Day 96 Ennis

23.4 miles

It was a town day today although I didn’t know it at the time. I had around 12 miles to hike out to a trail head which I’d have lunch at with the intention to carry on for the afternoon further into the mountains and hike a nero day into Ennis tomorrow, however on a closer look at my maps it was very possible to hike directly on backcountry roads straight into town and I’d able to reach Ennis this afternoon.

Continuing along the well groomed Cedar Loop Trail from yesterday it was all downhill for an hour or two before turning off onto what was a definite Forest Service trail, the Jack Creek Trail. At the trail junction there were various Yellowstone Club signs and some tracks heading off that were clearly private property but I was still confused if the Cedar Creek Loop was public or private.

Jack Creek Trail was in a degraded state with yet more blow downs to negotiate.

At the bottom of the hill Jack Creek Trail would follow Jack Creek itself across a mix of public and private land. A ling section of trail was obviously established on a section of private trust lands where access along the trail was provided.

It didn’t take long to hike to reach the end of this trail and hit the trailhead. It was 11:30am and with only another 10 miles into town I decided to have an early lunch which would allow a big push towards town without the need to stop on the side of a road in the open sun for lunch.

Once leaving the forest and out onto country roads it was out in to farmland with no tree cover at all, all the way in to town.

Reaching town I was able to check into a motel in the late afternoon and now in town a day earlier than expected, I was a day ahead and chose to book for two nights, taking another unplanned day off trail tomorrow.

I took very few photos toady.