August 3rd, 2024
Mile Marker: 1058.7
Miles Hiked: 30
This morning was chilly so Jeff and I woke up around 6:15 and made breakfast in bed before rolling out. I can’t wait till this can be our new normal, so soon!
We knew we wanted to do a big day today and tomorrow so we tried to get out early and left camp around 7. Shortly after leaving we noticed Akela and Karma’s tent, they had just missed where we were, darn it!
We then had our first of many river crossings. I’m not sure how many rivers we crossed but it was well over 10. Most were large rivers without any bridges or rocks to hop so Journey and I went in shoes and all. No point in taking our shoes and socks off constantly.
After a few miles we caught up to Whatever, he tends to start really early and found ourselves leap frogging with him majority of the day.
After an hour we ran across a field of horses. There wasn’t anyone out watching them but one had a bell on it. Journey and I wondered if they were wild horses but didn’t think it so. Later at lunch Captain said he ran across some people asking if he saw the horses, apparently they had escaped where ever they were being held. 🤣
The terrain today was quite beautiful for the first half as we followed a river and came across an abundant amount of wildflowers. They were so gorgeous!
We also ran across an elk skull and antlers. I so did not expect it to be as heavy as it was. My arms have no muscle anymore. 😂
After about 12 miles we stopped at a creek for lunch and rest. Although we knew we couldn’t stay for long due to the mileage, it was nice to fill our bellies.
The second half of the day felt a bit more challenging with the heat. Each water crossing we got into helped cool me off. So I wasn’t too upset about the wet shoes.
About an hour after lunch we exited Yellowstone National Park and entered the Teton Wilderness! During this area we noticed a ton of bear scat, we are definitely back in grizzly territory but not for too much longer! Thank goodness!
Some of the day had us walking through overgrown trail like this and I found myself naturally starting to “Heyo” again just in case a bear was lingering in this area.
We met quite a few NOBOs and multiple of them asked us about grizzlies, I have forgotten that they are entering into this territory for the first time and have to change all their habits of food and safety now at the last part of their trip.
This made me feel good about going SOBO again, in a week or so we won’t have to worry about grizzlies ever again and can be carefree yay!
Around 2 PM we ran across a NOBO that had gotten service at the top of a climb and got an alert about a wildfire south of Dubois and how the trail is now closed. Immediately my mind went to Tia and Grady and our plans to meet. I started thinking about the different options as we may now have to skip forward 50 or so miles and meet them earlier.
Skipping miles is never ideal but when the CDT closes 20 miles in the middle of no where, it’s hard to figure out how to get the miles around it still. However, it’s still early in figuring it all out so we will see how things shake out.
We started the big climb of the day around 4 PM and found myself feeling pretty strong going up. Even though I was hot and we were climbing up to 10,000 feet I was still able to push strong. It’s always a good feeling when your trail legs start to come in.
Once at the top we noticed rain clouds and heard a light thunder but thankfully we hardly got rained on and it cleared up. It was gorgeous up top of the climb with big views of the Teton mountains and rain clouds that felt so low I could touch them.
I am so thankful for this opportunity.
On the trek down we ran across a rock wall that was similar to the Chinese wall in Montana. Shortly after we decided to stop and have dinner around 27 miles in when we saw Captain. Us three decided on a camp spot 3 miles later. Whatever and Aster were just a bit behind so they decided to camp at an earlier campsite.
After dinner I had a whole new round of energy especially since all we had left was a downhill, flat, and gradual easy uphill.
I was cruising and lovin the views.
We arrived at camp a little after 8 and set up quickly, threw our bear hangs, and got in our tent to avoid the mosquitos. It’s always so strange how it will either be flies or mosquitos that seem to attack us. Hopefully both of them go away for good soon.
I’m getting so excited for Tia and Grady to come out and to explore the Winds!
Today was a very long but successful day.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 