I made it to Canada. After 4 long months, I walked through the overgrown trail and touched the border between the US and Canada. I kinda can’t believe it’s (almost) over.
The campsite I stayed at last night was full of people who had no idea what the trail was. As we hiked north this morning we passed a few more groups and most of them didn’t know either.
We skirted the mountains all morning before dropping down into a valley that we would follow all the way to Waterton Lake. We met one guy on his way back from the border after his third finish of the CDT.
The southern edge of Waterton Lake is about 4 miles from the border. Before Covid it handled ferries between Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta.
Now there’s just a couple caretakers handling a lot of infrastructure. It was surprising to walk in and see employee housing, a ferry dock, a ranger station and more. We’ve been walking for days to get here, but they have electricity and running water.
Our campsite was still about 3.5 miles from the border. Instead of carrying all of our stuff back and forth from the border, we set up our tents and dumped some gear before starting the final leg of our trip.
That’s Slim. I met him a week or two ago and we’ve been hiking together through Glacier. He finished his triple crown of hiking today. He’s 64 years old and hikes as far as I do every day.
I was the second person in our group to hit the border. I walked through a huge spiderweb in the middle of the trail not long before the border and though somehow I passed Snergle, the guy ahead of me. I didn’t pass him and he was hidden in the bushes trying to get everyone’s reaction as they crossed the border. He got a very genuine one out of me.
This trail has been a so different from the PCT. This one has been more social, despite the smaller groups of people. I think the shared suffering really helps bond people. I think I’m also more comfortable with myself as well. Ok the PCT I kinda stressed about finding other hikers in town. I didn’t want to miss out on any experiences. This time I just enjoyed being alone and if I connected with other hikers, all the better. More often than not I found them and made new friends.
This was an awesome crew to finish with. Even though I’ve only really known them a few days, I feel pretty close after sharing such a huge accomplishment with them.
And then there’s the elephant in the room. I missed 250 miles of the trail in New Mexico. As far as I’m concerned, I finished the CDT. I’m still going to go and close that gap. First I’m going to rest.
I have about 26 miles to go tomorrow back to the road where Meghan is going to pick me up. We’re going to spend the weekend in Glacier and then I’ll be back on trail, just not for 4 months this time.