My Continental Divide Trail Adventure: August 2013

We got a hitch from the front desk guy from the Togwotee Lodge to the trail head. His trunk was full so we squeezed the packs, the dogs, and myself in the backseat of a ford focus. I am so happy the Belgian Malinois are such a convenient size they make hitching easy. The first day of this section was very frustrating we hiked all day and seemed like we were jamming and at the end of the day after looking at the map we calculated that we only did 11 miles. We should have done at least 20! The next day was a morning full of bush wacking trying to find a John Leys route. Bush wacking is not my cup of tea, I prefer a trail even if its only a game trail. My legs got a little scratched up from climbing over fallen trees and hiking through sage brush. We also had to deal with the Green River fire which was on trail so we had to take an alternative that took us around it. The fire was contained but you could still see several spots where the trees were smoking. I was happy once we got back on the official CDT and saw the beginning of the Wind River Range. This section started off tough and continued difficult but ended up being one of my favorite sections so far with beautiful views the entire time.

The beginning of "The Winds"...

We had rain almost every afternoon / night in the Winds.

We literally ran away from the storm at Elbow Lake. I think this was the fastest we have ever hiked.

Grizby patrols the bridge.

The lookout for the Wind River Range. We woke up around 4am so we could get to town (Pinedale) before the post office closed at 11am.

We hiked 10ish miles by 9:30am to get into Pinedale.

We got a hitch to Pinedale from a local family. The golden was confused why it had to hangout with two malinois and two stinky hikers.

At the Rockin Rabbit for breakfast.

I lost my spoon the first week or so on trails so I took a plastic to-go spoon from Many Glacier in Montana. It lasted almost two months on trail before starting to change colors and get bendy when warm so I finally broke down and bought a titanium spork and retired the spoon.

We got a hitch back to the trail from a couple guys we met at the hotel. Josh and his father were really friendly and gave us a couple dehydrated dinners. Thanks for the trail magic!

Weather in the winds...

Before Texas Pass...

Texas pass. The picture does NOT do it justice.

Made it to the top of Texas Pass

Cirque of Towers

Took an early dinner near a lake after the Cirque

Huffing and puffing but the views make it worth it

More Cirque of towers

Young bull moose a little off trail. He didn't care we were there he was just eating.

After Jack Ass Pass we scrambled on some sketchy boulders. The dogs turned into maligoats and scaled the rocks without problems.

There were a ton of weekend warriors out near Big Sandy Lake we waited for them to pass while taking a break then went to start back up and I watched a moose come out of the woods walk over to the water and swim across the lake. It's amazing what you miss that happens right behind you on trail if you aren't paying attention. I'm very happy we didn't miss this!

The sky in WY is beautiful but full of weather.

Cow pie cairn...

We weren't planning on going into Lander but after a note from Spins and Baboon about hot tub and beer we got a hitch into Lander and ended up taking a zero. We are so easily persuaded...

Happy 2nd birthday Grizby!

We will be getting back on trail tomorrow morning to start The Basin. It's supposed to be flat, hot, and without shade. We may be night hiking or at least using our new umbrellas we ordered to try to get some relief from the sun. We also stocked up on drink mixes to try to help mask the taste of the questionable water we will be drinking. P.S. if anyone is having issues with sore paws or torn pads I highly recommend Tuf foot. We have been using it on the dogs paws and I have definitely noticed a huge difference!

Thanks again to Kassandra and her mom for helping me get back on trail! Before getting back on trail we went to dinner at Pete's Bar and BBQ we met a fun group of people who were kept us drinking (thanks for the beers!) and entertained until late, the eldest of the group whenever he would finish his beer would ask of we were in the desert? Then he would say cause I have nothing to drink! And ask where his beer was. Again a great group of friendly people. The next morning we got a ride to the trail head from Mike one of the owners of the Mountain View Motel and RV park where we had camped out. Mike and Connie we super hiker friendly they even had a hiker tree where you could hang an old pair of shoes from. I would have left my shoes since they were falling apart but I needed to keep them in order to exchange them. Yup the Running Warehouse in San Luis Obispo has a 90 day exchange policy no questions asked so I had to take my shoes to Yellowstone where the new pair awaited. We were supposed to hike from Lima to Mack's Inn but we ended up stopping in Sawtelle the town two miles early since Mack's Inn doesn't have beer. We met some locals who again were extremely friendly inviting us to join them. They bought us several rounds of beers and one of the men told me about a super plant called Taro that grows under a white flower that is suppose to reduce swelling and promote healing. 5hrs later we stumbled back to the camp ground and called it a night. The next day we woke up early and finished the 2 miles to Mack's Inn to get our resupply. We ran around finishing errands then got lunch and were about to hit the road when we realized we were short on dog food and of course there's no dog food in Mack's Inn. We were dreading the 2 mile hike back to get dog food when a wonderful woman named Gloria offered to drive us down the hill to get dog food. Gloria was so generous she insisted on buying the dog food and even saved us the road walk and took us to the trail head. We hiked up towards Yellowstone and camped just outside of the park since our back country permit wasn't effective until the next day and with the dogs we weren't looking for trouble. We hiked in to OldFaithful and played tourist on our way to resupply. The majority of the tourists fell into three categories, happy Europeans, pushy Asians, or pissed off Americans. We couldn't handle the crowd so we got our packages, ate lunch, and booked it. We weren't going to make it to our designated camp spot by dark but there was a camp spot about 2 miles early that we hoped we got squeeze into. When we got to the camp spot there was a group already there the ring leader said there was no room for us (jerk!). So we hiked in the dark, in bear country, making noise like crazy people hoping to keep the critters away. We were making terrible mileage and seemed to be getting no where when Kraig saw two eyes about wolf height reflect light then scurry off trail. We then said screw it and camped illegally off trail. We woke up early to break down camp before the rangers were out roaming. We saw lots of bear (mostly black) and tons of wolf tracks the last two days in Yellowstone. After Yellowstone we made our way to Togwotee Lodge to get our resupply. We got here last night showered, ate, did laundry, now we are just waiting for our package to resupply before we hit the trail again. I also got my trail name awhile ago but I don't think I ever posted it. My trail name is "Frankfeet" and the dogs got their trail names too, Grizby now goes by "Sniper" and Hinanu goes by "Speedbump".

*Please excuse any and all spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. I usually work on my blog over a beer or late at night while in the tent. View the errors as "creative writing opportunities" I have chosen.*

Grizby enjoying a deer leg he found in a field in Lima Mt. Happy boy!

Somewhere in Idaho...