Day 110 - Continental Divide Trail - Coyote Creek to Elk Mountain

Day: 110

Date: Saturday, 24 August 2024

Start:  Coyote Creek 

Finish:  Elk Mountain 

Daily Kilometres:  34.7

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

Total Kilometres:  3210.0

Weather:  Very cold morning then cold and overcast all day with a strong wind in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rice & tuna/Rice

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

Highlight:  All afternoon, as we hiked along the top of the Continental Divide on a broad grassy ridge averaging an altitude of 9000’ and following the Idaho-Montana border, we had superb, if a little hazy, views in all directions of layered mountain ranges receding into the distance.

Lowlight:  From mid-afternoon, a strong and very cold wind sprang up which made hiking along the very exposed ridge (see above) quite unpleasant.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking by 6:45am on a very cold morning but were treated to a beautiful sunrise as we followed the single-track trail across a talus field and down to the upper slopes of the broad grassy valley below.

Before long we joined a 4WD track and then followed various 4WD tracks until late afternoon.  In the morning, we stayed mostly in a grassy valley, passing through occasional pockets of pine forest, but all the while gradually climbing towards a distant pass.

We reached there around noon and then followed the ridge of the Continental Divide northwards.  It was very exposed and a bit of a rollercoaster, but had great views all the way.  At first it was very peaceful under grey skies but, as the afternoon wore on, the wind became much stronger and that took the edge off our enjoyment.

Fortunately, around 5pm, when we had both had enough of the freezing wind, we left the exposed 4WD track to follow a single-track trail through some forest climbing steadily up the side of a long ravine which was mostly protected from the wind.

Around 6:30pm, we found a somewhat protected tent site in a small copse of pine trees on a ridge at 9500’ and set up camp.  Although the sun made a belated appearance, it was cold while we ate dinner and we anticipate a very cold night.

The only people we saw all day were a couple in an ATV who passed us along the ridge and asked if we needed anything (we didn't).  We did see a herd of deer earlier in the day, but much other animal life.

Day 109 - Continental Divide Trail - Divide Creek to Coyote Creek

Day: 109

Date: Friday, 23 August 2024

Start:  Divide Creek

Finish:  Coyote Creek

Daily Kilometres:  32.6

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

Total Kilometres:  3175.3

Weather:  Cold early then a mild mostly sunny morning.  Storms, cold winds and hail in the afternoon. Partly cloudy in the evening.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals.

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

Highlight:  For the last part of the afternoon we hiked along a broad treeless ridge at around 10000’ with superb mountain views in every direction.  It was very windy and cold but, had we been a few hours earlier, we would have been caught in dangerous thunderstorms (see below).

Lowlight:  A cold front came through in the early afternoon bringing with it a significant drop in the temperature, strong cold winds, thunder, lightning and hail which turned the ground white and pummelled us mercilessly.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

There had been quite a lot of rain overnight and a little bit of water had got into the tent, maybe because our Tyvek groundsheet was protruding a little.  Nothing too serious.

Dave was slow to get going for some reason and it was 6:50am before we started hiking.  Initially, we had some nice pine forest walking and descended to picturesque and crystal clear Deadman Lake.  From there we followed a 4WD track steeply upwards then across open grazing land, with some cattle visible in the distance.  We passed quite close to a couple of RVs camping near Nicholia Creek and some cabins but didn't see anyone apart from one southbound CDT thru-hiker.  

The only other person we saw all day was another southbound CDT hiker when we stopped for lunch a few hours later once we had climbed back up into the mountains and forest.  This was shortly after the first thunderstorms of the cold front had moved through (see above) and just before the second batch of storms arrived, which saw us sheltering under some trees from the worst of the hail.

After the storm we climbed steadily up to a pass at 9400’ then, after some lovely pine forest walking, we climbed to another pass then followed a broad treeless and very exposed ridge for several kilometres (see above).  The views were incredible, but we were so glad we hadn't been up there when the earlier storms had rolled through.  Much of the ridge walking was cross-country without much of a discernible trail to follow and our navigation was done by trying to spot marker posts, sometimes more than 400m apart, or using our navigation app.  It was slow going on the tussocky grass and we didn't cover as much ground today as hoped.

Around 6:45pm the trail descended below the treeline and we got some water at the first stream we had seen for a while and found a nice tent site squeezed between some pine trees where we camped around 7:15pm at 9000’.  It is cold and we'll both be wearing our puffer jackets to bed along with other layers.

