CDT Montana 2016
Day 1, July 6, Wednesday
Start Mack’s Inn on Mack’s Inn alternative route, waypoint MI-152RR.
Stop near 03-075WT where Mack’s Inn route merges back with main CDT route, just inside Montana border
Miles 7.5 + 5.4 + 5 = 17.9
The bus let me off at Mack’s Inn around 8:30AM, where I finished the trail last year.
After a convenience store visit, I begin walking up a graveled forest road.
The road leads up to Sawtell Peak, a couple hundred feet shy of a 10K peak. Many ATV, 4wd, dirt bikes, and a few regular cars pass by.
The sky threatens rain. If this were Colorado, we would have thunderstorms with these clouds.
Just before the peak we divert onto a trail, and then do some cross-country route-finding.
Rain showers start and stop again all the rest of the day, maybe fifty times.
The route follows a creek for miles, with no visible path. You must constantly switch to the other side when your side gets too steep to follow. With the showers and summer growth, one must give up and do wet foot crossings.
Finally leaving the stream, wildflowers are in their glory.
I stop where the Mack’s Inn alternate route joins back up with the regular CDT. Hope to find visible foot path tomorrow, just over the border into Montana.