One Month on the Continental Divide

Today is my one month anniversary on the CDT! I can’t believe that I’ve been out on this trail for so long. This morning I got up around 7am and did some work. Then I packed up and headed down to breakfast at the Hickory House Inn. The breakfast was one of the best that I’ve ever had. It was a bed of potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and ground beef. Then on top was a perfect poached egg. The combination was incredible. I could have probably eaten 2-3 servings of that. 

The breakfast that looked just as good as it tasted.

The bed that I slept on in our room last night. Then Dirty slept on the pull out trundle bed below me.

The master room off of my room.

After eating I hung out at the room for a while. Then we all got packed up and ready to go. High Profile got an earlier start and headed back to the trail already. So we’ll just catch up to him later on at camp tonight. Once we were packed up we left the inn. Then we walked through town trying to find something to eat. Not much was open unfortunately. But there is a softball tournament in town today, and apparently there are food trucks. So we decided to walk over there and have a look.

Tooth Bits sent me a bunch of tooth paste tabs to try out! These are perfect to use on trail because they require a lot less water. I was shocked that I liked the mixed berry ones. But my favorite were the original mint.

It was a pretty long walk to get to the baseball field with the food trucks. Probably a bit longer than I wanted to walk personally. But everyone else was heading over so I did as well. By the baseball fields there is a “hiker hut” which allows hikers to sleep inside or hang out. It was a cool place with tables inside and a big hiker box. 9 Lives and I each got a walking taco which is basically a taco in a bag over a bed of chips. Then we watched some softball briefly.

The Doritos walking taco.

The Doritos walking taco.

It seems like a majority of our group is going to linger around today to watch this softball tournament. But I had zero desire to do that. Sitting around was getting me antsy so I wound up leaving and going back to the hiker hut. Then I got ready to begin hitching back to trail.

Sitting in the stands at the softball tournament. And yes, that is an actual baby being held by its ankles in the stands.

9 Lives, Dirty, and Sidequest wound up coming with me too. Then after a little while we gathered our things to begin hitching. We only spend a few minutes on the road trying to get a ride before a car pulled over. A car full of teenagers saw us and whipped a U-turn to pick us up. They must have thought that it was hilarious that we were hitchhiking. Then they drove us all the way back to trail.

The sign for the hiker hut in Anaconda.

It was ridiculously hot out already and I wasn’t looking forward to another scolding day of walking. But we had to get moving. Our day began on a dirt road which weaved through the woods. Over the first 12 or so miles of the day we had a gradual climb with about 2500 feet of elevation. It wasn’t so bad over so many miles thankfully. Plus the road had a bit of shade so it wasn’t terribly hot.

Getting back onto a dirt road once again!

As we walked along the road, Dirty, attempted to hitch to Storm Lake which was up ahead. He actually walked to the lake on trail yesterday. But when he got there he realized that he had lost his Garmin. So he hitched back to town last night. Now he was walking the same route with us again, but hoping to get a hitch at some point. There was a ton of traffic toward the lake on a Saturday. It didn’t take long for Dirty to get a ride all the way down to the lake. Within the first few miles along the road someone picked him up in a truck. Then the remaining 3 of us had to walk the road for another couple of hours.

Finally getting to the trailhead parking by the lake. From there we only had another mile or so to go.

It wasn’t the most enjoyable hiking, but it also wasn’t too bad. Somehow the time flew by and the gradual climb was barely noticeable. I hid in the shade as much as I could and also used my umbrella. It took us until around 4:30pm before we finally arrived at Storm Lake. There were tons of people around because it’s the weekend. I had been fantasizing about getting into the lake all day. But when we arrived the wind had picked up and I wasn’t hot anymore. We wound up taking a break by the lake for a while to snack and relax. Everyone had expected to see Dirty somewhere by the lake because he hitched up. But when we got there he was nowhere in sight. We figured he had continued along and would be somewhere up ahead.

Storm Lake.

