to me. We left together an hour later and hiked well into the evening, until about 8:45 pm. We climbed 2000 feet and got up on the Divide, and camped in a very green meadow with songbirds all around. I thought, this is truly heaven for me– if I woke up in heaven, it would be in a tent, surrounded by my friends’ tents, in a green meadow, in a saddle on the Continental Divide. The only difference would be Mikhail would be with me. Day 17, July 8 We all woke up with the songbirds, as if there were any choice in the matter. We got moving about 8 and it was immediately very strenuous–walking on the Divide is hard and spectacular. It was really slow going, and extremely hot and sunny. But I loved it. Mikhail was waiting for me down at Rogers Pass to spend Independence Day weekend with me, 24 miles from our campsite. By 6 pm we still had 8 miles of hiking and 2100 feet of elevation gain. My GPS ran out of battery, and I didn’t think I could successfully navigate in the dark with just a map–the trail was difficult to follow or altogether nonexistent towards the end of the day. My friends offered to night hike with me all the way down to the pass, even though we would get in very late, so I could get in tonight to see Mikhail. I was so happy they were willing to do that for me. What followed was some of the most
Beautiful hiking of this entire trip. The sun set over the hills and the moon rose, blood red over the horizon. one lone storm cloud puffed up, lit up pink with heat lightning. We finally got down to the pass at 11:45pm and Mikhail was waiting with Gatorades, water, chips, and snacks. All the hikers immediately sat down in a circle in the dark parking lot, headlamps on, ripping open the chips and divvying up the snacks. True hiker style. Mikhail and I drove to Seely Lake for the night. It felt surreal to walk into a motel room, limping, sunburned. Mikhail was impressed with how gross my feet were.
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