An unexpected hard day

Day 137

Date: 15.09.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 2'853.4

Miles hiked: 28.3 miles / 45.3 km

Elevation: 4'505 feet ascent (1'374 m Aufstieg) / 4'767 feet descent (Abstieg 1'454 m)

Camping at: 5'745 feet / 1'752 m

It was a super cold and wet morning. The tent and sleepingbag were quite soaked. My alarm went off at 5.30am and I finally started moving around 6am. It is still pitch dark outside. I put on all my clothes, my hoodie, puffy, goretex raingear and down gloves. Also Cheetah, Captain and Mouse are up already. They hike out a couple of minutes before us. We waited for them to move first, as all the gras and bushes are wet and the trail is covered with them. The worst water will be cleared when 3 people pass before us. We hike out through a big burned area with big bushes and gras, still all super wet. My raingear is soon soaked and the legs covered in dirt. Shortly before reaching the top of a little climb, we hiked through ground fog and as the sun is just about to reach us, it is very picturesque. After the very short climb the ground is suddendly dry and the grass and bushes not that soaked anymore, just on the other side of that hill. We pass by 2 elk hunters on horses and shortly later we pass another group of 3 elk hunters. One of them is Sandra, a german women who moved to the US many years ago. It's fun talking in german. She invites us to stay with her if needed and we swap contact details, one never knows if it comes in handy. However, all morning I struggle hiking, I have no energy left. Every little bump we climb my legs sore. And they are really little this morning. I also stumble a few times. Even though it is nice out here, I am not enjoying it that much this morning. I just wish a bed and a couple of hours of sleep. The last two big miles days and hiking late must have beaten me up more than I thought. Finally, we leave the burned area behind us and enter a forest. But the forest is super overgrown, the trail very slim and it is hard to see the trail at times. Luckily it is mostly downhill and when we reach the bottom of the river valley shortly before lunch, we decided to stop and eat here, having hiked only 12 miles so far. Also Cheetah, Captain and Mouse are breaking for lunch here. Apparently, we have already left the Bob Marshall Wilderness again, there was no sign marking it. It was nice, but a lot of burned forest. I make granola with dehydrated milk powder and snack some cookie's. Or lunch, hopefully that helps with the energy level. Also, it is a beautiful day, the sun is out (it is supposed to rain in the afternoon) and we can dry out our gear, which I am super glad about. It is the worst if all your gear is wet or moist and you dont have the chance to dry out out during the day.

After lunch we have a gentle uphill climb which we hike in no time (except for me stumbling over a rock and falling into the bushes. It was a soft fall and nothing hurts) and I am glad to report that my energy is coming back. I do feel much better now. We run down the other side. Luckily, there is an alternate coming up bypassing some climbs and shortening the trail distance by 3.5miles. It is a very nice flat trail. The first 2 miles in I spot about 6 big bear poops, which is a lot for such a short distanced, there must be at least one grizzly, maybe with cubs, living very close here. We hike it super fast and again I don't see a root or something on the trail and fall on my nose! Nothing hurts, I am just dirty and ripped of a side pocket of my backpack. I hiked so many miles now and didn't fall once, but today I managed to fall twice already! The trail continues super easy once we rejoined to the offidial CDT. We kept on hiking with Cheetah, Mouse and Captain all afternoon. As we decided to hike on a couple of more miles in the early evening, we left the group behind us. We boiled water for our dehydrated meals and kept on hiking. The dehydrated meals need around 20 minutes to get ready. I just put my meal in my belly pouch and made sure it was well sealed while hiking on😁 that's efficiency on trail! About 30 minutes later we stopped, after a big river crossing and spontaneously decided to camp right here. It was a perfect spot to pitch the tent and if we continued to hike on, we would have several deep river crossings to master. We decided it is not worth it hiking on 2 or 3 more miles and then having to put on wet and cold socks and shoes the next morning, as they just dried today! It is the earliest we have set camp yet, only 7pm but it is so nice. I have time to brush my hair, take care of one blister, enjoy the evening and get to bed early with more than 7 hrs of sleeping time. Tomorrow it is about 23 miles left to town and I am so looking forward to town food! East Glacier is the last "town" along the CDT before hitting the canadian boarder and also a little less than a 100 miles to go only! I can literally see the boarder now! Canada, here we come!

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