AUG 16th

That was a great day yesterday let’s see if I can beat it ??

I was up and on trail by 6am 

It was just light as I  passed Jacoby’s tent. 

The trail started friendly  enough but soon began to climb and climb and climb and  climb some more .I reached my first summit and wow how amazing.  I took 5 minutes before starting my next climb this was steep and high. 

But I hadn’t finished I needed to head up along the ridge

Wow what amazing views. I headed  across the ridge towards another range of mountain. 

Guess I’m going up one of you I thought. I was now following a mixture of posts and  cairns. 

Soon I was heading down.this made me smile.  As I knew what was coming.

A really steep down followed by

Yes another big Up.

Once up  again the views were amazing and I stopping so often to video and take photos 

The trail now crossed over some wide plains  until i came to a Cdt  post I presumed I would  go right and down. But this is the Cdt so left and up.

Once I had started left the trail  vanished I stared into the distance and could just about make out a cairn so headed towards it, luckily it was a cairn and not just a pile of rocks. 

As I neared it there was a huge rock formation behind that looked amazing 

The trail now  decided to head down and hopefully water. 

Just then two  sobos  came up the trail I wished them well as they both looked shattered.

At last water it was a spring and ice cold so I didn’t filter. 

As I took 5 minutes Jacoby arrived

I  heard you go past my tent he said .

Then a French hiker arrived for water  too.While we were watering up another hiker past by who  hadn’t seen before.

Once done I set  off down the trail and imeadity came across several huge screes as I walked across  the heat  from the rock was scorching. 

Jacoby appeared behind me.

What amazing scenery snail

I totally agreed. 

We followed each other for a while before  i overtook him

The trail now meandered for several hours until it came to a small stream.Lunch time I dropped my pack  removed my shoes and socks and relaxed

Jacoby arrived mind if I join you ?

Not at all were chatting  when the  Frenchman arrived and kept going. 

Jacoby and I chatted for about 20 minutes. Well we have done 9.7 miles not bad considering all the climbing that we have done.

We resumed our hike Jacoby leading and me following  he’s a little faster than me but I managed to  kept  him in sight. 

I eventually I  caught him at a junction as he  had stopped to  check his app.

I laughed ,It’s the CDT  its got to be up (IT was)

I started the up. Its a ATV  track/road  so  it’s bloody steep and littered with rock and it was now hot. Jacoby  came passed and  was soon at the top. I struggled up puffing and panting.

 and  could now see that the  road snaked into the distance and up. 

Bloody great  i thought and I set off after him keeping him in view until he stopped once more to water up.

The next water after this  was in 7 miles and there were lots of  ups and downs.that would be today’s target. we  both marched down the trail but as I  kept stopping to admire the amazing views Jacoby was soon out of sight. Until I came to yet another huge beautiful lake. Here were roads everywhere but all  heading into  the distance and up large mountains 

OMG  that doesn’t look like fun and it wasn’t.

I set off again after Jacoby  but the trail was almost verticle  and 

I can’t climb or climb very fast and by the time I had made itvto the top Jacoby had pulled out  a huge lead. But I still had him in my sights until I stopped again for water. I filled both bottle’s 3/4 full  of water before resuming  my hike and imeadityy  was on yet another climb ,the trail climbed  and climbed steeply for about 1 Mile ,but it didn’t stop it just kept going on and up and it was hot.

French man passed me  as i struggled up .Once up and over I could see Jacoby in the far distance bloody hell I thought the trail looked insane  it snaked up and down sever times into the distance. 

We were on a Atv track and I had no engine  and just wasnt happy.

I was bloody  annoyed and  the next water was 7 miles away and I was strughling up these stupid hills.

After I had made it up the second stupid hill  Frenchman was now also in the distance .

I was getting fed up, this section is crap. The downs were steep and rocky  so I had no pace and I  had  no pace going up arrrrrhhhh 

I pushed on getting more cross luckily I was carrying extra water (I usually  do)

4pm came and went,5pm came and went and I was still on  this crazy roller coaster. 

My phone was getting low on power so I switched it  off and  I was still following this crappy road.

At last the trail (road!!) began to decend ,but again too bloody  steeply  for my legs .ichecked my watch ,It was now 6pm and I had,had enough.as I passed a small spinny I thought F*uck it I’m done! and there was the perfect camp spot.

