July 2025

July 14-17; Mile 327-392 Day 23 Before heading back to trail, we all stopped at the post office to mail boxes to a small town in Idaho. Mike picked us up at 8 and then drove us back to MacDonald Pass once we were done. It was incredibly helpful to get around town quickly, and we were back hiking before 10 am.  Strix and Lark The sun was already high in the sky when we started hiking up the right road (after I promptly took the wrong one).

July 10-13; Mile 270-327 Day 19 Sprinkles eventually hitched toward Helena in order to hike the Big Sky alternate with friends she had met on other thru hikes. Dad was staying in town to let his dog, Dixie, rest. And Anna wanted to camp with us for a night, but also wanted a short hike out the next morning. So Strix and I drove out around 1 pm to Flescher Pass trailhead to meet Handy and Anna. They were 13 miles in, and we all did the last 5 together to reach camp. 

July 7-9; Mile 234-270 Day 16 A deer trotted past our campsite as I was untying my bear bag the next morning. We had 20 miles to go in order to reach our planned campsite beside a lake – in a dry stretch of trail – and I was worried about my calves. They were no longer knots of pain after a good night’s sleep, but the day promised steep climbs in the afternoon with 4500’ of gain. My mind raced through my different options: take an extra zero in Lincoln, get a ride

July 5-6; Mile 206-234 Day 14 The rain continued all night. I kept one of the four tent doors open to cut down on the claustrophobia. At 5:15 am my alarm ripped me out of a deep sleep, and I blinked blearily at the gloomy walls of my tent.  I had a desultory breakfast of cold oatmeal next to the piles of horse poop, and then it was time to start walking. My shoes were wet, my jacket was wet, the air itself was moist. We walked through the dense woods

July 2-4; Mile 141-206 Day 11 It was an early morning; we had 20 miles to go before camp. The trail started out in the forest, and the sides were lined with woody bushes that swatted our legs as we pushed past. We crested Muskrat Pass, indistinguishable from a grassy clearing, and passed into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, known affectionately as The Bob (or less affectionately as the Bog Marsh Wilderness).  Before long we passed back into burn scar, but the sky was thankfully overcast enough to keep the temperature down.

June 30 – July 1; Mile 112-141 Day 9 We all stopped at the post office Monday morning to ship home our snow gear; depending how quickly we hiked, we might not see snow for the rest of the trail. I also mailed a box for another hiker named Meemaw who had left the day before.  Strix packing her ice axe Then it was a short drive to the road crossing where Handy and I had started a week ago. Sprinkles would not be hiking with us since

June 27-29; Mile 84-112 After sleeping in til 7 am, I wandered over to the lodge for breakfast. Sprinkles and Strix were inside at the same table as the night before, and I did some stretching on the floor before making my cold oatmeal.  We chatted with another hiker named Cuddles who gave us intel on the trail near the lodge: there was a flooded water crossing that we could bypass by taking the road. And so we set out on the shoulder of the road around 8:30.  It was about

June 26; Mile 67-84 Tripod drove us up to St Mary in a drizzle, and after a short detour from the shuttle stop we were back on the CDT. The trail was overgrown with thimbleberry bushes, and we met someone coming the opposite way in a complete poncho – all we could see was her face.  The steep grade plus the wall of wet growth felt like we were swimming upstream. At the road crossing I walked right past the sad little CDT path without seeing it and headed for the nice trailhead with