Category: CDT MT Section 5

Several times throughout the night, there were brief little sprinkles of rain which made the sleeping ever so nice. I had hoped maybe there would be a good solid shower to knock the smoke down, but didn’t really actually think it would happen. It wasn’t even predicted to rain the amount that it did.

I woke up at 4 and got myself going just to make sure I wasn’t late. There was enough moonlight and city glow around that I didn’t need to turn on my headlamp until I actually hiked out at 5am.

On average, the trail ahead was mostly downhill. As the light waxed toward 6am, I could begin to see that the smoke blanket was just as thick as before. I took one half-hour snack break at 7, and then, just before I reached the highway at 8:30, I passed a cooler labeled “for thirsty hikers.” There were some empty soda cans inside, but there were also some unopened bags of chips. I took a bag of Doritos to eat while hiking the last half mile.

Across the interstate overpass was a small trailhead parking area with an abandoned black sedan and an occupied camper van (the sleeping occupant’s foot was clearly visible in the window). I sat on a rock next to the sedan and texted Sarah a description of my position.

Another car pulled into the lot and an old man got out and just walked up to me with a McDonald’s breakfast burrito. He was just driving up here in hopes of finding hikers to give away food to. And then he gave me a couple of small cans of Coke as well and chatted with me for the half-hour until Sarah arrived. Two trail magics in one day!

Sarah was super nice even though the way I was able to get in touch and arrange a ride with her was incredibly convoluted involving at least 4 degrees of separation from me on social networks, she treated me like a friend right off the bat. We had a solid hour to chat on the way into Bozeman and she had plenty of interesting things to say about life in Montana, fires, and sites along the way, though I’m sure I could not remember most of it now.

She left me right in the driveway of Brad’s Bozeman home. He wasn’t home but I had the garage code. When I confirmed the code worked, I gave Sarah some gas money and my thanks.

I immediately started on my laundry and shower, and then I just laid around looking at the internet while my clothes dried. By the time I could be presentable and go out, I was absolutely starving. So I set out down Main Street in search of a salad bar.

This little grocery store called the Co-Op not only had a salad bar, it had a soup bar and a hot bar. None of it was all-you-can-eat unfortunately; the salad and hot bars were pay by the pound. The stuff on the hot bar didn’t turn out to be that hot or that good (aside from the lemon dill green beans, which were the latter at least), but the salad bar had everything that anyone could want on a salad. I was able to put together the perfect salad, working my way around the whole bar and adding a bit of everything like a kid in a fro-yo shop.

I was pretty full after all that, but it didn’t stop me from walking over to Bozeman Brewing Company, sitting down at the bar with a bowl of dill pretzels and trying a couple of amazing flights of sours, IPAs, and more. The whole time I was chatting with this guy Paul Irby (of the Buckhead Irbys) from Senoia, GA. An hour or two later, he bought both my flights and the pretzels and left. Trail magic number 3! In one day!

I bought a bottle of Peachadelic (peach Brett sour) to take back to Brad’s house (I should probably count the free use of the house, shower, laundry as trail magic number four) and sip while I sat on the couch and caught up on my shows. I had already uploaded all my blog posts over dinner, so I finally truly relax.

And so it was that I stayed there on the couch until midnight when I finally sleepily dragged myself to the guest bedroom and went to sleep.

Trail miles: 7.9

No regular posts for the next few days because those would correspond to days I was wayyy off-trail. I’ll try to find something to put here in the meantime, but I will likely leave most of the events of this break off the blog as irrelevant. Back as soon as I can!

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Very little happened this day. I slept in until 5am to make sure I was fully rested for the huge hill climb ahead. I started hiking about 6.

The climb wasn’t that steep but it did go on for seven miles. There were tons of raspberries on the first part of the climb and again on sun exposed sections throughout the day. Some of them were ripe, but they were very seedy so not as enjoyable as the strawberries. (I found some of those as well.)

The highlights of the day were the breaks next to small creeks, particular the first one I collected water from, which had a nice sandy-bottomed pool I was voted tempted to wade in if taking off boots wasn’t such a hassle.

I didn’t make it to a creek for lunch, which I took on a rock separated from the sun by a single tree and besieged by ants. I did reach another creek a mile later, though, and had a nice break there as well.

Somewhere in this section, I saw the tail of a fleeing bird that may have been an owl. It was gone into the trees before I could see more than that. This is the only interesting wildlife sighting of the day.

The whole time since I finished the day’s first big climb I was working my way westward toward Butte’s East Ridge, which I reached about supper time. I took supper on a rock overlooking the city.