I was exhausted,both feet hurt, I soon had my tent up and tea on the go 

I have to say I loved the morning and just hated the afternoon. 

I will get a good night sleep  and finish  the roller coaster  in the morning then after that  there is another stupid  huge climb.

I can’t wait 

Mileage 24 

AUG 15TH

I was up early I wanted to smash some miles as i wasn’t happy with yesterday’s effort.

I was packed by 5 30 had my cuppa and some instant oats for added energy. Then I was off

On trail by 6 whoop

 It was a fair gentle climb to begin with then I circled down through several forests  it was still partly dark  so  every blind corner I called our  hey bear  just to be safe.the trail meandered  a little before  behind to climb. 

I then saw something on trail  but couldn’t quite make it out.

It wasn’t a bear…

It was a section hiker  Cowboy camping directly  on trailthat really made me smile. 

I passed by and  had a small climb before I emerged at the springs. The water was tasty I didn’t filter. But I wished I  had taken more.**

Then trail then hid from me .but I managed to find. It was post to post  and you had to scan ahead to find the next. 

The views scuttled  away as I got near to them.

The trail now spanned  several huge meadows/ fields.  In the distance it looked like a field of sheep  but no just white rock.

I was loving this section it was flat with plenty to see.

I pushed on feeling really  pleased with my pace. Up ahead was a cattle grid  a good place to stop and adjust every thing. I decanted some water in to my other bottle then flavoured it and glugged it straight down.

But!! I should have checked where the next water was first.10 miles..

Yes I have enough for that **

I had just started walking even then the rancher came by on his Atv.

He stopped for a chat hes off to check on water at the springs

I said the far one is running OK.

He asked if I was a CDT hiker. 

Yes I said  your going to have a lovely  morning pointing at the big mountain range in front  of me

F*uck F*uck I said to myself

Yes that looks like  lot of FUN?!!

now this is when I realise I should have gotten more water especially if I’m climbing  in the  sun.

Steve then said  if you make it to a certain lake my friends have a camp there  ask them for  beer.

Perfect I will need one after  this I laughed.

I set of down the windy road, F*uck should have gotten more water. As my bladder  was quite empty too. 

I followed the road until it came to a fence. I undid it walked through then fastened it again .

I was nervous of the huge mountains in front of me.

And the more I walked the bigger they became. I pushed on down the road  until I heard the sound of the Atv  coming  back. Steve had checked his water as he passed he wished me good luck again before speeeding off sadly not in the direction that I was going .

I followed the meandering road  to the junction . The CDT is always up so easy  to follow. 

It started steep.  

Of course its a Atv  track i stared into the distance  it was a long way away  and steep almost  climbing into the clouds 

Snail why didn’t you bring more  water now why didn’t I.

At last I was  getting nearer to the trees I would take a break there. 

At last  I arrived puffing and  panting and bloody hot.

I dumped my pack on the ground and lay down under à tree in the shade until I had cooled down.

Then  I took off my shoes  and socks  before eating snacks.

I took 20 minutes then resumed  the trail as I puffed  my way up the top I thought that’s a  nice campsite and that’s a nice campsite

At last i was at  the top but  my joy turned to despair.  On the other side I could see that I headed  down then immediately back up.

NO NO NO….oh well I pushed on down snd then once again was the climb snd to begin with bloody steep.

Then the dirt road stopped at a gate and became a single track  or trail.

I pushed on up and soon was in a cool forest  and there were switchbacks . I scoured  the trail for signs of water… There were none.i sipped slowly on my bladder.  It had to last 10 Mile’s 

Not a chance in hell 

This trail was really nice  but I wasn’t enjoying it as I was concerned about water. 

The trail now began to head  down and to my left  off trail was a large green area. 

NB  anything  really green means water (usually)

I bushwacked my way across. But sadly only boggy  hoof holes. 

Disappointed  I bushwacked back to the trail.  Ahead I could see the trail snake  up another huge  hill but beneath it  was another green oasis.  Fingers crossed. 

I pushed on climbing and heading to another forest.  

Once again it was cool  ..I needed cool. As I began to exit the forest I crossed over a dry creek bed.

I wonder I thought.

So headed right and  down  a few yards and I could hear water then I could see water. I dropped my pack and took my two water bottles to fill.

The water looked good ice cold.but I filtered it just in case I then topped up my bladder. Once done I then chugged  the other bottle.

I felt great now. I have water.

