Posted by 25.3 miles
I had an easy start to the day on flat ground following along the Sun River. The miles came quick. Just after 10 am and 10 miles in I reconnected with the main CDT Red Line to recommence the trail proper.
That quick start set my day up well as from the junction the trail descended into blow down hell, significantly slowly my pace for the next 4 miles.
Jumbles and jumbles of downed trees spread across the trail. Many could be simply stepped over. At other times the mess was so bad it was easier to just stay off the ground on top of logs picking a path from one blow down to the next. There were sections that i didn’t touch the ground for 100 feet.
The worse offenders are those just at that inconvenient height where they are too large to step or climb over, forcing me onto all fours to crawl underneath, making sure not to get my pack caught up. Even the smaller blowdowns that can be stepped over are a menace with mutltiple sharp and pointy branches waiting ready to catch a shin as a leg is passed over. My scratched and battered legs bear testimony to this with a few new scars to add to the collection.
I was hating life at this point and in quite the negative head space. To stay positive I repeated quite a few different mantra to myself: “Just 6 more days of hiking Mick.”, “Less than 150 miles dude, you’ve got this.” Of course things could have been much worse. It was overcast and cooler than normal. With the sweat pouring out from the full body workout I couldn’t imagine how difficult this would have been hitting this section late in the afternoon in a full blazing sun.
The blowdowns owe their origin to the area having been burnt a few years prior. So much of this area has been fire affected it had my questioning the whole notion of wilderness areas. This was the Bob Marshal Wildeness that I’d read about so many years ago. I had a mental imagine of hiking through pristine, dark, mature forests with bears everywhere. Far from it. This place is a mess from a long history of fires and downed trees. More like the Bob Marshal Wasteland unfortunately.
To make things slightly worse it started to rain. Just enough to make the blowdowns slippery.
The four miles came and went thankfully however it did take 2 hours to get through, quite slow for my standard pace.
While the trail conditions improved the landscape did not, hiking through yet more burnt country for the rest of the day. I also hit the junction with the exit point to the Spotted Bear Alternate – still closed.
Open and exposed, it was hot. I was 23 miles deep into the day that I finally hit unburnt forest for which I was incredibly thankful for. The shade, the coolness and greenery all very welcome.
Hiking on for another 2 miles I reached Strawberry Creek and called it for the day, jumping straight into the water to cool off.
No sooner than pitching my tent and cooking dinner, storms built overhead and it started to bucket down. That I can deal with while tucked up dry inside my tent. I’m loving the cooler air mass that comes with the storms after another hot and humid day.
In bed listening to the rain pelter down I checked my maps and recalculated the distance ahead. It looks like I have around 47 miles to go for this section which will mean another day and a half. I have judged my food just right and will definitely have enough to make it through to East Glacier without the need to fast.
Mick Beckers 