I say “overlooking” very loosely here because the wind had been just right to bring smoke from enormous fires to the west in very great density. Visibility was low enough that the sun was nearly impossible to see even when unobstructed by clouds. It was hot and thick and I could feel it and sometimes make out shadows, but I often felt like my sunglasses and sunscreen were just formalities. More to the point, only the very edges of the valley below were visible.

Climbing up the ridge headed south after supper, I could eventually make out Our Lady of the Rockies standing on the north end of the ridge but in no circumstance could I ever see as far as the infamous Berkeley Pit.

After a stop at a spring on the switchbacks leading up the highest peak on the ridge to get the last water available until the highway, I made camp about 7:30 near the top of this peak, elevation 8163 feet, the highest I think I’ve camped yet.

Trail miles: 19.0

Distance to I-90: 7.9 miles

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I took my sweet time getting out of camp on purpose. I felt better than the day before and didn’t really feel like rushing. I woke up at 4, but didn’t hit the trail until quarter to six.

I felt pretty good all day. I started the day off with a big climb up a dozen switchbacks, but the climbing just continued after that. After 5 miles, I stopped for a break, and I thought I’d pick up a quick game of Slay on my phone to finish it off. But then the game, which usually takes no more than 20 turns, ran on for 47 turns and the break ended up lasting an hour and a half. But hey, what does more rest hurt?

A couple of hours and a quick descent later, I crossed Hail Columbia Rd and saw a small cardboard sign in the trail promising the greatest trail magic I’d see seen in my life ahead on trail. A brief sniff yielded no scent of any steaks grilling in the vicinity, so I knew the sign must be mistaken. Indeed, there was no trail magic to be seen anywhere.

I did have some trouble finding the trail here because it seemed like many others had as well. I didn’t spot the tiny CDT sign at a major intersection and didn’t know which set of footprints to trust. I took the wrong road at first, then turned off through the woods to go where Guthook said the trail was and found it, then looped back to see where I had gone wrong and reorganize returned to the same confusing intersection. But no trail magic anywhere.

There were no nice lunch spots anywhere in this area, so I ended up throwing down my ground cloth in the first trailside shade I found.

A mile and a half later, I came out at Konda Trailhead. The long roadwalk started here. I stopped to dip some water out of Lowland Creek just a bit down from here. This was a long relaxing break even with the flies going nuts.

Then began the roadwalk. I was going to stop along the road at 5 for dinner, but I was still feeling pretty full from my last snack break and decided to wait to 5:30. But by 5:30 I was at the interstate 15 underpass, and who would want to eat under an interstate? I went a little further to the start of Nez Perce Rd, then decided I should check to see if I could get pizza delivered here since there was plenty of cell service.

While I was checking, a farmer who lived there came by on a ATV and stopped to check on me. When I told him what I was doing, he offered to let me use his phone, even though he should have been able to clearly see me sitting there using my own phone to do exactly that. I told him I had plenty of service and he brought up using his phone again. It was very strange. Anyway, he left and I was able to determine that apparently 20 minutes up the interstate was outside delivery range for some reason. So I got out my own food and cooked dinner.

It was nearly 7 by the time I started down the road, which meant it was nearly 8 by the time I got to the trailhead, but I still managed to get set up, get water filtered, get inside and ready for bed, and get my daily blog writing done by just after 9. Running a little late doesn’t seem to throw off the schedule all that much.

Trail miles: 22.3

Distance to I-90: 26.9 miles

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When I woke up at 4, I felt really slow and sluggish, so it took me like 15 minutes just to really get started packing. Because I was already starving when I woke, I ate a “Chimpanzee” protein bar that I had found new in wrapper on the ground the previous night. It tasted like cherry-scented sawdust, but it did help. Getting packed, collecting water, and getting ready to hike took me until around quarter to 6. I didn’t even need a headlamp to see for the last quarter hour of the process. I could see the sun within a half-hour of hiking out.

After a long descent, I reached the Cottonwood Lake marsh/meadow. There was a huge herd of elk out there, and I saw several more elk throughout the morning.

The day was clear and warm, but not hot. After a single long morning climb, the trail was gentle rollers all day, nothing too strenuous. I still felt tired and slow all morning, on top of which my bowels felt out of sorts, though I only let that slow me minimally.

I saw a grouse with some chicks before my second morning break. I drank some extra caffeine with that break and at lunch that helped me feel like I could get the miles I felt like I missed out on while being slow in the morning.

Shortly after lunch, I came to the last good water source for the next twenty miles, a spring piped into a trough with a fence going through it that also crossed the trail. I took another break to lie down while collecting 5+ liters of water. My pack weighed a ton coming out of there, but the trail rarely climbed until right before I stopped for dinner, and even then it was gentle switchbacks.