I bushwacked  back to the trail and up as I climbed  I noticed another hiker far below. 

I pushed on climbing for a while  untill I came to a huge cairn

God am I climbing up there?

But no thank god,  the trail now began to follow the contours of the hill.  Phew.

Then I began to head down and there were great switchbacks 

The switchbacks went  on for about anhour until I emerged  out by deadmans lake.

The lake was a glorious blue and I could see some large fish

I dropped my pack under the shade of several trees.

I needed to look at my feet as both  were hot  on the soles

The hot road walking didn’t help 

I added tape with some cushioning. Then removed the inner soles and cleaned out the air holes hopefully that my help. 

Okay lets go  but I grabbed another bottle of water just in case.

Once across the lake  it was  up a steep long up.  Omg and it was hot I pushed on until At last itt behan to level out

I needed 4 miles on this dirt road before I turned off to lakes 

I pushed on but my feet were still very sore think it because some of the trail is like walking in a house gutter so you foot slides in the shoe and then there are the little rocks. 

I pushed on pleased that at least there was decent scenery to look at. 1 hr pased  okay that’s 2 miles 2 to go…then it was 1 and then I was at the sign for the lakes. 

I now began to struggle  I was tired my feet  hurt but it was far too easy to stop,and of course  the next bit was steep. 

After an  hour I came to a small oasis.  That would be perfect I paused  shall I camp….

I thought for a few minutes then carried on walking up this steep dusty road. 

I then heard the distinctive sound of a ATV.  it was a man and boy and they were out fishing as there were numerous lakes up ahead

I continued up until I came to a second oasis. That’s another perfect spot. But no  I pushed on

but decided to stop at the next  big hill.so I did. I ate the rest of my snacks and glugged more water.

Okay I will  walk to six I decided .

I pushed on  passing several ponds. Then the man and joy  came back .

This time he stopped  for a chat.

Where you  headed  he asked ?

I’m just going to do anothrt hour I replied.

At the next pond I got water  and washed myself down. 

Okay I head to the next pond 3 miles thst will do me.

As i climbed I met a sobo. A German girl called walkie-talkie. 

Your the first person I have seen all day. 

Okay snail to the next pond 

Again a few small climbs then I dropped down into an open airy woods and every few yards were perfect camp spots but I needed water I exited the woods and as I dropped down I was at the pond. I walked to the far right and dropped my pack f

Got a bottle of water and filtered it. Then I got another bottle and washed my hair. God it felt good I was just deciding where to put my tent when Jacoby appeared.he wasn’t sure whether to camp go on or what.

I spied a place under the trees and soon had my tent up.and began cooking.

Jacoby tented just a few yards away

Well 28 miles today but then the they way my feet  hurt Im not surprised 

.

Mileage  28

.

AUG 14th

I woke early but it was still too dark

 So I dozed until 6 them packed up and walked the perilous route back to water my fellow hikers  were up but there wasn’t a lot of movement.  I grabbed more water then set off back up the steep path back to the trail. The morning was looking magnificent  so I took few photos before returning yo the climb..did I say climb I meant climbs  omg  it was up snd down and up and down  but bloody steep up and stupid  steep down .I have to say the views were amazing   but  for hod sake get me off of this mountain. 

But no up and down in the distance I could see another hiker catching me it was gandalf. .

After the last climb I stopped to drink water and woof a few snacks. Gandalf wasn’t stopping he wanted to push miles. 

Next up was rabbit  he looked like me exhausted.  Next was the aussies  followed by Kid.

The aussies cruised put and jrot going kid needed water  and rabbit  air lol.

I took off after the aussies  knowing kid would soon whizz past. At ladt we were dropping down into  a meadow and hopefully more water.

It  was still amazing views  as I made my way through the meadow.  

There was supposed to be water here but it was dry  but I still followed the water bed  in the distance I could see the gang  and Jacoby  I stopped too. Dropped my pack 

And filtered a litre of water which I promptly drank so filtered another. 

Hot sauce  was missing then appeared from.the other direction . Guess she took a wrong turn. 

It was a another climb out of the valley so didn’t want to carry  too much water as its heavy.

The sun was hot  now and  the climb steep but luckily  it began to drop down through cool forest. 

The trail  now meadered  its way through the countryside. Some up some down but   nothing scary.. (that was later this afternoon?)

The trail was well signed  until you needed  a sign and then it was???

