Day: 133
Date: Monday, 16 September 2024
Start: Dearborn River
Finish: Straight Creek/Benchmark Trailhead (but staying in Augusta)
Daily Kilometres: 30.4
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 3909.0
Weather: Cold early, then mostly sunny and warm.
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts/Muesli
Lunch: Snacks/Trail mix
Dinner: Bacon cheeseburger & fries, icecream
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: Getting picked up near the Benchmark Trailhead by three lady hikers and two dogs in two packed vehicles, who went out of their way to squeeze us and our packs into their vehicles, and then drove us the 50km over a very rough road to Augusta and our motel.
Lowlight: Nothing in particular.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
It rained overnight, and our tent was a bit damp, but the sky was clear when our unwelcome alarm went off at 3am. We packed up as quickly as we could, including wiping down the tent, and were on our way soon after 4am with our goal, the Straight Creek/Benchmark Trailhead, 26km away.
After initially messing around for a few minutes trying to find the trail where it crossed a creek, we made good progress along the reasonable trail. It was dark for the first 2.5 hours, but we could sense the creek below and the rocky mountains on either side.
We didn't stop for our breakfast break until around 8:30am when we reached a trail junction where we were to leave the CDT and head towards the trailhead.
After breakfast, we followed a good trail that was somewhat marred by horse use, and.made even better time, reaching the trailhead around 11:45am. From there we walked another 3km down the road towards Augusta, seeking the best place to hitchhike which would capture any traffic from campgrounds and a guest ranch.
We prepared for a long stay by the roadside and only saw one vehicle, going the wrong way, in the first two hours. However, around 2pm, two vehicles going out way came along and, after some discussion, the drivers worked out that they could fit us in, one of us in each vehicle (see above). Julie went in the car, and Dave travelled sitting on a bed in the back of the camper.
We were delivered to our motel a little under an hour later, and checked in. Two other CDT hikers are already staying here and we later had a good chat. They will be leaving tomorrow, but we are having two days off.
We are here a day earlier than intended when we left Helena, but have already made arrangements - flights, rental car, meeting friend, Rob, in Glacier National Park,.finishing our hike on September 30th - that we do not want to change. And Dave won't complain about an extra day off.
Later, we had dinner at a nearby bar in this very small and friendly Western town, then went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment