Day 094 - Continental Divide Trail - Brooks Lake Road to County Line Creek

Day: 094

Date: Thursday, 08 August 2024

Start:  Brooks Lake Road (but staying in Dubois WY)

Finish:  County Line Creek

Daily Kilometres:  30.3

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

Total Kilometres:  2735.6

Weather:  Gloomy overcast and cold morning; mild and partly sunny in the afternoon

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Microwaved breakfast burritos

  Lunch:  Italian subs 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals.

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

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  Hitchhiking out of town took about an hour and a quarter, longer than hoped, despite quite a lot of vehicles passing by.  The weather was cold with low cloud and a biting wind as we waited for someone to finally stop - a chatty retired couple who had already picked up another CDT hiker and were on their way to Jackson Hole to do some kayaking (kayaks on the roof), weather permitting.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6am, wishing we could sleep in but knowing that we had to get about 30km along the trail today in order to reach our booked campsites in the Yellowstone National Park backcountry as per our permit.  This meant hitchhiking back to the trail as quickly as possible so we could start hiking.

After checking out of the motel at 7:30am, we walked to the edge of Dubois with our thumbs out to passing vehicles, then found ourselves a spot where oncoming vehicles had a good view of us.  There was moderate traffic, but it seemed a long time in cold weather before we got a lift (see above).

We were dropped off at Brooks Lake Road where we had stopped hiking on Tuesday and our first 8km was a road walk along that gravel road to Brooks Lake where we had our morning break in a National Forests campground.  The morning was still very gloomy and cold with low cloud, making for a bleak scene.

However, after our break, when we reconnected with the official CDT, the weather began to improve.  The trail was nice single-track, though with plenty of evidence of horse traffic (and we did see some riders and packhorses), along a valley giving glimpses of some overlooking rocky bluffs as the cloud cleared.  We were now in an area with reportedly high grizzly bear activity and we kept our eyes open as well as practicing our “quick draw” technique with our bear spray canisters.

For the rest of the day the trail was generally good, with only one significant climb, as we passed through valley meadows and pine forest.  There were occasional good views to the nearby mountains and bluffs.  Along the way we encountered about eight southbound CDT thru-hikers, generally travelling solo, and sometimes keen for a chat.

After fording a wide creek around 6pm, we cooked our dinner on the shore before hiking another 3km and finding a tent site by the trail at 8pm.

Day 093 - Continental Divide Trail - Dubois WY

Day: 093

Date: Wednesday, 07 August 2024

Start:  Brooks Lake Road (but staying in Dubois WY)

Finish:  Brooks Lake Road (but staying in Dubois WY)

Daily Kilometres:  0.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her run this morning.

Total Kilometres:  2705.3

Weather:  Warm and sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  American breakfast 

  Lunch:  Meat & salad bagel/Pulled pork salad.

  Dinner:  Elk sausage, macaroni cheese & salad, ice-cream.

Aches:  Nothing reported.

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Typical day off for us.  Julie went for a short run early and we then walked to a cafe for breakfast, followed by shopping and a trip to the Post Office to pick a parcel for Dave containing shoulder pads for his pack to hopefully ease the chafing on his shoulders, and new gaiters.  Not surprisingly, we are wearing things out, and have also ordered new shoes and boots for pickup in about ten days time.

Dubois is quite a small western-style town with wooden sidewalks and lots of cowboy-related stores and signage.  Seems to also have plenty of holiday accommodation and bars.

We managed to sort out our campsites and permit for Yellowstone National Park this morning with a schedule that will give us time to look around as we pass through.

The afternoon was spent doing the usual chores, planning and admin, with the Olympics on TV in the background.

Looks like we will be hitchhiking back to the trail tomorrow morning, which always adds a bit of uncertainty to our day.

Day 092 - Continental Divide Trail - Union Pass Road to Brooks Lake Road

Day: 092

Date: Tuesday, 06 August 2024

Start:  Union Pass Road

Finish:  Brooks Lake Road (but staying in Dubois, WY)

Daily Kilometres:  37.1

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

Total Kilometres:  2705.3

Weather:  Cool early then warm and mostly sunny with a couple of thunderstorms in the late afternoon.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Bacon cheeseburgers & fries, ice-cream

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

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  With just 2km to go in our day, a thunderstorm rolled through dropping the temperature with gusty winds and rain.  Just what we wanted when we were soon to start hitchhiking.  (However, it had cleared by the time we did start hitchhiking.)

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We got away at 6am with a dry tent despite some rain periods overnight.  We had 35km+ of road walking in front of us to reach Brooks Lake Road from where we planned to hitch-hike back to Dubois where we had a motel booked for two nights.