Kid came screaming psst me then I met  my first sobo of the day a lady and her dog..I was just chatting when rabbit and hots sauce caught up.

The  two of them seemed much faster than this morning but I kept them in sight.

They eventually stopped  by the river with Kid.

I dropped my pack filtered and drank more water  and ate more snacks.  

The big climb was next 3 miles up such fun

Rabbit took off but I couldnt match him  it was steep  and hot about 2/3 up Kid and hot sauce caught and passed me  as I was exhausted.  Climbing  just kills me. Not far to go snailtrainer.

I chugged on as the families boo. Of thunder rang out . At last I was atvthe top and began the decent  the the decent still had a few hills.

As I dropped down into a forest I could see the 5 the aussies  rabbit and Kid and hot sauce.

I felt good so pushed on stopping at a spring..I decided yo make a cuppa

 But wasn’t sure why…

By the time I started again the rain was  threatening so I put on my rain jacket.

The rain lasted about 10 minutes  and then the sun took over. I could see  people on the other side of the hill miles away  so began to push  but I was roasting in my rain jacket  but didn’t want to stop  to take it off 

Eventually I had too. I pushed as hard as I could as when I last stopped yo check my milage it was crap. Guessing down to all the bloody hills and a 3 mile climb. 

I wanted 20  well actually with my early start I  wanted mid 20s

I kept pushing but then my tight foot began to hurt for no reason and it was just six. At the next water I filled up znd then began to look for some where  flat. 

A hiker called 10lb hammer  came by  then I pased Jackoby. I thought he was camping but he came past me when I had stopped.

I was tired the climbing  had  exhausted me.

So dinner and bed seemed good.

Managed to squeeze in 20 miles

Night all.

Aug 13th

I woke at 6 am and just dozed I was in no hurry today well not yet my alarm sounded at 7 am I silenced it and lay there the sun was just getting up and it was already warm.

My plan for today was visit the postoffice, and all being well I planned to  grab the 11am shuttle back to the trail.

I needed the bathroom so had to get up,  there were about a dozen tents  left as some hikers had already packed up and set off

as there was a 9am shuttle.i  also heard the cafe  opens at 8.30.

Once back at my tent I had a quick tidy dumped my boxes and packaging  from my recent deliveries. Then I woofed the two oranges that I had brought in Dillon. They  were so tasty. 

Then burning  man appeared he had coffee. A banana  and a breakfast burrito. 

He insisted I eat half the burrito  and half of his banana.

Both were delicious .

Burning man then began to  pack up , as they sky had now turned black I thought I should do the sane before the rain came.

Once done i walked around to the front if the building .

Burning man,Pilgrim  and 5 other hikers were loading their packs into  the pickup (shuttle) ready to be taken back to trail. See you later  guys  and  don’t get lost !!!

I  left my pack in the porch and walked to the post office. 

Great my replacement bladder  was in but not the the other thing.

So I left a forwarding address. 

Once back at the motel  I swapped out my old bladder which was a 3 litre  to my new 2 litre one. 

My old was looking a bit grotty and occasionally leaked.

Just then Gourmet  appeared  so I said I’m going for breakfast wanna come ?

When we walked in  there was a table  of 4 hikers and at the back was Swiss Chris. 

So we joined him. He had just finished a large omelette and he said it was great.

But I just fancied eggs hash and bacon.  Orange juice  and coffee. 

Gourmet ordered the same.

It took a while to come out but was superb.

Okay back at the motel  I rechecked my pack and then just waited for the shuttle  11am.

Time  to go there was myself. Swiss chris,Gourmet a Sobo couple  and two others who i hadn’t met before.

We are off…..

And soon we were at the trail head we thanked our driver and paid him his fee. Then we all headed off, the two hikers I hadn’t met before went storming off  with gourmet in pursuit  I followed  lagging behind and behind me was  Swiss Chris the sobos went the other way.

This road was 8 miles long , typical crunchie gravel  undulating  and maintained by cows. I crunched along saying to myself F*uck my pack is heavy. Well its full of food and water maybe too much water.. we will see.

I was pushing as fast  as I could as it was a late start  and this first part  being  flat should enable me to crush a few miles

I then came across gourmet  who was talking 5.I  passed him and kept going knowing that he would quickly steam pass me as he is incredibly  fast.and sure enough he did. 

But there wasn’t any sign of Swiss Chris.. maybe he’s having a nap???

