My Continental Divide Trail Adventure: Lima to Togwotee Pass

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...