Day 108 - Continental Divide Trail - Sawmill Creek to Divide Creek

Day: 108

Date: Thursday, 22 August 2024

Start:  Sawmill Creek

Finish:  Divide Creek

Daily Kilometres:  35.0

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

Total Kilometres:  3142.6

Weather:  Very cold early then mild and mostly sunny with a strong wind in the afternoon

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:  A strong crosswind in the afternoon made hiking unpleasant.  At times, with our packs acting as sails, it was hard to stay on the trail.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Around 1am we were woken by a wolf (but maybe a coyote), not too far away, howling loudly at the moon.  It was answered by another further away.

No sign of the wolf when we woke at 5:30am on a cold clear morning and we were hiking by soon after 6:30am.  We were climbing straight away, but the grades were not as steep as yesterday and we made reasonable progress.  For most of the morning, the trail alternated between crossing open grassland and passing through dark pine forests.  It seemed that, with the open grassland came fantastic views and difficult uneven trail while, in the forest, the trail was good but there were no views.  You can't have everything.

Once again, for much of the day, we were following the Idaho-Montana border with superb views in all directions of mostly treeless mountains when we weren't in the pockets of forest.

After lunch, except for a very rough first few kilometres almost cross-country through the grass and sagebrush, we followed a 4WD track which made for faster progress.  It followed a grassy ridge where we were exposed to an increasingly strong crosswind as we slowly descended to Bannack Pass, where we stopped for dinner, before climbing steadily and sometimes steeply into the mountains on the other side of the pass.

Around 7:30pm, in an open grassy saddle, we found a tent site and set up camp.  We are quite exposed, so are hoping none of the forecast possible thunderstorms eventuates overnight.

We didn't see any other people today, just some cattle and three deer.

Day 107 - Continental Divide Trail - Horse Creek Trailhead to Sawmill Creek

Day: 107

Date: Wednesday, 21 August 2024

Start:  Horse Creek Trailhead (but staying at Dillon MT)

Finish:  Sawmill Creek

Daily Kilometres:  26.3

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

Total Kilometres:  3107.6

Weather:  Mild and mostly sunny in the morning, overcast with a few sprinkles of rain in the afternoon and then partly cloudy in the evening.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bacon, egg & cheese McGriddles & hash browns.

  Lunch:  Turkey & bacon wraps

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals.

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

Highlight:  Endless views in all directions for most of the day.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a gentle start to the day, leaving the motel at 7am and, after picking up some breakfast at the nearby McDonalds, Mathieu and Christine drove us back to the trailhead from Dillon, a journey of about 75 minutes.  On the last part of the drive, we saw three southbound CDT thru-hikers, the only hikers we saw for the day.

After saying our farewells to our French Canadian friends, who had gone to such lengths to meet us on the trail, we began the not-so-gentle part of the day.  From the trailhead we climbed steeply upwards and the rest of the day, at least until late afternoon, was a rollercoaster.  The trail followed the grassy ridge which marked the Idaho-Montana border and it went up and down relentlessly and often very steeply.  But, the views were superb, although we didn't always enjoy being able to see, far ahead, the faint outline of the trail as it climbed over yet another knoll.

There were pockets of pine forest in some of the valleys below, but we stayed well above the treeline.  The trail was unmaintained, narrow and uneven underfoot making for difficult hiking.  In places it was hard to follow though there were CDT markers every so often to give us some assurance we were going the right way.

In late afternoon, we made a long descent and stopped at a creek for dinner.  From there, we stayed relatively low and the trail took us through some forest and grazing land populated with herds of cattle.

Around 7:50pm, on the crest of a low ridge, we found a place to erect our tent and called it a day.  Although we finished at roughly the same elevation we started, 7500’, we climbed and descended 4000’ to get here.

Day 106 - Continental Divide Trail - Dillon

Day: 106

Date: Tuesday, 20 August 2024

Start:  Horse Creek Trailhead (but staying at Dillon MT)

Finish:  Horse Creek Trailhead (but staying at Dillon MT)

Daily Kilometres:  0.0

GPX Track:  Click here and here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her run and tour today.

Total Kilometres:  3081.3

Weather:  Warm and mostly sunny with a severe thunderstorm in the early afternoon.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  American breakfast

  Lunch:  Chicken & fried rice/Turkey & bacon roll.

  Dinner:  Nachos/Pulled pork sandwich & fries, peach pie & ice-cream.

Aches:  Nothing reported.

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: No pictures today.

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

A lazy start to the day for Dave, and not so lazy for Julie, who went for a run around Dillon with Christine.

The four of us had a late breakfast at an American diner up the road before Mathieu and Christine drove us around town to various shops to do our usual resupply.  Dillon seems to be a busy rural college town with civic pride and well-kept properties.