I keep following this crunchy  road chatting to the cows as I met them

 After seversl small climbs  I  could  see  the trail  head and several other  hikers.

When I arrived  the other hikers were getting water Kid & Hotsauce. Gourmet  and omg  

Blackout who I hadn’t seen  since colorado. 

There were also 3 other hikers who I hadn’t  met.

As we  got water the skies turned black. 

The next section was all ridge walking  and you don’t  want to be up there in a storm. 

After some deliberation  the “Group” decided to walk the road then bushwack back to the trail at the end of the road

It seemed a good plan to me.

So I set off down the road after them. 

The road meandered  its way through the valley  and I followed  keeping an eye  on the  road  for footprints.  The miles passed  before the trail split from.

the road and  i was on a atv track*

Then the sky turned even darker and then thunder boomed out it appeared that I wase  following  the storm. 

It began to drizzle then began to pour . I stopped to put on my  pack cover then my rain jacket  .I had just hoisted my pack when it began to hail.

Big hail ,marble size that bloody hurt.  Really bloody hurt .it hailed for almost 10 minutes turning the trail white.  I pushed on until I heard a noise behind me, it was a Atv  it zoomed past me followed by another.

I followed  on until I could see the gang. Then they were off and up a ridiculous  steep long hill.

Again I followed. God it was steep and so bloody long.

I began to wonder what the official Route  would have been  like.?

I followed  Ollie (Aussie Girl) until  she split from the trail and headed right.  I stopped   and in the distance on two hills over were the rest of the hikers (Fast)

I followed after Ollie and climbed up another  steep hill.

Several of the hikers were resting here  as we were now on the official  Cdt again. Whoop

The views from up here were just amaxing  WOW!!

the rest of the afternoon we would  be back to walking the ridge. Such FUN !!

BUT it would be steep downs and super steep ups.

It started of course with a down. 

I did my best  but was so slow and my knee was aching again

I did this up ,down, up  down up down for the rest of the afternoon

I would love to camp but I’m on the ridge and  no water as I’m.on the ridge. 

Once again the skies grew  black and the thunder  rang out  so bloody loud.

The guys in front stopped by a 

Bone Arrow that indicated water.

We all hoped that we could camp too. We scrambled down the path  until we reached  the water. It began to rain so we all went searching for a tent spots

They managed to squeeze  5 tents into the Postage stamp space by the spring . I crossed over and found a reasonable  spot under a tree.

I had just got my tent up when the heavens opened. But after 20 minutes  the rain stopped and out came the sun but it was 7pm and we were all ready to camp.

I went and fetched water and was amazed on how the 5 groups had

 manged to wedge all their tents around the spring.

I headed back to my tent and cooked dinner  and  so to bed

Mileage  18

AUG  12th

My alarm went off at 7am  I silenced it. 

Eventually waking up  at 9am.

I dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. 

I enjoyed  what was there  before returning to my room. 

I finished packing and then discovered that the room service had thrown out my water bottles 

So I needed a trip to the grocery store.  Then back to my room. 

I finished packing and went downstairs to  reception. 

Burning man was ready  so we headed out. 

We stood by the road and  waited

Several cars past us. 

One eventually stopped

Were are you heading guys?

LIMA  We replied 

Well your on the wrong road he replied

Get in the back I will take  you

We both climbed into the back of his pickup 

soon we were at the correct  road junction. 

We thanked our ride and took up the hitching stanch.

After an hour we thought let’s try the off  ramp they are slower. 

We struggled up the slope to the on ramp meets off ramp 

It was less than five minutes  we had a ride but we were 20 miles short ..Okay we are closer 

I needed the loo and there was a campsite nearby 

I left burning man and headed  to the campsite and hopefully a loo. 

On the way back burning man was engaged in a conversation  with a man in a van

But when I arrived it all seemed cool and  had a ride

The guy seemed a bit of a know-all  but hey we had a ride

And soon we were back in lima

As we drove the weather report on the radio  was predicting  bad storms. 

So I decided to stay and booked a tent space and quickly threw up my tent. 

There were tge usual  faces here,the Aussies,kid & ?hot sauce.gourmet.Pilgrim, Swiss Cris  and several new faces.

Next I headed  to the post office and collected my packages. Then grabbed some beer from the gas station 

Once back at my tent I sorted my packages .New underwear, my new pillow and headphones

At around 5pm Swiss Chris  called me  so I went to gourmets room shared with Pilgrim and chilled 

At 6.30 we headed down  to the bar for dinner another group of hikers were also  here.

