Day 098 - Continental Divide Trail - Shoshone Dogshead Trailhead to Firehole Springs Backcountry Campsite

Day: 098

Date: Monday, 12 August 2024

Start:  Shoshone Dogshead Trailhead (but staying at Grant Village Campground)

Finish:  Firehole Springs Backcountry Campsite

Daily Kilometres:  32.9

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  2868.5

Weather:  Cold early, then a mild and partly sunny day with a thunderstorm in mid-afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Hot buffet breakfast

  Lunch:  Italian wraps

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals.

Aches:  Dave the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  The Shoshone Geyser Basin was fabulous and we had it all to ourselves.  The trail snaked past fascinating bubbling cauldrons of translucent boiling water, steaming gurgling vents and erupting geysers, with other similar thermal features  visible in the distance.  Signs warned us not to leave the trail, but we didn't need to.  We could see plenty from the trail.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Dave didn't have a very good night with some kind of gastro problem, but he still heroically tackled the excellent buffet breakfast we purchased at the Grant Village Restaurant, not wanting to miss such an opportunity.

We packed up camp before breakfast and, after breakfast, walked across to the laundromat where “Slow & Steady”, the manager, has offered to drive us back to the trail at 8am, which he did.

Dave still wasn't feeling great, but he improved as time passed after we started hiking at 8:30am.

The day was mostly spent hiking mellow trail through very pleasant pine forest across a seemingly vast plateau at an altitude between 7000’ and 8000’ with a couple of notable exceptions.

There were several visits to the shoreline of the huge, remote and scenic Shoshone Lake and our interesting walk across the fabulous Shoshone Geyser Basin (see above).

There was also some less than mellow trail through bogs and marshland which kept our footwear and socks wet after several stream fords earlier in the day.  A thunderstorm in mid-afternoon brought cold temperatures and hail for a short period, but it cleared on time for a lovely evening.

Around 7:45pm we reached our booked backcountry campsite at Firehole Springs and found a tent site amongst the trees.  There was one other overnight hiker already in residence and he had the best spot.  During the day we saw about seven southbound CDT thru-hikers and no-one else.