Zero in Augusta 

The chore list was short and the company was excellent. We easily accomplished grocery shopping and laundry with plenty of time to eat fried food and hang out with our friends. 

Gandalf had a hilarious lost in translation moment with a waitress at the Buckhorn restaurant.

Day 1

After a protein filled breakfast, Josh kindly drove us for hours back to the trailhead at Gibson Reservoir. 

The Sun River trail is our trail for the next 60 miles or so. The first fifteen miles today were sloppy muddy but easy to follow and well cleared of trees.

The sky looked grey and ominous all day but no rain showers or sprinkles. We will see if the weather holds out tomorrow as the forecast is a much higher chance of rain. 

The Sun River is beautiful and the river valley is full of dry grasses and scattered pines. The tops of the mountains were shrouded in clouds. 

We saw many antelope and mule deer during the drive back to the trail. We encountered several different black bear prints in the mud.

In the early evening we heard a chorus of elk bugling. Today was a great day and looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 2

Overnight the temperature was relatively warm and dry. We all slept well.

The first fifteen miles were easy and less muddy than yesterday. There was minimal elevation change. We did have many cold water crossings but I wore my waterproof socks. 

The daytime weather was cloudy and cool but no rain.

We passed the Grant Park Ranger cabin which was a nice compound. We ran into Gandalf at the cabin and he joined the group. 

We saw a couple of whitetail deer and lots of bear signs. We also crossed a really neat bridge. 

The afternoon turned into three miles of blow down hell. It was exhausting to crawl over and under hundreds of trees with jagged spears sticking out all over. There was more army crawling than previous blow down adventures. I cracked my phone screen and tore my dress and pants but at least they are still decent. 

We made it 21 hard earned miles before setting camp in a lovely flat area next to Bowl Creek. Today was challenging. 

Day 3

It started raining overnight and the cold rain persisted all day. The temperature stayed in the low forties. It was a dismal and psychologically difficult day.  

The trail was overgrown and wet. The thru hiker term is car wash for how the wet brush slaps your legs all day. 

We walked through 23 miles of slick, muddy trenches that were full of smelly horse poop. The trail is terribly eroded from the horse traffic. Weasel fell down an eroded embankment. The horses have turned all of the water crossings into 8 inch deep mud holes. I almost lost my shoes due to the mud suction. Today was memorable for being one of the worst walking paths and weather conditions of the entire trail. I lost the tip of one of my trekking poles in the mud.

I didn’t take many photos today. My glasses were put away from the rain and my fingers were too cold to remove my gloves. I’m wearing all my layers except for my puffy jacket during the day. It is cold at night and I’m sleeping in all my clothes, dry sleep socks, and my puffy jacket along with my sleeping bag. 

The Sun River is beautiful and most of the plants are in their fall colors. 

We made camp by Elbow Creek and have 22 miles to the next highway tomorrow. 

Day 4

The day was a few degrees warmer, drizzling and cloudy but no hard rain. 

We had a brief respite from the mucky, poopy horse trenches for about three miles and then right back in them for another 18.

There were 12 deep water crossings and one beaver dam crossing. I fell in one of the crossings today and got pretty wet. 

We made it to the highway at 5 pm. Gandalf and Red were attempting a hitch for 40 minutes with no success. I walked up in my magic purple dress and we had a van pick all 5 of us up within 15 minutes. 

East Glacier Park is a cute town and we rented an old ranger cabin for a couple of nights. 

Zero in East Glacier 

We acquired our Glacier National Park permits after an hour of attempting to find available camp sites. We watched the mandatory bear safety video and were sufficiently intimidated. The date for completion is set! We are finishing the trail and walking into Waterton, Canada on September 24.