Waking up in another hotel bed seems like a common way I’ve been starting a lot of posts lately, but what can I say…the time off the trail is as good as the time on the trail….and as far as hanging out with other hikers goes, town seems to be one of the only times I get to see other hikertrash.

This morning I woke and started packing up, no lingering in the room for me, I had to get to the health clinic to get myself checked out, resupply, and get back on the trail. I walked to the south side of town and fortunately they were able to see me rather quickly. The staff were definitely familiar with travelers (Dubois is very close to Yellowstone) and before I knew it I had some antibiotics and was on my way back to town.

I found Buck 30 still at the hotel room, and we both headed over to the grocery store to resupply and then to the near-by cafe to have lunch before sticking out our thumbs. Before we even got two blocks down the street (hitching in the town of Dubois is illegal so we were walking to the outskirts of the city) a guy called to us and asked if we wanted a ride…ummmm, yes! Very, very nice since we were expecting it to be a hard hitch.

As Ron drove us back to the trail I found out he had recently returned from the Peace Corps in Kenya…you really never know what kind of connections you will find out here! We had only driven a few miles when the sky opened up and started raining and hailing so hard that we had to pull over, the highway practically impossible to see. Buck 30 and I looked at eachother, were we really going to hike in this????? Yikes. The forcast is COLD and heavy rain…oh joy.

We got back on the road when the storm cleared up a bit, but there was lightening all around. Not going to be a fun afternoon.

I got dropped off on the highway where I hitched from yesterday, put on my rain gear and started walking the 5 or so miles up to where I would pick up the trail. The wind was pushing me around and it sprinkled off and on, although there were a few sucker holes I was able to walk under for a while.

When I saw a cluster of buildings and a sign for a restaurant it didn’t take me but a minute to head over in search of a hot drink. It had started to rain again and I thought I could at least wait out this bout with some shelter over my head.

I got a hot cup of cider and sat on the front porch…a few minutes passed and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask how much the rooms were at Lava Mountain Lodge. $25!!!!! done. I rack up another 2 mile day, but it was so worth it, the rain (and SNOW in the higher elevations), high wind, and lightening would have made the rest of the day pretty crummy.

Scott at the front desk told me there was another hiker in the cabins, so I stopped by on my way to my spot to find Scatman, the hiker I had met back in Colorado going south (flipping), and who was now headed north! I sat down and before I knew it hours had passed and we had talked the afternoon away. It really has been wonderful to be around other hikers the past 2 days.

We had dinner in the restaurant and by the time we were done it was bitter outside, and I was seeing photos on instagram of snow on the trail ahead. SNOW in July! Fortunately the forcast is due to clear up after tomorrow, but as I type this the rain is pouring down and I am warm and dry inside. This is the best $25 I’ve spent on the trail so far. No brutality for me tonight!

I didn’t sleep well last night, which has fortunately not been happening very much since the beginning of the trail…no matter, I made some coffee and read a bit of my e-book (another of Paul Theroux’s books, a new collection of short stories) and waited until the day was a bit lighter to pack up and hike the few miles to the highway.

Good morning

The morning was COLD and I slowly watched the sun warm the land behind me, but the spot i was hitching from would remain in the shadows for a while. It was early on a Sunday morning and there just wasn’t much traffic heading towards Dubois. I finally got a ride from the host of Brooks Lake Lodge, a spot I would be hiking by in a few days.

She dropped me off in the middle of town, and I headed to the Cowboy Cafe for a bit of breakfast and to figure out the day. After my pesto and eggs I met Benjamin, the first real southbounder I’ve met so far, he informed me Buck 30 should be in town today…I was stoked to catch up with him, we first met on the Appalachian Trail 13 years ago, and he has done a good job of making backpacking a priority over the years and has racked up something like 25,000 miles! He found me at a coffee shop across the way, and we talked the talk of most thru-hikers, trail conditions, hiker gossip, other hikes we’d like to do, etc.

The three of us headed down to the Wind River Motel where we got rooms for the night, and then we spent the afternoon scraping off the dirt in the shower, laying around watching cable, and sitting on the front stoop just hanging. I met Treebo who was another flip-flopper, and after dinner (again at the Cowboy Cafe) we saw a whole crew of hikers arriving….Carrot, Spark, Track Meat, and #2 who I hadn’t seen since Durango! I thought he was in front of me, but he had gotten off for a week to go home for a visit.

No trip to Dubois is complete without a ride on the giant jackalope

We didn’t hang out too long, my incredibly full stomach required me to get horizontal in my room. Tomorrow morning I’ll head to the health clinic to see about what is going on in my gut. I felt ok today, but that has been one of the main issues, the coming and going of my stomach pain…I’m still convinced something may be living in my belly.

