Day 133 - Continental Divide Trail - Dearborn River to Straight Creek/Benchmark Trailhead

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.

Day 132 - Continental Divide Trail - East Fork Falls Creek to Dearborn River

Day: 132

Date: Sunday, 15 September 2024

Start:  East Fork Falls Creek

Finish:  Dearborn River

Daily Kilometres:  41.8

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

Total Kilometres:  3878.6

Weather:  Cold early, then mild and partly sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

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

Highlight:  As dawn was breaking, we were hiking along a high ridge with layers of mountain ranges silhouetted against the faint orange sky.  Spectacular!

Lowlight:  Our booked shuttle driver to Augusta tomorrow cancelled (see below).

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Knowing that we needed to cover a lot of kilometres today in rugged country, we woke at 4am and were hiking by 5am on a cold morning.  Currently, the sun is rising around 7am, so we were hiking by headlamp for the first hour and a half.  The wind of yesterday was gone, and it was both peaceful and spectacular as we hiked along the high ridge at around 8000’ as the sun rose (see above).

It turned out to be a day or two halves, with the first half mostly above the treeline with great views and some solid climbing.  The second half, which started with a long descent of nearly 2000’ to the Dearborn River, was through forest where the undergrowth and some deciduous trees were starting to look very autumnal in shades of yellow, orange and red.

Once we crossed the river, we followed it upstream, mostly along trail high above the river, for the remainder of the day.  The mountains rising from the river on both sides were rocky and spectacular.

We began looking for somewhere to camp around 8pm, and found a spot about 8:15pm, by which time it was quite dark.  This will be our life for the next two weeks, starting and finishing in the dark.

During the day, when we briefly had internet reception, we confirmed our pickup time tomorrow with the shuttle driver (third one we tried) only to be told she was now unavailable.  We were not happy, as the trailhead from which we access our resupply town of Augusta (50km from the trail), is at the end of a dead-end forestry road with no through traffic.  The chances of getting a lift on a Monday, after the summer vacation has finished, did not seem good.  We had heard of one couple who had taken 16 hours to get a ride.

With this in mind, we decided that the earlier we could get to the trailhead tomorrow, the better. So, despite our early start and long day today, we decided to get up at 3am in the hope of hiking the remaining 26km to the trailhead tomorrow by around noon, giving us the afternoon to hitch-hike into Augusta..

Day 131 - Canyon Creek to East Fork Falls Creek

Day: 131

Date: Saturday, 14 September 2024

Start:  Canyon Creek

Finish:  East Fork Falls Creek

Daily Kilometres:  35.5

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

Total Kilometres:  3836.8

Weather:  Cold all day with a strong wind and partly sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli 

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

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

Highlight:  About when we wanted to have a lunch break, after labouring in the very cold wind all morning (see below), we reached a yurt (hut) that was open for hikers and provided excellent shelter, complete with chairs and a table.  Ideal for lunch.  It was set up with stretchers, solar power, a gas stove and fire, so would have been good for camping.

Lowlight:  The wind today was relentless, strong and cold from about an hour after we started hiking until the evening.  Since, for much of the day, we were on treeless ridges and mountains, we were very exposed.  The constant roar in our ears and buffeting as it caught our packs and clothing was very tedious.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5:30am to find out tent very wet with condensation from a cold damp night.  The surrounding vegetation was covered in frost.  Maybe for that reason, we were slower to get going and didn't start hiking until 6:45am under cloudy skies.  Before long a cold strong wind arrived and stayed with us for most of the day.  We were wearing many layers to keep warm.

Last evening we had worked out that, because our roadwalk yesterday to get around the CDT wildfire closure had shaved some distance from the kilometres to our next resupply at Augusta, we might actually be able to get there in three more days rather than the planned four.  It would mean three long days, but would give us two days off in Augusta instead of one.

At our breakfast break, where we had internet reception, Dave lined up the extra night in the motel (got the last room), and arranged a shuttle pickup from the remote Benchmark trailhead.  It's a long story but finding a shuttle driver was not easy and the latest they can pick us up on Monday is 5pm.  This means that Monday will have to be a shorter hiking day and, therefore, today and Sunday would have to be big days.

This seemed like a good plan at the time but, as the day passed with us being buffeted by the wind (see above) and the ascents becoming more challenging, we began to second-guess our decision.

Despite the wind and climbs, it was actually a great day scenery-wise.  The smoke haze was gone and we were above the treeline most of the time following the spine of the Continental Divide, giving us superb views of mountain ranges and valleys and far distant plains.  We could see far behind from whence we had come and far ahead to where we were going.

However, the steep ascents and descents, more than +/- 5000’ in total, kept our (Dave's) pace slow and we didn't get as far as we would have liked.

Around 8pm, as it got dark, we found a partly protected sloping tent site in a saddle and set up camp.  Looks like being an early start tomorrow if we are to do the necessary kilometres to meet our shuttle on Monday.

Day 130 - Continental Divide Trail - Marysville to Canyon Creek

Day: 130

Date: Friday, 13 September 2024

Start: Marysville 

Finish:  Canyon Creek

Daily Kilometres:  41.0

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

Total Kilometres:  3801.3

Weather:  Cold and overcast most of the day with a strong cold wind.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Microwaved fruit pies & pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

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

Highlight:  Nothing in particular.

Lowlight:  In the early afternoon, one of several dogs on a farm that came out to bark at us, jumped the fence, struck up an instant rapport with Julie, and followed us for the next 10km of our road walk.  No amount of threats and yelling would make it turn back and it had several close calls with passing cars.  Eventually, a driver who must live locally, stopped and got the dog into his car.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We delayed getting up until 6am and started hiking at 7am, with the intention of arriving at a country store we could see on Google, close to our planned route, at 9am when it opened.  We didn't know what food would be available there, but figured they would have something different to our usual on-trail fare.

The two-hour walk to the store was quite pleasant, following a traffic-free dirt road mostly downhill through attractive partly-forested grazing land.  Towards the end of this walk we reached the valley floor where there were farms and also a compound with multiple small dwellings and RVs and various flags flying, including the Confederate flag.

The store turned out to be very small, so we bought a few things then sat on the rocking chair on their porch while we had our breakfast.  It was a very cold morning with a cold wind blowing, but at least the porch offered a little protection.  The store also had a trash can and pit toilet, both bonuses for thru-hikers.

From the store, we had a 26km road walk along Hwy 279 up to Flesher Pass (6150’).  The road initially passed through farmland, irrigated by huge sprinkler systems, then climbed through a picturesque ravine carved by Canyon Creek before reaching a narrow valley with more farms and cabins.  After a lunch stop we passed a farm where there were dogs and one of them decided to join us on our hike for 10km (see above).

Eventually, we reached Flesher Pass around 4:30pm where we rejoined the official CDT, north of the wildfire closure, which we had skirted.

It was nice to get back onto single-track trail, even if it did climb steeply away from the pass.  Our last 5km for the day was quite hilly with good views, enhanced by the emergence of the setting sun, illuminating the clouds, and a bright moon rising on the east.

Around 7:50pm, we found a protected tent site on a cold windy ridge and set up camp.  It was good to get in our cosy tent and sleeping bags.

Day 129 - Continental Divide Trail - Hwy 12 to Marysville

Day: 129

Date: Thursday, 12 September 2024

Start:  Hwy 12 (but staying in Helena MT)

Finish:  Marysville

Daily Kilometres:  35.4

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

Total Kilometres:  3760.3

Weather:  Steady rain early then mostly overcast and cold, but very cold when exposed to the wind.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Microwaved breakfast plate

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & salad wraps

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

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

Highlight:  Around 6:30pm, we had passed by the pub in the tiny hamlet of Marysville, when were called back by a local who insisted he buy us a drink.  We accepted the offer and spent a very convivial 45 minutes in the small bar chatting with drink-buyer and his wife along with a few other patrons at the bar.

Lowlight:  When exposed to the wind today, which was often, it was very cold.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

The cold front that had brought the thunderstorm and heavy rain last evening also brought much lower temperatures and it was raining steadily when our Uber arrived at the motel soon after 8am.  It promised to be a miserable day for hiking, with more rain forecast but, by the time the driver dropped us back where we were to resume hiking, the rain has stopped.  It seemed miraculous and, in fact, it did not really rain again until we were halfway through setting up camp after 8pm.  We have been fortunate with the weather for this trip (so far!).

We were still following the alternate route we had been on before our day off in Helena, and our first couple of hours hiking today was following a little-used forest road back up to the CDT at Priest Pass (6000’), a climb of 1500’ which Dave found very taxing with a fully-loaded pack (5-6 days of food).

It was much colder at the Pass and for the next 16km as we followed the Continental Divide northwards.  Although there were small patches of pine forest here and there, we mostly hiked through very exposed grassland and the wind was bitterly cold.

After the 16km along the CDT, at around 5pm, we detoured off the trail to follow the route we had worked out to get around the next wildfire trail closure about 15km ahead.  Our detour took us down the east side of the mountain on forest roads and through the tiny hamlet of Marysville.

We knew there was a bar/restaurant there from Google, but hadn't planned to stop because it was pricey, according to Google.  Instead, we had stopped by the trail earlier and had our dinner.  However, as we passed by we were called in for a drink (see above) and realised it would have been a good place to stop in for dinner.  Next time!

By the time we left the bar, it was nearly 7:30pm and starting to get dark.  We walked for another 30 minutes up out of the valley and found ourselves a place to camp beside the forest road.  It began raining lightly while we set up camp.

Day 128 - Continental Divide Trail - Helena

Day: 128

Date: Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Start:  Hwy 12 (but staying in Helena MT

Finish:  Hwy 12 (but staying in Helena MT

Daily Kilometres:  0.0

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

Total Kilometres:  3724.9

Weather:  Cold early then mild and partly sunny with a thunderstorm and some heavy rain in the evening.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Huevos Rancheros, toast & jam/Breakfast burrito 

  Lunch: Mexicali subs

  Dinner:  Pizza, icecream

Aches:  Nothing reported

Highlight:  Nothing in particular 

Lowlight:  Nothing in particular 

Pictures: No pictures today

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Julie went for a run before breakfast which we had at a nearby cafe.  The morning was then devoted to shopping.  After Helena, we have two more resupply stops, both in very small towns - Augusta and East Glacier Park - before we reach the Canadian border and the finish of our hike in just under three weeks.  Given the small towns have very limited resupply options, we decided to mail ahead our food to post offices at both places.  This meant buying food for 15-17 days today and the nearest supermarket was 1.5km away while Walmart was 3km away.

We divided the shopping list and Julie went to Walmart while Dave went to the supermarket with both of us carrying large loads back to our motel.

In the afternoon, we sorted out all the food and mailed off two food packages from the post office which was conveniently next door to our motel (unlike the supermarkets!).

Helena seems a very pleasant small town and we did get to see a bit of it as we walked around.  A nice pedestrian mall in downtown and attractive wooden houses in the suburbs nearby.

We had other chores and planning to do today at this, our last major stop, so it turned out to be quite a busy day.  Some of the planning related to mapping a way around yet another wildfire trail closure about 80km ahead.  It looks like we will be doing some more road walking.

Other planning related to getting from the Canadian border back to Australia and we think we now have that sorted.

Poor Julie got caught in torrential rain and hail while running her last errand for the day (cancelling her phone plan).  Later we got takeout for dinner then packed for a moderately early departure back to the trail tomorrow morning.

Day 127 - Continental Divide Trail - Bison Blackfoot Trail Jct to Hwy 12

Day: 127

Date: Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Start:  Bison Blackfoot Trail Jct

Finish:  Hwy 12 (but staying in Helena)

Daily Kilometres:  44.3

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

Total Kilometres:  3724.9

Weather:  Very cold early, then warm with hazy sunshine.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Muesli

  Lunch:  Snacks/Trail mix

  Dinner:  Cheeseburgers & fries potatoes, icecream.

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

Highlight:  During the afternoon, our route took us through the historic mining village of Rimini.  There were many old wooden buildings and, as we passed by, a local working in his garden gave us a brief history of the area and town.  His own house dated back to 19th century.

Lowlight:  The last 10km today, which involved walking along a flat sealed road after many kilometres, and a very early start, seemed to go on forever, made worse by having prominent mile markers counting down our progress to the end.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We decided to get up at 4am to give us more time to hike the 40km+ to Highway 12, and our hitch to Helena, We were on the trail before 5am, hiking by headlamp through quiet pine forest until dawn at 6:30am.

At 7am, we had a decision to make.  We already knew the CDT was closed 15km ahead for the summer because of a prescribed burn and there was a suggested alternate which we planned to take.  However, we had learned during the last few days through our crowd-sourced navigation app that the alternate was no longer viable because the forest road was closed to all comers.  Instead, there were now a number of suggested alternates from hikers ahead of us, some ambiguous and others confusing.

We chose a suggested alternate that claimed to be easy to follow and shorter.  It turned out to be easier to follow, but was actually longer.  It started with a long forest road walk, during the first part of which the temperature dropped markedly.  It was freezing.  The road passed near some old mines that were being environmentally cleaned up and we were passed by some early morning dump trucks.  Later, we learned that the original alternate route road was closed for the same reason.

We tried to maintain a good pace through mostly pine forest, some of which had been logged, as the road climbed over the shoulder (8000’) of Old Baldy Mt.  Near the crest, we met a southbound CDT thru-hiker, the first we had seen for more than a week.  He was a nice guy and keen for a chat, but the encounter left us feeling sorry for him.  He was finding it hard, he was lonely, and he knew he was a long way behind most other southbound hikers and unlikely to catch them.

From the crest,.which we reached around 10am, the rest of our day was spent descending or on the flat.  Along the way we passed through the atmospheric old mining town of Rimini (see above), though there were now quite a few vacation cabins along the road as well.

Finally, soon after 5pm, we reached Hwy 12 and booked an Uber to come.and collect us and.take us to our booked motel in the centre of the large town of Helena, the capital of Montana, where we arrived around 6pm.  Julie quickly showered and went out to buy some takeout dinner and we ate while watching the Trump-Harris debate.  Perfect timing!