Follow Strider's Rambles

Day 55

It was a typical morning with scenic terrain and one river ford. I met a NoBo who was hiking a 300 mile CDT section, ending at Old Faithful. At Upper Brooks Lake, I turned onto the Old CDT alternate. It followed the lake’s east shoreline then continued south and along the west shoreline of Brooks Lake. I passed a campground and arrived at the Brooks Lake Lodge.

A lodge employee fetched my resupply box and I sorted through it at an exterior picnic table. He let me use lobby outlets to charge my devices. At one point, two van loads of people arrived and emptied. A woman standing nearby clapped and congratulated the guests on completing their hike. I smiled, thinking how surprised they’d be to discover that I hiked there from Canada.

My large battery pack wasn’t fully charged, however I got tired of waiting (no WiFi or cell service) and returned to the trail in the late afternoon. On the road walk to Hwy 26, I met a couple who told me about the Dollar Lake Fire; a new, large fire to the south and likely near the CDT. I crossed the highway and walked dirt roads, listening to the third Mistborn audiobook.

I ate dinner near a stream. A couple miles later, I found a flat spot to camp. Using my Garmin, I texted Fifteen and my sister about the fire. Fifteen told me hikers were taking it seriously. My sister told me the Green Lakes to Pinedale road was closed. Wanting more information, I examined the area in FarOut. A couple dirt roads would get me back to Hwy 26, where I could hike north to the Lava Mountain Lodge and use their WiFi to research fire options.

Day 56

On my morning road walk, I encountered a large group of cows. They were startled by my approach and stopped, then several fled to the right. Belatedly I realized they were being herded and hiked off the road to my left, however I was spied by the cowboy behind who started cursing at me most ferociously. He also yelled at me to get off the road, which I yelled back that I had already done, then he cussed me some more. What a mouth!

After cutting through a dude ranch, I reached Hwy 26 and a one mile road walk brought me to the Lava Mountain Lodge. It was closed so I sat on the porch and happily discovered the WiFi had no password. I texted Fifteen and looked up fire details. He leaned towards heading to South Pass City. I didn’t want to skip the entire Wind River Range, it being the gem of the CDT. The fire was 3-4 miles west of the trail, but fire can move fast and I’ve had no cell service since Old Faithful; I felt uncomfortable hiking toward it. Since it was between me and Pinedale, I decided to multi-hitch to Pinedale and get back on trail there.

The lodge’s bar & grill opened at 11 am. I went inside, the only customer, and ordered waffle fries. I told the friendly waitress about getting off trail for the fire and that I was going to hitch to Pinedale. Diane didn’t like the idea of me hitching and said her mom was retired and she’d call her about driving me. I protested that it was too far, but she insisted her mom would enjoy it. People are amazing! I’ll admit relief at not needing to hitch; my family was relieved as well.

Diane’s mom Jeanne was 85 years old, yet fully in control of her wits and an able driver. She told fascinating stories of her life and I shared some of mine. It was nearly a three hour drive one way. I gave her gas money along with my thanks when I got out at the Jackalope Motor Lodge. The lodge had a bunk room for hikers and I immediately met two SoBo gals: Pepto & Pitch Perfect. They were heading to trail at 6:30 am the next day and said I could join their ride.

I showered and did laundry. Once the washer cycle finished, I hung my clothes on the line and walked to the nearby grocery store for ice cream and dinner food. I ate at the outdoor picnic table and chatted with Beefcake, who also had a grocery store dinner. He was from Arkansas and had done the Ozark Highlands trail, one that interests me. He offered to shuttle me when I do it.

Day 57

I had trouble sleeping, perhaps nervous about the crappy weather forecast: a daily high chance of rain and thunderstorms. At 3 am, I thought of Sky-Hi and texted him that I was in Pinedale. It turned out that he was camped somewhere nearby. I got up at 6 am and Sky-Hi literally ran over to see me. How amazing that we were both in Pinedale! We chatted, but it was too little time so I told the gals to go without me. Beefcake had a ride at 8 am, which I figured that I could join.

Sky-Hi was hiking with one gal. Originally he had a huge, eight person tramily, however some got injured and others were faster. He imparted Colorado and Wyoming tips, while I spoke of Montana. (He’ll be doing the super cutoff and skipping Idaho.) It was really good to see him and catch up! Beefcake joined us near the end of our conversation.

Two section hikers gave Beefcake and I a ride to the Elkhart Trailhead. He’d met them on trail the day before. From the trailhead, it was a 10.6 mile hike via the Seneca Lakes trail back to the CDT. The first half was a very gradual uphill with unexciting terrain. A literal stream of hikers were coming out, it was Sunday, and I didn’t like it. Really, it was the most people I’d seen on trail the entire CDT. Fortunately, the later half of the connector trail was a gorgeous series of lakes and rocky terrain. Seneca Lake was huge and deep.

I ate lunch in the shade of a giant boulder beside an unnamed lake. Then I hiked up and over Lester Pass. The terrain was gorgeous alpine splendor: lakes and tumbled rocks, lichens, squeaking pikas. Suddenly a wind blew in rain and smoke. Yuck! I sheltered under a dense pine tree for the worst of the rain and thunder. In the far distance, I glimpsed the fire’s light. Unfortunately the smoke stuck around, though the rain became light and intermittent. I hiked a series of hills and camped near Little Fall Creek.

Day 58

With afternoon rain and thunderstorms in the forecast, my goal was to push as far as I could in the morning. That way I could shelter if need be and still make my goal campsite, 23 miles away and one mile into the Cirque of the Towers alternate. Upon leaving camp, I immediately began climbing toward Hat Pass. The climb was gradual and the effort felt good. I even had two bars of cell service on top.