I passed four people total on the section, though I know there are plenty more around in either direction. Three old ladies struggling up a hill in the early afternoon, and a fellow sobo who passed me while I was packing up after dinner and whom I passed a mile thereafter while he was taking a break. We exchanged light pleasantries, but I didn’t get a name. If he caught up to me, he’s faster than me, and I knew I would not have a chance after taking the entire weekend off at the end of the month. So why bother with names yet?

Anyway, I stopped just after 7 at the top of another small hill, saving the only steep climb in the entire stretch for the following morning. I was ready to sleep early in the afternoon, had a couple of brief dizzy spells later in the afternoon, and a light headache by the time I stopped. I hoped a good night’s sleep would put it all right.

Trail miles: 22.1

Distance to I-90: 49.1 miles

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It was a full moon. I woke up at 1:30am thinking it must already be 5am based on how bright it was. At 3:30, I woke up again and had to put my Buff on as a blindfold to try to get back to sleep. When my 4am alarm went off, I almost rolled over to try to catch up on the sleep I had missed, but eventually I got up the gumption to start packing.

I didn’t need any headlamp to pack thanks to the moonlight and I reckon some city light pollution too.

I continued down the logging road, walking towards the setting moon as the sky behind me lightened at the sun’s approach. I assumed the trail would remain on the road for several more miles. I stopped briefly at a nice pond under the risen sun, but I didn’t stay. I didn’t need any water and I didn’t need a break yet.

A while later, I found myself at a barrier and a sign with skull and crossbones telling me I couldn’t enter a mine waste restoration site. I checked the map. I had missed some turn a mile back. I turned around and started climbing back up the hill I had been coming down for the last 15 minutes. On the way back, though, I saw a nice buck and a couple of does. I finally found the place where a footpath unexpectedly left the road. There was a CDT sign there making the newly built section, but there was no waypoint marker on Guthook warning me I would be leaving the road at all, so I hadn’t been looking for it when I passed it 40 minutes before. So that’s how I earned two useless bonus miles and a deer sighting I might have missed.

Anyway, I definitely needed a snack break now, so I sat down next to a small stream just inside the woods. I still didn’t need water though. It turned out there was way more water on the section than Guthook said and I had carried way too much out of the city. I did at this time filter the water I had carried out in my dirty bag into my main bag for convenience.

During my break, I was passed by two northbound section hikers who were meticulously marking things that Guthook had missed. I asked them to mark the road-trail junction I had just missed, as well as that random spring I had found two days before.

There’s nothing much to say about the next few miles. I listened to podcasts and walked through the woods. I stopped for snacks. I stopped for lunch on a log in the shade of a tree. At my afternoon snack time, I finally reached the creek I had decided I would finally collect water from. I was joined here by Southbound Stu from Seattle, just four days into his last section to finish the CDT, headed northbound from Butte to Canada. He said a lot of things, some of it somewhat useful, but most of it inaudible over the waterfall I was sitting next to since he sat way up the hill 20 feet away to eat dinner. I told him about the Glacier permitting process and he told me about a trail I might end up taking into Butte in a few days depending on how things go.

I left him there eating and climbed to the viewpoint on Thunderbolt Mountain to have dinner. After dinner, I thought I might as well go up to the viewpoint on the summit as well since it was only a quarter mile up. There was the foundation of a removed lookout tower there and a view that would have been better without the haze.

I went on another mile or so looking for the next available campsite. It turned out to be an open area next to a nice piped spring with one little space that was flat and almost level. It was already 7:30. I was getting sleepy. It was good enough. The easy access to water was a nice bonus. I set up, went to bed, and put my blindfold on to fall asleep to the sound of trickling water and busy woodpeckers.

Trail miles (not counting the bonus miles): 20.6

Distance to I-90: 71.2 miles

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I did a terrible job dressing my airbed in the basement the previous night. I put on the fitted sheet and draped a sheet over it, then realized that what was left was not a blanket but one of those fitted topper pad things that’s supposed to go under the fitted sheet. I used it as a blanket anyway. When my 4am alarm went off, I was all tangled and half uncovered because nothing was tucked anywhere. I rearranged it all to get warm and slept in until 5.

The main goal for the morning was to get my blog posts all posted so you readers can keep getting your daily content without interruption until the end of the month. I got started on that a bit between showering and shaving, but at 7, I walked down to Steve’s Cafe for soon coffee and some huckleberry stuffed French toast with eggs and bacon. And that place was extremely efficient. What a Denny’s really should be. They were understaffed and even so my food came within minutes of my order and my mug was always full. (And the prices were great too.) As a result, I was extremely productive, I got all but one or two posts finished and posted while I waited.