There were so many bees buzzing around while we took our break. At one point I probably had 20 on my backpack swarming around my sweat. I just had to give up and let them have my backpack, and I moved away to sit somewhere else. We hung out at the lake for a while and then I got a message from High Profile. He was setting up camp only 6 miles ahead. That seemed like a very doable amount of remaining mileage for the day.

Sweat bees all over my backpack!

Not long after that we got packed up to continue along. We had a climb coming up but I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be too bad. It was around 5:45pm when we finally left the lake. Shortly after that we entered into the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness. Then our climb began. But lucky for us it was easy switchbacks the whole way up. I couldn’t have asked for a better climb. I didn’t get too exhausted and was able to keep moving continuously.

Walking by Storm Lake.

Getting to the far end of Storm Lake. I had to turn around to get the best view of the lake behind me.

Up at the top of the climb was Storm Lake Pass. There was a marmot scrambling around the rocks up top which was so cute. It got a little bit scared by me, but didn’t go too far. Then as we crossed over the pass we began walking along a rocky ridge line. There was a small bit more of climbing to do and then we got to Goat Flat. The views were unbelievable from the moment that we got up near the pass. But some of my favorite views of the day were in the stretch between Storm Lake Pass and Goat Flat.

Entering the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness.

The trail today reminded me so much of the North Cascades in Washington or of the Sierra in California. Today has been one of my favorite days so far along this thru hike. Plus the climbs were tolerable which definitely made it easier. It’s hard to believe that earlier today we were walking along a road! And now we are climbing up a rocky, rugged, mountain. The CDT sure is versatile. I’m so happy to be climbing mountains and not road walking 30+ miles in 90 degree weather.

The rocky climb from Storm Lake Pass to Goat Flat.

Leaving Goat Flat we descended briefly, then began another gentle climb. This one actually brought us back to the red line of the CDT though! We were officially done with the anaconda cut off and back to the regular trail. You could see where the trail would have brought us if we had stayed on the red line and gone through Butte. But I definitely don’t regret our decision to go into Anaconda.

The sign for Storm Lake Pass.

Even though it felt good to be back on the “trail”, I also love to do these various alternates. It’s so freeing doing a thru hike with so many options and possibilities. It’s fun to pick and choose as you go along. I want to hike as many miles of the CDT as possible. But I also want to have fun and see beautiful cool stuff.

The trail as we entered the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness was so beautiful. Lush green and lined with Indian paintbrush.

One of the main reasons that we took the anaconda cut off was to save ourself some time for down the road. There are locations along the trail that I refuse to pass up. I want to hike through the San Juan’s. Plus the route brought us straight through town and saved us a hitch. In my opinion it was worth it. Maybe next time I hike the CDT I’ll go towards Butte instead of Anaconda.

Beautiful flowers along the trail.

Once we were back on the red line we only had 2-3 miles to go to where High Profile was camped. I was glad because it was getting late. The trail was nice and easy with only a hundred feet or so of climbing left for the day. I passed by one tent that I thought was Dirty’s, but it was Syrup. I asked and he said that he hadn’t seen Dirty all day. I don’t know how we could have missed him at the lake though. We looked all around for him and took a long break there. But if he isn’t up ahead of us then he clearly stayed at the lake somewhere.

The pond by where Syrup was camped.

From there I only had mile and a half left. I came upon HP’s tent just before 8pm. We talked and I caught him up on who I hiked out with. Lately some of the people in our bubble have been hitching around rather than hiking. Or hitching some and hiking some. So you really never know who is going to hike out and who isn’t. It feels like every time I leave town I’m with a slightly different group. But a few people are always consistent. Lately I’ve been hiking with 9 Lives and High Profile, with the occasional other couple of hikers. 9 Lives and I have hiked the whole trail together so far. It’s so amazing to meet another female hiker whose pace and hiking style is so similar to mine. It has been so easy to hike with 9 Lives and so enjoyable.

When I got to the camp site I got set up. Then I hung my bear line before making dinner. It’s a bit late already, so I wanted to get that bit of work out of the way first. Then I grabbed water and made some dinner. Sidequest and 9 Lives arrived right as I was about to start cooking. Then we all hung out and ate together before going to bed.