Total Mileage: 258
Sorry for the delay in posts. I’ve been sending it pretty hard and service has been very spotty.
This is a long one because I’m currently on a flat 113 mile section of the Red Desert on a road so I have nothing but time as I walk and write this.
Anyway, I did it again. I didn’t get enough food out of Anaconda. So 3 days into this 230+ mile section, I had to start rationing. Doing 40’s on 2,000 calories is not fun. Thankfully, in this section I would run into an incredible human from back home, “Stix”, who is crushing the CDT and getting her Triple Crown. (That means she’s hiked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail.) What makes her Triple Crown so impressive is that she’s a 10%er. Which means she doesn’t skip any miles of the trail. Very few hikers do this. 90% of people claiming to thru hike skip. She posts great pictures and videos so follow along with her @maxinemachine on Instagram. When we met up she wasn’t feeling too god and I was desperately low on food, so when she asked if I wanted to take some of hers, I played it off but inside I was beyond ecstatic! After a couple hours, sadly we went our separate ways. It helped to see a familiar face, It does get lonely sometimes. Just part of the mental challenge of the loop I guess.
Finishing the day with a 38.5, and making it to Bannock Pass at 6:30pm the next evening, I did the Anaconda to Leadore segment of 233 miles in 5 days 8 hours and 30 minutes. A trail angle named Randy picked me up right on time at Bannock Pass and got me into town just before the store closed and I could stuff my face with some refined sugar and processed goodness. Stayed at a campground down the street, somehow fried my GoPro by charging it too long overnight. I sent it to Dallas to handle. Until then just pics unfortunately.
I also received a Birthday care package from “Mom Cut” a sweat heart of a person I met on the PCT this year. I had all kinds of things including a mini peach pie with a candle. Thank you!!
Randy was right on time and I was able to get back to the trail at 10:30am. Full resupply with a goal to get to Island Park, ID in under 5 days. A 180 mile section. Tough however with a lot of elevation gain, ridge climbs up, up, up then down, down, down. Water was tough with not a lot of options and those hoofed 😈 we’re everywhere, forcing me to to treat all sources except springs.
My birthday on the 14 was more eventful than I wanted it to be. I was in good spirits after hitting 4,000 miles a couple days before. Blasting out of camp while it was still dark I was using my headlamp. Once it got light enough I didn’t notice it was still on and at some point it fell off my head without me noticing. I hiked a mile back looking for it with no luck and I knew this would come back to burn me. I just didn’t think it would be the way that it did.
Open meadows, some roads, and for the most part, an easy day. By 9:30 it was almost dark and I was at 39.8 miles. Side-hilling through hoofed devil country I finally called it. Plopped my pack down and just cowboy camped under the stars. The night was clear. At 1:30am I heard thunder and lightning, it was coming towards me and being this exposed gave me flashbacks from Yellowstone from last year. (See week 14 or 15 from GWL 2021 for that story) I quickly stuffed everything into the large pouch on the outside of my pack and hiked half a mile down lower to safety and just crashed right there. The next morning when I came around I looked at my packs and noticed that last night in the dark without my head lamp, I had dropped my pack into a fresh cow pie and it had smushed through the pouch. In the storm I had stuffed a lot of my gear into that pouch so everything was covered in cow shit. Happy Birthday to me!
