Smoky day into Helena

Day 126

Date: 04.09.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 2'618.1

Miles hiked: 7.0 miles / 11.2 km

Elevation: 922 feet ascent (281.2 m Aufstieg) / 1'506 feet descent (Abstieg 569.3 m)

Camping at: Budget Express, Helena

We hiked out at 7am. Seems our motivation to hit the trail in the morning is higher if we hike into a town🤣 It is very smoky today, the sun a red circle at the sky, beautiful though. We don't know where the smoke comes from but running into two bikers this morning they inform us that the smoke comes from a wildfire far away. The 7 miles to the highway, and where we want to hitch to, are hiked fast. Again we keep on trail running the downhill sections.

We hike the last feet along the highway when I suddenldy realize that we hiked too far already! As there is no shoulder side walk on the highway and the cars drive pretty fast here, we will have to keep on hiking direction Helena, but I was not sure how far we have to hike on before getting a ride. Also, most cars would drive the other way, out of Helena. As I can hear a car approaching I stick my thumb out but no luck. A few minutes later a second car approaches and without much hope I stick my thumb out again and the car slows down and stops for us. Amazing, getting the second car stopping on a very difficult stretch was unexpected but very much appreciated. The driver knows hikers and likes them a lot and hence is shuttleing them up and down the pass very often. He also knows where we want to go to, the Budget Inn Motel, and drives us there. This is the cheapest Motel in town and it seems like most of us hikers stay here. Today many hikers are here or about to get here: Almost, Meat Paws, Captain, Mouse, Cheetah, Stallion, Sourpatch, Piper, Dustman, Grit, Kingo and others are here. It seems we have made it into the middle of the hiker bubble. Arriving in Helena, 'Rattler' is trying to hitch out and our driver offers him a ride back again! Our room isn't ready yet, so we go to get breakfast first and run into 'Piper' and 'Duskman'! I was soooo looking forward to see them again. As they took the big sky alternate, which is much shorter and faster than the official CDT route, they cought up again, which is wonderful! The last time I have seed these two was in Leadville, Colorado. It is also pretty impressive that they are still on trail, as so many hikers have quit already, some of them even only lately.

We face another issue today. The upcoming stretches are rather long. 135 miles into Augusta and from Augusta to East Glacier around 145 miles. And there is not much water on trail, so we have to get prepared carrying a lot of water again, next to a lot of food! Plus, neither Augusta nor East Glacier have good or any food resupply options. And thirdly, today is Sunday and tomorrow is labour day, a public holiday in the US. So we can't send food resupply boxes via Mail to Augusta and East Glacier till Tuesday morning. We are thinking about it a lot, shall we hike out and hitch into Lincoln and sort out all our resupply boxes there? But that takes a lot of extra time. Shall we stay here in Helena another day, go shopping and send the boxes out first thing on Tuesday morning? We keep pushing the decision out. Instead we are getting a huge Milkshake and visit the mountain gear store, but they are out of all the items I would need (new filter, inliner socks, new air mattress, ...). Back at the hotel in the afternoon we are finally able to check in, shower and do our laundry. But because it is so smokey, the internet doesn't work well (that's what I have been told at least) and I cannot upload my blogs. Furthermore, I was looking forward to go to the sushi all you can eat place, since a southbounder told us in Idaho a couple of weeks back. But the Sushi place is closed today too, that's a real bummer!

With Piper and Duskman we head out for dinner at a pizza and pasta place. By now I am starving and I eat and eat and eat, till I feel really sick all night long🙈 We still haven't decided yet what we will do tomorrow, hike out or stay another day - we shall see.

---