Then, while Dave stayed at the hotel.doing some planning, admin and relaxing with the TV on in the background, Julie joined Mathieu and Christine on a visit to the ghost town of Bannack, once the capital of Montana.

Later, after a very pleasant dinner in downtown Dillon, near the college/university, we returned to the motel to pack ready to return to the trail tomorrow for the next five-day leg which we have heard is tough.

Day 105 - Continental Divide Trail - Boatman Springs Road to Horse Creek Trailhead

Day: 105

Date: Monday, 19 August 2024

Start:  Boatman Springs Road

Finish:  Horse Creek Trailhead (but staying at Dillon MT)

Daily Kilometres:  19.3

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

Total Kilometres:  3081.3

Weather:  Cool early then warm and sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Bacon cheeseburger & fries

  Dinner:  Chimichanga, rice & beans/Nachos, peach pie & ice-cream.

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

Highlight:  Catching up with Appalachian Trail friends from last year, Mathieu and Christine, who made a huge journey to meet us on the trail as the first part of their summer roadtrip through the western states of the US.  Their flights from their home in Quebec were massively delayed and then, after arriving in Edmonton after midnight, they picked up their rental vehicle and drove over 1200km through the night to reach us in the early afternoon as originally planned.  It was wonderful to see them again and we are very appreciative of the effort they made to get here to see their AT “spiritual trail parents”.

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5am after a sometimes very windy night, knowing we had about 20km of road walking to reach the trailhead where we had arranged a pickup from a local CDT volunteer at noon.

The first kilometres were gradually downhill on the dirt road through sagebrush country on a perfectly still early morning with the sun slowly illuminating the bare mountains on the other side of the valley.  A peaceful and beautiful scene.

At the base of the descent, we crossed the valley, through sheep and cattle grazing country, and a rail line and the I-15, a remarkably quiet interstate freeway.

After road walking on a gravel forestry road alongside the freeway for a few kilometres, we followed the road gradually uphill into the bare mountains on the other side of the valley, reaching our goal trailhead soon after 11am.  There, we waited for our rescheduled, to 11:30am, shuttle to the tiny town of Lima.

By 12:30pm, with no vehicle appearing, we feared the volunteer had misunderstood where she was to pick us up, despite being sent, and acknowledging, a specific Google location.  Using a flakey AT&T connection on Julie's phone, we contacted our friends, Mathieu and Christine (see above), who were on their way to meet us in Lima, and they offered to pick us up around 2pm.  We were very remote and there was no traffic along the forest road, so were lucky to have a Plan B.

In the event, the shuttle driver turned up around 12:45pm, directed by the only other hiker we had seen that day, a southbound CDT thru-hiker, who knew we were waiting and also wanted to go to Lima.

We reached Lima around 1:15pm, in time to get our mailed replacement boots/shoes from the Post Office which closed at 2:30pm.  Mathieu and Christine arrived 30 minutes later and we ate our lunch and caught up on our respective activities in the shade of a pavilion in a small park.

They then drove us to our booked motel in Dillon, a larger town 80km away.  After showers and a short relax we all had an early dinner at a local Mexican restaurant followed by an early night.

Day 104 - Continental Divide Trail - Kay Creek to Boatman Springs Road

Day: 104

Date: Sunday, 18 August 2024

Start:  Kay Creek

Finish:  Boatman Springs Road

Daily Kilometres:  34.8

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

Total Kilometres:  3062.0

Weather:  Cool early then mild, sunny and breezy.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Snacks & trail mix

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:

We were again late getting away, this time because we were trying to sort out some arrangements for our next resupply stop while we had some phone reception.  It was 7am by the time we started hiking on a cool sunny morning.

Initially, we descended from the saddle where we had camped through some forest burn areas then we had a day of some big ascents and descents, over 4000’ of each overall and some of them were steep with what we are calling ball-bearing slopes where small ball-bearing size rocks make the going treacherous.  Dave sat down hard several times.  For much of the day we were following the Idaho-Montana state border which seems to follow the crest of the Continental Divide.

At the top of the ascents, generally at around 8500’-9000’, we had some lovely high ridge walking through pastures and sagebrush with frequent magnificent views into Idaho and Montana.  The descents generally took us down through shady pine forests to saddles before another steep climb.

The steep bits took a toll on our average speed (and Dave's body) which was slower today, despite walking a forest road for the last 5km.  Water sources were scarce and we didn't reach a stream to get water for dinner until 7:30pm and then find somewhere to camp until 7:45pm.  To save time, and because we are going to be eating in town tomorrow, we decided to just have some snacks for dinner and a wet-wipes wash in the tent.

We only saw three other people today, two southbound CDT thru-hikers and a rancher in his pickup just before we camped for the night.