As I was going to bed last night I started to see flashes of lightning. They were a few miles away and it wasn’t even raining where I was. Then a couple hours later it started pouring. It stormed on and off for an hour or two and somehow when I woke up everything was pretty dry.
I got an early start so I could spend more time in town and spent most of the morning walking down a gravel road. This was really easy, but a little boring. I had cell phone service most of the day, which was pretty nice.
After getting to the first water source in 27 miles, the route went off the road and onto a trail. At this point I was really following the divide and going between Idaho and Montana. The trail and road I’ve been following are part of a large network of snowmobile trails in the winter. Looks like it didn’t go so well for someone.
I got to the highway around 3 pm and had a little trouble getting a ride. Tourists really hate hitchhikers. As I waited, thunder rumbled above and the sky was really dark. Luckily, one of the owners of the RV park in town was coming over the pass and stopped to pick me up before it started raining.
When we got into town the storm was raging. Some of the roads were flooding and I guess before I got there they had huge hail. I checked into my hotel room and was very happy to be out of the rain.
I showered and relaxed for a little bit and then went out to find food. My ride had suggested the Buffalo Bar so I went to check it out.
Since I was alone, I sat at the bar and ordered the meatloaf at the bartender’s recommendation. It was good. I was sitting next to a couple from Ohio who was out west for the first time.
As I was finishing up, I noticed a few other thru hikers in the bar. I went over and we chatted for a couple hours and enjoyed the cheap drinks at the bar. Two of them were going south on the CDT and one of them was just starting his hike to complete a section he skipped last year. We actually had a few friends in common from other thru hikes. It’s a small world.
It seems like West Yellowstone is where the two groups of CDT hikers are running into each other. Before today I had seen about 10 “sobos” in the last 200 miles. I had seen at least that many today. It’s exciting to swap stories with them and get info about the parts they just did. I’m getting close to the end, but they just barely started.