It was sunny in the morning so I stopped early on to dry my tent and ground sheet, slightly damp from condensation. I also made coffee and had a small snack. Then it was continuous hiking, past numerous lakes and across many creeks. Several of the creeks were quite wide, though shallow, and I was able to rock hop them all.

As the day progressed, I felt really happy. The Wind River range lived up to its beautiful reputation. Of the many lakes, I admired their unique features such as a rock island or sandy peninsula. I watched a reddish brown hawk, with a white spot near its tail, skim low over the ground. I also finished the third Mistborn book and thought the ending was great. Mid-afternoon it started to hail so I sheltered in a tree cluster; soon the ground was white to either side. The hail transitioned to rain. When I got back to hiking, I made a game of dodging the puddles that littered the trail.

When I reached my goal mileage, it wasn’t quite 7 pm and the sky had been free of rain for hours. I ate dinner and got a weather forecast via my Garmin. No rain was predicted overnight, tomorrow looked decent, and the next day looked wet. I decided to push on two more miles and camp near Shadow Lake. The jagged terrain in the distance was amazing, like the Torres del Paine!

Day 59

With a long day ahead of me, I started hiking at 5:45 am. By the time I passed Billy’s Lake, the sky was a beautiful pink to the east. I encountered tents at a couple of the lakes and a group of five guys hiked past. It was startling to see people, yet comforting to know I wasn’t alone in the challenging terrain. The trail up Texas Pass was steep and I stopped a couple times to admire the changing view of Texas Lake. On top of the pass, I saw two pikas with mouthfuls of grass, so cute!

The view on the other side was a stunning rock wall with a magnificent tower on one end and a giant shark’s tooth on the other. A profusion of pink flowers surrounded a snowmelt stream. I gathered water before continuing my descent to Lonesome Lake, very popular, yet also super contaminated with fecal matter, yuck! From there I climbed Jackass Pass, a shorter climb than Texas Pass. I was happy to be over both before 9 am.

I admired Arrowhead Lake as the trail wound steeply around its east side. At North Lake, I stopped at the inlet for a coffee and snack recharge. The trail was rocky and slow going until I crossed North Creek and was treated to a soft, dirt straightaway that continued toward Big Sandy Lake. It was one of the biggest lakes on the cirque and I saw a lot of it as the trail wrapped around the northeast end. Then came a steep climb that took me up to and past Rapid and Miller Lakes, a gentle meadow between them.

My favorite was Temple Lake, almost cut in two by a giant peninsula that protruded into the center. To me, the peninsula’s mysterious rock and tree covered shore looked like a temple. There was also a cool pyramid of rock to the side of the pass and looming over the lake. Temple pass was even steeper than Texas, and longer, though a similar height up top. I was happy to be over it shortly after 1 pm. The descent was nearly as steep and brought me to another lake. I wished I had the time or nice enough weather to swim in one of the lakes.

For four miles, I hiked a gentle descent alongside Little Sandy Creek and through a lovely valley. Then I did a short climb over the hill to the west of Little Sandy lake, a mile of navigating downfall, and the Cirque of the Towers alternate came to an end. I was so happy that I traversed the picturesque terrain, yet sad to have blasted through it. Happy again that I didn’t get rained on. I will have to return and explore further.

Back on the CDT, I sat to snack. I felt tired, but was determined to press on another 7ish miles. The forecast predicted rain throughout the next day and I wanted to camp by a pit toilet. So I gathered my strength, knocked out one last 1,000 ft. climb, then enjoyed a bunch of downhill and flats through woods. At one point a snowshoe hare bounded across the trail and delighted me. A light, intermittent rain began ~2.5 miles from my destination; really I was surprised it held off that long. I kept hiking.

The rain stopped before I set up my tent at the Sweetwater Guard Station campground. After my 26 mile day and the strenuous cirque, I thought I’d be too tired for dinner, however I ate it and dessert. I got water and put my bear canister in the bear box. As I returned from the clean toilet, it started to rain and didn’t stop.

Day 60

For once, I slept in as long as I wanted. At 7:40 am, I got up, carefully, as there were puddles at either end of my tent. The rain had ceased so I used my handkerchief to sop up some of the water, wringing it out through my open tent door. Yesterday I’d told myself that I could have a rainy zero day, perhaps watch a movie. It didn’t seem as appealing when I had to stay on my air pad island and keep anything I wanted dry on top of it. Plus, by hiking I’d better position myself for resupply tomorrow. So I got up, ate breakfast, filtered water, and carefully packed up.

Last night I’d come in on the dirt road. It took me a little wandering, but I found the massive stepping stones that crossed the river between the campground and trail. Two were slightly under water so I took them fast and made it with dry-ish feet. That didn’t last as there was soon a downpour that made me second guess my decision to hike. Happily it didn’t last long.

It was an on and off rainy day, though not the drencher predicted back in Pinedale. I covered 14 miles and called it a day. My energy was low and I felt off. At Pine Creek, the last water source before town, I set up my tent. The sun came out to dry it and my Thermarest, which I inflated and propped on a log.

Sitting in my tent, I heard steps and someone said “Strider?”. It was Pepto, who I thought was ahead. Soon Pitch Perfect hiked along and the three of us caught up on events since Pinedale. They had skipped the Cirque due to weather and seemed to regret it when they heard I made it through just fine. They headed off to hitch into Lander. I second guessed stopping early then reminded myself that I was listening to my body. As a treat, I ate the bag of maple almond butter filled GF pretzels that my sister gave me on our zero day.