Not 500

CDT Montana 2016

Day 18, July 23, Saturday.

Start hitch from Sula to 12-165RX Chief Joseph Pass

Stop 14-020M, past Schultz Creek

Miles on trail: 20.0

Starting the day with a hearty breakfast at the grill in Sula Resort.

The staff had set out a hummingbird feeder outside the window for the enjoyment of patrons watching the little creatures.

The hitch took one and a half hours waiting by the road waving my sign. With Montana speed limits so high even on non-Interstate roads, it might be hard for drivers to stop. One car did drive past, then circle back and pick me up. A young botanist was returning from a bluegrass festival and doing some camping and hiking for the weekend. He is out here doing contract work for BLM, involving plant census, but he also spends plenty of time in the lab looking at distributions of chemicals within plants.

After Chief Joseph Pass, the trail goes along ski trails for some time.

A couple of miles in, someone had left trail magic in a cooler, fresh apples and oranges and drnks.

Much of the day was spent walking in a forest of dead trees mixed with new growth. Blow-downs were kept cut away from the trail, but I was warned that some parts of the trail would have a lot of trees to climb over.

One one sign someone had scratched a message that 500 miles remain to the Canada border.

A few days later I do research and discover we still have a good bit more than 500 miles to go!

The only water opportunity for ¨he day was at Schultz Creek, right on the trail and good water flow.

I walk a little beyond Schultz to make a a 20 mile day and run into many deadfalls on the path.

Only one southbounder went past today, Gnome God, headed for Sula.

 

Author: Jim, Sagebrush

Jim (trail-name Sagebrush) codes audio software for Windows, Linux, Android, and embedded systems. When not working at sagebrush.com, he enjoys backpacking, which this blog is about.