I woke up bright and early (dark and early now I guess?) and packed up with everyone else. One thing I’ve really enjoyed about hiking with these guys is they wake up early. My favorite time to hike is 6 to 10 am since you usually catch a nice sunrise and cool temperatures.
This section has been surprisingly dry. Now that all the snow is melted all that’s left are springs and many of them aren’t that close to the trail or they’re barely flowing. Luckily a local maintains a few water caches in the area.
Stuff like this is what makes the trail possible since this was our main water source for the morning.
A bit later in the morning we came across a big red cooler. When we touched the cooler it felt empty we found out it was full of pretty cold pop!
This is only the first or second time I’ve had trail magic like this on the CDT and it was so awesome even if it was simple! I hope I have time to do something like this in Glacier after I finish or even back in Washington on the PCT.
We reached a highway just before noon and this is where I would leave Pitch, Raider, and Icarus, probably for the last time. They’re going to take a zero in Helena and I’m going to rush up to Canada to finish just before Labor Day weekend so I can spend it with Meghan in Glacier National Park.
As I hiked on, I came to another water cache that looked like the only water for another 18 miles. That would likely be tomorrow for me so I would need a lot of water. I took about 3 liters and rationed it throughout the day.
The day was extremely hot and the sun made it worse. Luckily some clouds came in and it even rained a little bit. The thunder rumbling overhead was a little ominous, but it didn’t really go anywhere.
Since I was alone again, I could hike as late as I wanted. Usually that means around 8 o clock. Tonight I was feeling a little sluggish so I took a break at 7 to make dinner. The cows nearby didn’t seem to happy. Their moos almost sounded like they were dying.
A little bit down the road I saw a comment about some water that was available just off trail. It was a spring fed cow trough with a pipe flowing with cold clear water. It would still be about 5 miles to water and I would need to camp with only about a liter left. I drank my liter and refilled another two at the water. I might have to wake up and pee tonight, but that’s going to be a lot better than going without.
The forest around me is full of blowdowns and dead trees. The creaking and cracking is a bit spooky but if anything big walks by I’ll definitely know about it. It’ll probably be a cow.