You just never know where a day will take you out here. You may remember I’ve been having some stomach issues, if I’m honest with myself I’ve known something has been off for a while. Possibly for a long while. I haven’t really developed the hiker hunger, sure on days I feel like I can eat anything and everything, but that’s actually been fairly infrequent. I’ve only gone into town having eaten all my food once, ONCE! In over 3 months! And I’ve had trouble eating a full meal in town sometimes. Isn’t that crazy? Who has ever heard of a thru-hiker that couldn’t eat a whole meal? I’m embarrassed to say I left fries on my plate in Pinedale. Anyway, since I haven’t had any other symptoms I just haven’t been thinking too much about it, other than the fact that I’ve lost quite a bit of weight. But yesterday and today when I had to dig a hole (I’ll spare you the gory details), I could tell something wasn’t right. Perhaps I’ve had guardia or something for a long time and it’s just now acting up? I know the body can get used to the parasite; when I lived in Africa for the Peace Corps I ended up getting guardia about 5 times, and the last time I had no other symptoms other than one sulfer burb…so time to take some action I thought.

I had a pleasent morning of walking through big open parks…we are in cow country again and they were everywhere. I ran into another flip-flopper, Cathy, who had received a warning the night before about the active grizzleys and wolves in the area, dude! I would not have thought this landscape was grizz and wolf territory, but I was super cautious to make lots of noise the rest of the day.

After lunch when I discovered all was not well with my bowl output, I reevaluated how I would get to the next highway and to my next town, Dubois, a 38 mile hitch from Togwotee Pass. If I did a 30 today and a 20 tomorrow I could make it to the pass, or I could check out some alternates. The Ley maps have a ton of alternates, and as I was trying to determine my options, an ATVer came along and suggested taking a road behind Fish Lake that would get me to the highway where I could hitch, he thought it was maybe 20ish miles from where we were, a lot less than the 35ish I would still have to go on the CDT, and if I walked roads I would have a chance of getting help from a car if I needed it.

The stomach was wierd. I would feel fine, and then have a pain, the feel fine, then not fine. I really didn’t eat much today, don’t have an appitite, something must be wrong! Thru-hikers need to eat! Thru-hikers want to eat!

Fortunately I had downloaded the area topo on my Trimble Navigator App, and was able to find a good route…there were quite a few ATVers out, and had a couple offers of rides, but I felt ok to walk, and if I hitched from out here it would be next to impossible to get back to connect my steps. I needed to get to the highway.

The walking was easy on the roads, and there was plenty of water. I walked and walked until I could see and hear the highway, I’m on a ledge overlooking a stunning valley, and will walk the last few miles to the road in the morning and then hitch into Dubois where I’ll go to their medical clinic.

I’ll have to come back to this spot and walk the highway up to where I can reconnect with trail tread, but as you all know, I’m no stranger to highway walking, it’s all part of embracing the brutality.

I slept well on top of the pass. Today I would go down, down, down quite a ways to the Green River & Lakes…and boy was it a beautiful walk.

The water took on an icy bluish tint thanks to all the glacial silt in the water, but the color! I’ve never seen anything like it!

And that continued to the lakes, the view is just one of the best out here, and some lucky folks can drive in and bring their boats, there’s a campground on the far end of the bigger lake, and as I skirted it I thought breifly about trying to find a soda, but then kept on walking.

There was a lot of climbing this afternoon, and the landscape changed suddenly.

This is beautiful too, it’s all so diverse out here.

More rain tonight. What’s up with all the rain?

Rain during the night. So much rain always, the divide has had the wettest spring/summer ever. Ever on record. Wet feet for days.

This would be the day to hike the stunning and challenging Knapsack Col route in the Winds, but with the heavy dark clouds and wet morning, I decided against the alternate. Regular ‘ol CDT for me today.

The moody sky put me in a contemplative state, today I mainly just walked and the day happened. Oh, but the landscape was stunning. And i narrowly missed getting hit by an errant lightening strike. That will get the blood flowing!

These mountains and lakes and endless vistas remained from start to finish today, and I’m perched on the edge of a pass into a dramatic canyon, it will be a good day of walking tomorrow!

The mosquitos are swarming me right now, I’m in my bug netting, but it’s starting to feel a little closterphobic, knowing they all would attack me if given the chance.

I made camp early again, partly because of the view, partly because I need to slow down a bit. I have the opportunity to attend the summer Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City in 2 weeks, and in order to make the logistics work, don’t have to do more than 20 miles a day! I think that might be hard to do once the miles get a bit easier (tomorrow?) but we’ll see, if I have some extra time maybe I’ll check out the Tetons! I have to figure out my Yellowstone strategy soon, I’ll be there this week and there are some permitting issues to figure out.

The map shows me about 2/3 done with Wyoming, cant believe it’s going this fast!

Oooo, so close to 1700 miles for my day 100! And what a day 100 it was. I woke a few times during the night in my urban camping experience, but when I rolled over, the next time I woke up it was 7am. I’ve been sleeping later and later recently…not a big deal to wake up at a certain time out here, especially on a town day!

