Running to Town to Avoid Freezing on Trail

This morning we started hiking around 7am. It had been raining on and off all morning and the forecast predicted a lot more rain over the course of the day. We could’ve sat around forever waiting for the rain to stop, so we decided to just hike out. Fortunately, the rain was pretty light when we started walking. We had some climbing to do so I knew that that was going to keep us warm.

When the morning started, we were still pushing our way through overgrown trail that got you soaking wet. I think walking through the overgrown trail was even worse than getting rained on. Eventually, we got to the junction where the spotted bear alternate met back up with the red line of the CDT. It wasn’t raining at this point so everyone took a quick break to catch up to each other.

9 Lived walking through a camp ground just off trail.

One hiker, Case, went off to use the bathroom and came back looking super flustered. Apparently, while he was digging a cat hole, he heard huffing and growling nearby. At first, he thought that it was a dead tree making noise in the wind. But eventually, he realized there was a grizzly bear somewhere nearby and it did not like that he was there. So he got the heck out of there as quickly as he could. His story definitely had me on edge all day. I was particularly bear aware after that.

Once everybody caught back up we all kept walking and got back onto the red line. From there, the trail began climbing once more. I was feeling really good and got out in front as we began the climb. There were a lot of switchbacks and it was very cruisy getting up to the top. At this point we were getting close to the Chinese Wall, which is an iconic location along the CDT. Unfortunately, around this time, more weather rolled in and it began raining again.

For the next 10 miles or so we were around 6000 to 7000 feet of elevation. I knew that until we descended it was going to be pretty cold hiking in the rain. The trail went up and down repeatedly around the Chinese wall area. It was such a relief to begin climbing again because I would quickly be more comfortable. But as soon as we descended once more I was incredibly cold. I was so cold that I wasn’t able to stop and take a break at any points during this time.

When we were up around the Chinese wall area there was no camping allowed.

While I was walking in the cold rain I was  thinking a lot about my time in Canada last year on the international Appalachian trail. The coldest that I’ve ever been in my life while backpacking was up in Canada last year. Since then, when I’m cold and uncomfortable while hiking I like to remember that time up in Canada. I know that if I was able to survive that but I could easily keep going in the cold now.

During the coldest part of the day, when I was the most uncomfortable, I kept repeating in my head “This isn’t even bad compared to some of my days up in Newfoundland.” When I was hiking up there in Northern Canada, there were multiple times that I was genuinely concerned about getting hypothermia. But today all I was was uncomfortable. I knew I wasn’t going to get hypothermia and I knew that my life wasn’t in danger. I was just uncomfortable, and I can work with that.

Walking along the fogged out trail just after it stopped raining.

About 3 miles before the last mountain pass of the day, I attempted to slow down and wait for 9 Lives to catch up. I knew that she was pretty cold and wasn’t far behind me because I had seen her a couple of times when I turned around. I wound up to lending her my umbrella because her rain jacket was wetting out and her core was getting soaked. I couldn’t wait around for long because it was so cold. But she caught up just in time so that I was to confirm that she was ok.

After that, I didn’t stop hiking again for hours. There were a couple different times that I wanted to stop and see where everyone else was behind me. But even stopping for a minute or so, I wound up getting incredibly cold. At this point I basically had to either keep hiking without stopping, or stop altogether and set up my tent. But I had no desire to stop and set up my tent. In my mind, I was headed to town at this point. Even though it was going to be over 30 miles in total.

Dark clouds in the distance once I finally descended significantly on trail.

I ran into a couple other hikers who told me that some friends of ours were in Augusta already. That’s the town that I will be trying to hitch to from Benchmark today or tomorrow. These two hikers passed on a message, that if I got to town tonight, I was welcome to stay in Giggle’s room. That’s all that I needed to know. I still had over 20 miles to go to get to the road where I could hitch into Augusta. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to make it there tonight, but I was definitely going to try.

Beautiful blue flowers just off the trail.

Almost as soon as I began descending the last mountain pass of the day it got a lot warmer out. By the time that I had descended over 1000 feet or so I was way more comfortable. I passed by a bunch of campsites that have fire rings and each time I stopped to see if there was any usable wood around. Everything was wet from the rain, but I still had to look just in case. I knew that if I could make a fire I’d be able to dry my clothes and get warm.

After crossing through another river crossing I came to one more campsite. This one had a lot of trees nearby, so there was plenty of kindling that didn’t get wetted out from the rain. I decided to stop briefly and see if I could get a fire going. In the end, I wasn’t able to get a fire going quickly. If I wanted to stick around for a little while I probably could have gotten one started. But at this point I was so cold I really just had to get moving again.

I was pretty shocked though when I stopped to take a break, no one caught up to me. I have been wondering whether everyone kept going during the rain, or if some people decided to get in their tents and warm up. Everyone has a much different comfort level when it comes to wind, rain, and cold. At this point, none of us have been hiking together long enough for me to really know how everyone else will react under those circumstances.

I spent the rest of the day hiking by myself, but I didn’t mind it. Within the next couple hours the sun came out which was fantastic. I spent all morning saying in my head that, “The sun was going to come out. And as I descended, it was going to get much much warmer.” Lucky for me all of that came true. Eventually the sun came fully out and my rain gear dried on me. I was able to take it off because I was so hot, which was such an incredible feeling.