Our first 15km was to continue along the dirt Union Pass Road through forest and then past guest ranches and holiday cabins before descending steeply to Hwy 26.  During the descent a car pulled up and the driver told us he had just seen a black bear on the road not far behind us.  We.must have just missed it.

At the busy Hwy 26, which we reached around 9:30am, we could have hitchhiked south to Dubois for an early finish to the day, but the wildfire detour we were taking required us, at some point, to go north on Hwy 26 for 20km.  If we didn't do it today, then we would have to do it on Thursday when we left Dubois (with full packs).  We did it today.

Although we were climbing much of the way, and the road was very exposed, we made good time.  We were following the meandering Wind River upstream through treeless hilly open range country, backed by mountains, with occasional guest ranches and holiday cabins.  Ahead were the precipitous rock walls of North Breccia Cliffs and Pinnacle Buttes.

We reached our goal, Brooks Lake Road, around 4:40pm, having endured a brief thunderstorm half an hour earlier (see above).  We then began hitchhiking back towards Dubois and got a lift after about twenty minutes with three seasonal workers, two of them native American Indians from Arizona and had a good chat as we retraced our steps for the day.  It brought home how far we had walked.

In the busy small town of Dubois, after buying some drinks at the supermarket where we were dropped off, we walked half a mile and checked into our over-priced motel around 6pm (but it is the height of the summer season and the annual Dubois rodeo is on this coming weekend).

Soon after, Julie went to a nearby cafe and bought some welcome takeout for dinner after a long day.

Looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

Day 091 - Continental Divide Trail - Green River Lake Campground to Union Pass Road

Day: 091

Date: Monday, 05 August 2024

Start:  Green River Lake Campground

Finish:  Union Pass Road

Daily Kilometres:  38.1

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

Total Kilometres:  2668.2

Weather:  Cold early then mostly warm and sunny, with a couple of wintry squalls late in the day.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

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

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  Just as we were preparing dinner a cold squall with rain and strong winds came through, making things very unpleasant.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

After some messing around, we didn't start hiking until 6:30am on another very cold morning.  There was fog hanging over the Green River as we followed the CDT steadily away from the river and up over 2000’ over 12 kilometres to Gunsight Pass (10135’) through mostly open country.  The jagged peaks of the Wind River Range were visible in the distance behind us, but the countryside had changed to more rounded hills and open grazing land bordered by pine forests.

After the Pass, we descended a little through the open range and then across sagebrush and grassland at around 9000’ on easy trail.  During our lunch break a SOBO (southbound) CDT hiker, a young civil engineer from San Francisco and the first person we had seen all day, stopped to join us and we had a good chat, picking each other's brains about what lies ahead.  He confirmed that the CDT was closed ahead because of a wildfire, as we expected, and offered some advice about the best way to get around it, including a short-cut we didn't know about.

We continued across the open range after lunch, reaching Union Pass Road, the point at which the CDT was closed, around 4pm.  There was some wildfire smoke visible ahead and Dave later heard on the radio that the fire had grown significantly and burned across the CDT trail, meaning it will be closed for some time.

We turned north along the road and walked another 10km, stopping to cook dinner along the way on a squally evening.  The fire detour and the recommended short-cut, plus some time we have gained since Pinedale, means that we will get to Dubois, our next town, tomorrow night, a day earlier than expected, so once we camped in the woods beside the road, Dave logged onto the internet and changed our bookings.

Day 090 - Continental Divide Trail - Upper Jean Lake to Green River Lake Campground

Day: 090

Date: Sunday, 04 August 2024

Start:  Upper Jean Lake

Finish:  Green River Lake Campground

Daily Kilometres:  33.7

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

Total Kilometres:  2630.1

Weather:  Mild overcast morning, then warm and partly sunny with a few showers in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks

  Dinner:  Brisket, corn & salad

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

Highlight:  At the end of our day we reached the Green River Lake Campground where we were planning to find a tent site and stay the night.  While orienting ourselves we walked past a cabin, apparently owned by National Forests, and two of the occupants came out and asked if they could be of assistance.  To cut a long story short, they provided water and took our trash, suggested we camp on the hill behind the cabin, which they were renting for the week with friends, and invited us back to share dinner with them in the cabin once we had set up camp.  We had a lovely evening enjoying an excellent meal and chatting with them.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

After a mild night, disturbed only by what we think may have been a coyote howling, and the smell of smoke, which we think was probably from a wildfire up ahead, we reluctantly dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am and were hiking by soon after 6am.