These last few I finished up in the basement back at Casa de Heidt, wasting a bit of time watching short YouTube videos while pictures were uploading. When my phone battery got low, I plugged it in and started packing up my food resupply, cutting my new Tyvek to size and getting my pack as packed as I could.

Then, I lay back on the airbed to write the previous post that I had been too sleepy to write the night before.

When that one was done and uploaded, I got together some things that needed to be mailed home, borrowed the keys to the truck (nice truck Tyler!) and drove to Capitol building. For all I know, this was the Capitol building for the entire state, but all that was important to me was the post office in the main lobby. The clerk (post officer?) was running the place by herself and was super friendly and helpful. She saved me some money by pointing out that I could easily fit everything I was shipping in a bubble mailer as it was all stuff that can’t be crushed anyway. She gave me a label and taped down the corners without even being asked, then initiated a conversation about hiking solo, in groups, or with dogs. Not only was she extremely good at her job, she genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself. (The fact that office is only open 5 days a week, 5 hours a day may have something to do with it. It’s a lot easier to avoid stress when you’re not overworked.)

I swung by Mickey D’s on the way back because they were offering free fries with any purchase, and a quick Big Mac sounded nice. As a hiker, the 5+ hours since breakfast meant I was starving already no matter how filling it had been. I got told off for sitting in the mobile order parking space eating for too long even though there was an open one right next to me.

Back at the house, I first called my dad to check in. Then, I entered the final stages of getting ready to go, sunscreening up, filling up water bottles (nearly 6 gallons because it was 20 miles to the first water) l, putting on my gloves and calf sleeves and boots, washing my Nalgene (because I haven’t done that in at least a month), and borrowing a small knife to use for the week. (Thanks Caroline, you’re the best.) I took out all the trash I had created, hauled my pack upstairs, and then I was ready to go.

But first, Caroline got out the bathroom scale so I could weigh myself. Fully clothed and booted and after a meal, it weighed me at basically the same weight as I’d had in Silver City two months ago. I know I’ve lost fat and changed shape, but I guess I’ve built enough muscle to make up for it and kept my calorie intake higher. Great job me! Not wasting away at all this time!

Driving out, Caroline apologized that her little girl had woken up screaming with constipation and gas the night before. I had slept through it. And that she had been screaming from a stuffy nose that needed syringing that morning. I had been at breakfast during that. So basically any time I had seen her, she had been a totally calm and chill and largely unperturbed child. This is the best possible experience with babies.

We made it up to MacDonald Pass a bit after two and I was hiking by 2:20. The weather was great, mid-70s be breezy. Not much time left in the day to get any major miles, but I was resigned to that.

I put on some podcasts and cruised for a while up and down little hills through the national forest (in the midst, supposedly, of an active logging operation, and a much needed one, I think, though I didn’t see any trucks). Coming over the top of a mountain after a long climb, I found a shady spot under a tree just down the hill and took a long snack and drink break.

When I started down the hill again, the trail quickly evaporated into tall grass. I checked the map and learned I had been supposed to turn down an invisible side track at the top of the hill. I didn’t feel like climbing back up to find the right trail, thinking instead I could just work my way around the hillside to the trail. This proved to be quite difficult, as the other side of the hill was totally covered with blowdowns. They weren’t piled as high and hard to navigate as the Mt. Hood fiasco, and, in fact, finding the easiest path through and along them was kind of fun, but I expect I would have gotten to that point on trail some fifteen minutes faster by climbing up the hill and coming back down on the trail the right way.

Which is not to say the trail was free of blowdowns. There were still plenty crossing the trail all the way to the end if the descent.

When the trail leveled and started climbing again, it turned into a proper road, clearly a logging road. I saw a moose in the road ahead, but she ran off before I could get a video going. After a particularly steep road, I passed a little pullout where someone had fashioned a makeshift log bench next to a completely toppled old log cabin. I decided to stop there for supper. While I was getting ready to cook, another hiker passed me saying he had started hiking at four, nearly two hours after me, and yet said “I’m not very fast; you’ll probably see me again.” I don’t expect I will, actually.

After supper, I climbed the hill a bit further (like 100 yards maybe) and came to a well-used campsite beside another log cabin in the process of collapsing. It was 7:30 already. Getting treacherously close to sleepy time. I found the flattest spot in the area and made camp. Stopping later than usual didn’t throw off my schedule too much. I was already tucked inside and drifting off to sleep just a bit after 9.

I should add that the swelling of my eye went down throughout the day, but it was still there when I went to bed this night.

Trail miles: 7.3

Distance to I-90: 91.9 miles

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