A winding river down off the trail.

Even after walking for well over 20 miles or so I still felt really good. I barely even stopped off for a break over the course of the entire day. But sometime around 4pm the sun was completely out and I decided to take advantage that. My feet had been soaking wet all day from the rain and going through river crossings. So I stopped off for my first long break of the day. I took out my tent, gloves, rain gear, and anything else to dry. Then I finally took my socks and shoes off too. That felt so good.

At this point in the day I was only about 7 miles from the junction towards Benchmark. Benchmark is a lodge that has basically no accommodations. You’re able to send a box there if you want to, and you can charge your electronics and shower if you pay for it. I’m not planning on staying there, but that is the only place where you can attempt to get a hitch into Augusta. Apparently the hitch is really difficult, but I’m feeling optimistic. At this point, I probably won’t be getting to Benchmark until after 8pm. So I only have a couple hours of daylight to attempt to get a hitch into town.

While I was sitting there taking my break, I heard someone shreik the distance. It was 9 Lives! She finally caught up to me, which was such a relief. I really had no idea where anyone was so it was great to be with another hiker again. Now we can attempt to get into Augusta together too.

Walking through a valley, making my way to Benchmark.

The two of us hung out there for a while to dry our things. Then we decided to keep moving so we can get to the road as early as possible. Some section hikers passed us around this time and had us wondering if we might be able to get a ride straight from the parking lot into Augusta. That got us up and moving because we figured we might be able to get a ride into town with those guys specifically.

The next six or 7 miles really flew by. There are a couple small hills, but other than that it was almost entirely flat. For most of the day the trail had been super muddy and run out by horse tracks. One of the slowest parts of the day was navigating around the huge patches of mud. I had a couple moments where I almost slipped and fell back into the mud, but fortunately caught myself.

9 Lives and I talked and walked, and it was a really nice rest of the day. It’s such a relief to actually be ending the day off with somebody. Previously, I hadn’t seen another person since about 9am this morning. Days like today when there’s extreme weather it winds up being every man for himself. You think that everyone would want to stick together, but when you’re freezing cold like that you really just have to focus on keeping yourself safe. I knew that if I stopped hiking I would have been dangerously cold. So stopping wasn’t an option for me. Even if that meant hiking for the entire day by myself and having everyone else fall behind.

Another sign for the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Around 7:30pm the two of us got off the trail and made it to trailhead parking lot. There were a bunch of cars, so we were hopeful when it comes to trying to get a hitch into town. But even better than that, the two guys that we had seen on the trail were just getting all of their gear put into their car. We basically ran right up to them and they made a joke about how they thought that we were chasing them down the trail. And we told them that we kind of were, because we were trying to get a ride into Augusta.

A large CDT marker by the parking lot before Benchmark.

We wound up asking if they could drive us the 3 miles down the road to Benchmark. Otherwise, we just have to walk along the road and those miles don’t even count towards the CDT. They said that they would take us which was awesome. There wasn’t a lot of room in the car, but the two of us crammed in and put our packs on our laps.

The guys accidentally missed the turn off for the lodge where we were supposed to get dropped. But instead of turning around, they just asked us where we were actually trying to get to. They wound up offering to drive the two of us all the way to Augusta, which I really wasn’t expecting. They had been planning to camp out for the night, but I guess they changed their mind and decided that it was a good idea to head into town instead.

Crammed into the backseat of our hitches car.

9 Lives and I had been hopeful about getting a room and getting to town tonight. But we were also realistic. The hitch was off of a dirt road which went on for 30 miles. So you really had to get lucky to get a ride into town quickly. But somehow the stars all aligned and here we were. When we were in the car we realized too that these guys were more connected to us than we could have imagined.

Apparently they worked in West Glacier at one of the spots we had eaten lunch at. And one of them section hiked the AT this past year and met a good friend of mine out there. The more we talked the more crazy moments of realization we had like that.

Me and one of the guys who picked us up.

The guys dropped us off in Augusta around 8:40pm which was way earlier than I could have ever hoped. I truly can’t believe that we are here right now. We are so dang lucky. Then we got dropped off at the Wagons West Motel and RV Park. Our friend Giggles has a room for the night which is amazing. There is a rodeo this weekend so everything is booked up. She wasn’t expecting us until tomorrow so it was fun to surprise her.

Once we dropped our bags at the room we headed off to get some dinner. I’ve been rationing food a bit these last few days and was so excited for a big meal. We went to a burger joint and each got a burger, fries, a salad, and some tater tots to split. I also probably drank 4 big cups of Dr Pepper. The two of us were so thrilled to be here in town. Originally I thought we’d be getting in tomorrow morning. But with the rain today I just wanted to push in. And I’m so glad that I did!

My amazing dinner in Augusta.

After we ate we went back to the room and took a nice hot shower. I was so incredibly dirty from these last 5 days of walking. This is the longest that we’ve been out at a time on the CDT. Once I showered I got my inflatable pad laid on. Then got comfortable and relaxed for the rest of the night.

I can’t believe that we did 33+ miles today. It really didn’t feel like we went nearly that far. I’m shocked at how well my body has adjusted back to trail life. It feels like I never stopped hiking last year. I’ve never felt so strong at the start of a thru hike before. It’s absolutely incredible.