After a short distance, we had to choose between the Shannon Pass Alternate and staying on the CDT.  The Alternate was shorter but involved more climbing and some boulder scrambling.  We took the Alternate and climbed over the pass (11600’) before descending through bare rocky terrain and across taxing boulder fields, surrounded by towering steep rocky mountains.  It was awesome scenery and made up for the slow difficult hiking.  It took us just over three hours to cover the eight kilometres before we rejoined the CDT.

Most of the rest of our day was spent following the aptly-named Green River, translucent green because of the glacial sediment it carried, downstream throughout lovely pine forest.  The river alternated between rushing roaring rapids and a slow meander across grassy meadows as we followed the relatively good trail.  One either side towered, cathedral-like, massive steep grey rocky peaks.  It was never-ending awe-inspiring scenery and many photos were taken, none of which will do the scenery justice.

In one meadow, we encountered a mother moose and her calf grazing, unfazed, on the riverside vegetation.

After skirting the scenic Green River Lakes, we reached our target campground at about 5:45pm, where we met a group of friends who had rented a cabin and insisted we join them for dinner after we had set up camp (see above).  It was a lovely surprise ending to an excellent day.

Day 089 - Continental Divide Trail - Elkhart Park to Upper Jean Lake

Day: 089

Date: Saturday, 03 August 2024

Start: Elkhart Park (but staying in Pinedale)

Finish: Upper Jean Lake

Daily Kilometres: 28.3

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

Total Kilometres: 2596.4

Weather: Warm and sunny.

Accommodation: Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Microwaved breakfast burritos

  Lunch: Cheese & meat rolls

  Dinner: Rehydrated meals

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

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Irish, our volunteer shuttle driver, a retired local resident who hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2022, picked us up at exactly 8am as promised.  We had a good chat with her as she drove us back to the Elkhart Park trailhead.  The trailhead carpark was packed with scores of cars with license plates from many states.

We began hiking at 8:45am, retracing our inbound steps from Thursday for the first 9km before taking the Seneca Lake Trail another 7km back to the CDT.  It was busy, with overnight hikers setting out and others returning.  We even met a few people we saw on Thursday who wondered what we were doing heading out.  When we explained, they often seem a little over-awed, and perhaps a little envious.

The day was warm and sunny and the scenery superb again - rugged rocky mountains backing reflective lakes.  The trail was generally very rocky and technical and it was often slow going, especially on the little rocky passes that separated the seemingly endless lakes.

Once we reached the CDT and turned northwards, there were far fewer hikers and, for the last few hours of our hiking day, we didn't see any.

We cooked dinner by a lovely lake around 5pm and then endured mosquitoes for our last few kilometres of the day.  Around 7:30pm, we found a spot to put up the tent near the trail near the top of a low pass with some patches of snow visible nearby.  We are quite high again, at just over 11000'. 

Day 088 - Continental Divide Trail - Pinedale

Day: 088

Date: Friday, 02 August 2024

Start:  Elkhart Park (but staying in Pinedale)

Finish:  Elkhart Park (but staying in Pinedale)

Daily Kilometres:  0.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her runs this morning.

Total Kilometres:  2568.1

Weather:  Warm and sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Omelette/Scramble & fries, toast & jam

  Lunch:  Cheese & meat rolls

  Dinner:  Enchiladas, rice & beans, icecream.

Aches:  Nothing reported

Highlight:  We managed to watch some of the Olympics on TV, including the exciting Men's 10000m final.

Lowlight:  Trying to book accommodation in Yellowstone National Park at the height of the season.  Having booked a cabin online at Old Faithful (very scarce), Dave booked backcountry campsites (also scarce) that fitted with that schedule.  Later, he received an email saying he couldn't have the cabin he had booked and offering an alternate at three times the already expensive price.  We have cancelled the Old Faithful booking and will have to try and rebook the backcountry campsites from our next town, Dubois, since it is too late to do it today and we are back on the trail early tomorrow.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

A lazy start to the day for Dave while Julie went for a run in the local area and actually saw a moose!

After breakfast at a nearby cafe we did our shopping.  Pinedale seems like a nice little town oriented towards outdoor activities in the nearby mountains.  Lots of accommodation and cafes and bars, relatively compact, which is good for hikers like us, well-cared-for, and with a Western flavour.  At the Visitor Center, there is actually a room set aside for CDT hikers to hang out, with goodies, coffee, a PC and charging ports.

The afternoon was spent on planning and laundry, followed by a sub-par dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant which was disappointing.

Part of our planning revolved around working out our options to get around a new wildfire that has reportedly closed the CDT a couple of days ahead of us.  Another part was making campsite and cabin bookings in Yellowstone National Park, where we will be in ten days time.  We thought we had it done, but will have to start again when we reach our next resupply town, Dubois, in five days time (see above).