We grabbed another  table and ordered drinks while Pilgrim and Gourmet played pool. 

Our waitress took our order and we waited and waited. 

It took  forever to get our food  but eventually  it arrived 

Most of us had steak and it was really good. 

We didn’t stay out late 

But a great evening 

AUG 11th

So lovely to wake up.in a great bed.i grabbed a shower and chilled then headed down for my free breakfast.

It was basic but was fine for me .

At 12 burning man and myself were heading to the Greek place for lunch. ( We met the owners last night)

It wasn’t  far away but I wanted to call  in at the post office first to post a box and get some  stamps.

Okay dinner. We both ordered donner kebab  and a soda.

Wow so good and tasty.

Okay   we decided to meet at 7 pm for dinner. 

On the way to the Library  i passed a great children’s park  and it had amazing water features . Wow.

Then to the library  to try and chase a lost box (usps)

The librarian was really helpful. 

I tried several times to try and rescue my box  but gave up.

I will try ringing  later. 

I headed back to my hotel  passing a lovely old hotel before getting back to my room and chilled.tried ringing usps  but gave up as it the same info.

The rest of the day I spent editing and uploading.  

Okay dinner…we headed down the main road and called in for all you cam eat Chinese buffet.

But it’s not on tonight,so we went to on the next bar.

This one was really  buzzing.We had a couple of beers each and I had fish and chips. 

Then we thought that we would call in at the Tap house  on the way  back.

I ordered a cloudy IPA. but it was really sour..we started chatting to a local at the bar. I then asked for snother beer  as I didn’t like it.

The man said what did you order. 

I said cloudy Ipa.turns out he’s the owner and it was the  bar ladies first night.

We had one more then headed home as  we didnt want to be out late

On the way home the sky was just amazing. Wow

So some trash tv  and zzzz

Mileage  zero 

AUG 10TH

I was up early and soon packed up I made a brew as the others began to stir. 

Okay see you up trail guys

I headed out and soon  joined up with the main Cdt red line. It was a fairly cool morning but the sun was getting up.

I pushed on down the meandering  trail  eventually emeringing out of the forest and into an  open valley surrounded by hills

Hmm am I going up there?

Indeed I was.

It started of easy  but just kept climbing luckily there were switchbacks  but it just kept climbing .I had to stop as I was roasting so needed to remove a layer.  It was now heating up as

I slung on my pack and continued up . As I climbed I knew  others were closing in on me and shortly Pilgrim and Burning-man  appeared. 

Hows the climb boys I asked.

Lol

I let them pass then fell in behind them.There  was still more climbing  but eventually we were at the top and passed a resting/just starting sobo 

At last the trail headed down and

wow what great views although 

the trail couldn’t make up its mind if it was going down or up

Finally it began to level out.

I lost sight of the boys but once over the ridge i could see burning man getting water.

I dropped my pack and filtered 2 litres.as we sat there 5 sobos  appeared . It was good to chat to them  and get info on towns water and any other advice that was useful 

Okay time to walk Pilgrim and Burning man headed off and I followed. The trail was easy as it crossed several meadows. In  front was a huge mountain . Mm are we going up ? But to the left was a dirt road . The trail took me to the trail head and surprisingly the trail headed up the  dirt road. So easy walking

The two were a little way out in front as I headed off after them .

It was a beautiful day with  amazing views all around and the time seemed to be moving fast as well as the miles. In the distance I could see a fork in the road and thought great I won’t need to check my app I’ll just follow .

But the boys had stopped and so I soon caught up.

What’s up guys?

We f*ucked  up snail!!

We are miles off trail. 

We spent the next five minutes  deliberating what to do.

Bushwack  North. Go back go on. Pilgrim  decided to go back.

Burning man and myself said what the hell we have tents water and  food  what could go wrong

The cdt has so many options and alternates so this could be a great  adventure or a big mistake. 

We thought we could follow this road to  the next town and then hitch back to the trail head rather than heading 3 miles back  making 6 miles.

So happily we  headed on down this track .As we were walking we saw another moose quite happily munching on grass and not bothered about us. 

Aa walked we were passed by 4 atvs all out having fun. At last we came to another main road (Dirt) we hiked on as 4 cars passed us.