I pack up and upon reaching the main street noticed a diner just down the way with a ton of cars outside…that’s always a good sign, especially when entering and seeing mostly locals, I like those kind of places.

I sat down at the bar and ordered a pancake breakfast and was soon joined by Vaun, an old timer who had lived in the surrounding area for most of his life. We had a good time chatting about bears, hiking, camping, and more, and towards the end of the meal when I made a trip to the bathroom, came back to find him gone but my bill paid! Wow, so nice!!!! Thanks Vaun!

From there I went to the post office to pick up the food I had bounced from Lander (you remember all those care packages? I couldn’t carry all that during the last stretch, so sent half of it ahead after sharing some with the other hikers; I won’t need to buy much here to make it another stint down the trail!

Then I had to check out the aquatic center I had heard so much about. For $5 you get access to the huge beautiful facility for the whole day. I didn’t really gravitate towards the fitness classes or the weight room…the hot tub is what I had my eye on. I took a long luxurious shower (in some of my clothes…might as well get them clean too!) and then jumped in the hot tub. Mint. Then a swim in the pool and a trip around the lazy river. I had my eye on the water slides, but decided to give them a pass and went back to the hot tub where I had a nice conversation with a few local ladies. Then back to the shower and to the lobby where I enjoyed a few cups of hot cider and tapped into their wifi for a little blogging action and some general web surfing. Very niiiice!

I spent a little time on the patio repacking my food bag and pack, and then headed towards lunch…pizza! My go-to town meal. If I order a large pizza, eat half for lunch, then I can pack the other half out to the trail, cold pizza on the trail? Don’t mind if I do!

After that I went to the grocery store, my list wasn’t long: 4 breakfast & wetwipes (wetwipes are GOLD on the trail). While I was there I ran into Smiles, who I had been in touch with for a ride back to the trail in a few hours, but really, all my town chores were done, so we made arrangements to go back after I was done shopping.

She had decided to go up for a hike since she was driving up to the trailhead, and we had a great time chatting…she was from Portland until just a few weeks ago when she moved to Pinedale to work as a wilderness ranger in the Winds! Cool job! Since she had just hiked the CDT last year we had a lot to talk about, and the 3 miles from the parking lot went quick with trail talk and a lot of laughter, so good to be around another badass hiker chick!

I wanted a short day, so I pulled off to find camp near Miller Lake, and she kept going. I’m overlooking the lake, and there is a smattering of rain beginning to fall. The mosquitos are getting bigger and hungrier, and I’m sure glad to have my bug condom (I hang it from the top of my tarp when camping, it’s perfect!)

Tomorrow I’ll get back in the thick of the Winds and do what I do best, head north!

I intended to hike more than 21 miles again today, but this afternoon my stomach started feeling iffy, so I took an early day to lay down and hopefully rest-off whatever that feeling is. I should make it to Pinedale tomorrow with another 20ish mile day, and am leaning towards a quick resupply and then out…although some thru-hikers say Pinedale is their favorite trail town on the CDT, I can’t pass up a recommendation like that!

See the thing about Pinedale is that it requires a 10 mile (off trail) hike out to a trail head and then a 15 mile hitch. That’s 20 miles that don’t count towards Canada! However the alternative is to do a 6-8 day food carry in the Winds, when it’s nice to slow down and not rush through. So there’s my delima, and since I only carried 4 days of food of out Lander, my decision has already been made! Pinedale is next.

Today was more granite spires and peaks. This area is amazing. No words.

I left the challenging terrain behind when I rejoined the main CDT (after the Cirque of the Towers alternate that I had taken), but first had a nice talused climb up and over Texas Pass.

The steep passes turned into gentle rolling terrain with tons of lakes and even more mosquitos. Oh yes, they are out for blood.

I met another flip flopper, Matt…I had met Stabby, Kiddo, and Banjo yesterday. So fun to see hikers! Although they are going the other way…

My stomach started feeling wierd before lunch and I just didn’t feel like eating more than a plain tortilla. I slowly walked a few more miles before deciding I wanted to lay down. Hope this passes overnight.

The Wind River Range baby!

The morning was quiet as I packed up, drank my coffee, and surfed the internet. Tom, Laurie, and their friend came by at 9am for my ride, and we had a great time chatting the 30+ miles back to the trail…Great people!

The walking was pretty gentle, rising up and down small rocky buttes, crossing many streams, and the terrain still seemed like the foothills of the mountains, not quite great divide basin, not quite high alpine mountains. I could see the landscape changing though, and the mountains rose up around me and the summits became more defined as I hiked during the day.

It was quiet and serene…not much happened other than I put a dent into all the good food I’m carrying now, and listened to a few new podcasts.

Tomorrow I’ll take the Cirque of the Towers in the Winds! STOKED!