As we got to large tree with shade we decided on lunch.

Okay  plan c.after lunch we will hitch for 20 minutes then walk.

So we took up the stance as several vehicles sped past us..

On the 20th minute a car stopped.

He was driving past Lima  so  result.we were soon at Lima  but as we drove past the motel we noticed “no vacancies” sign.

I got out to double check and the owner wasn’t helpful at all in fact a bit of a dick.

So our ride said why don’t I take you to Dillon. 

So here we are at the super8.

Once checked in we went for lunch. Burger and fries  yum.

After it was laundry and chill. 

We met  up at 7pm to go grab a beer. 

We we’re advised that  sparkles  was good and just downtown.

So as we walked down town we passed a  bar. So a beer?

It was a nice tap room but Montana has some strange licencing laws and most stop serving at 8 pm.. unless it has a certain licence 

So  just the one… But we met a couple who run a Greek restaurant well more of a drive through so we promised  to have lunch there tomorrow.

As most people drive Sparkies was a hell of a lot further than we imagined .

But as last we were here. I was recommended to have the deep fried dill Pickles and wow they’ve really bloody good. I followed that with honey basted ribs which were   fantastic  finishing with keylime pie.

Well  we were both stuffed so headed back

What a amazing  day 

Night all.

Aug 9th

The alarm. Went off at 7am  and I needed a wee so visited the bathroom. 

But headed straight back yo my tent.

I put my sleeping bag in the tumble yesterday and it had restored  its  volume  but I was far  too hot  last night.

Okay it’s no good . You can’t lie here .

So I reluctantly pulled the stopper on my mattress. 

Oh lets get going .I slowly  packed up  when I was almost done I was about to make  a hot drink when the man from the adjacent campsite asked if I’d like a coffee. . I spoke to him earlier about the Cdt and my hike and he was really impressed.

He then reappeared with my mug full of coffee and a banana.

I thanked him. And sat down to eat my my banana and drink the coffee and woofed a fruit pie as well.

Okay time to go. Then the couple on the otherside  gave me some cheese strings and another banana. Wow  thank you again

As I got up to leave I caught my knee on the table  gashing it.ouch I said,**.as it began to bleed.

.

I headed back to reception to put my trash in the dumpster  and then give the cool bag back to the camp hosts.

I thanked them as they really did look after me.

Okay onwards snail 

I walked back towards the river.

It’s 2 miles to Robins Rest. (grocery store).I tried hitching for 15 minutes  …but then decided to walk.

The grocery store was well stocked .but i just needed  a few things more painkillers. Some fruit  and snacks. Oh and a large cornetto.

I sat outside and decanted my food and tried to find places for it to fit then devoured my cornett

OK let’s go as I’d been a bit lazy

I headed  up the road  its almost 10 miles up. If I had known this  then I would have tried hitching .

The road was steep and very long..there was no shade. At times it was like walking in kitty litter  and then the  atv’s whizzed by covering you in clouds of dust

(Not all of them)

It took me most of the afternoon to climb this bloody  hill. 

And I was totattsly exhausted at last I turned off of the road and back onto a real trail. 

The trail started off well great tred well maintained  then it split  and became a guess where the trail is ,this was so tiresome I ended up leaving arrows for other hikers to help them .

I pushed on but that bloody hill had drained me and  most  of my water so water would be good.

But as I  was in a volcanic area  the water just drains  down so all of  the culverts I passed  where dry

But eventually I found some ,I watered up as  thought  I may stop soon .I headed on through  undulating fields  so no where really to stop. The scenery  was constantly changing and i had to keep stopping to stare at the large mountains and big screes

It amazes me how the trees cling on .I had stopped to take some video when I noticed another hiker behind me.

It was Swis Chris  would I hadnt seen since encampment .

Are you heading to the lake snailtrainer. ,??

I’m not sure how far is it?

About 4

Yeah I can do that. 

I watched him go  tracking him

But then after checking my app  I’m.off trail..

So double back **

I should have stayed on the original trail  as because of beavers the trail  is  wrong. 

So after wading through several rivers and  bushwacking I emerged by the lake and Swis Chris had his tent up allready.

Grrr…. crap trail. 

I quickly found a spot and put my tent up then went and joined Chris for dinner 

It wasn’t long until Burning man  arrived shortly followed by Gourmet and Pimgrim

We a chatted for several hours before my bed was calling

Millage 19