Continental Divide Trail – Day 86

August 17, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 21.5 / 1,527.6

Tried to sleep in this morning, but was still up before 6:00. I took a shower, dressed, and packed up my backpack. I headed across town to Oxbow Restaurant where I had a delicious breakfast skillet and lots of hot coffee.

I updated my social media at the restaurant and wrote my blog for yesterday. It was close to 9:00 before I finished up and started hiking out of town. The road was under construction and traffic was redirected on to o the shoulder as I left town. I stuck my thumb out for a ride, but there wasn’t anywhere for people to pull over if they wanted to.

The construction lasted for about 1 mile and then the road went back to normal with a sizable shoulder. About 100 yards on this road and I had a “trail angel” pull over and offer a ride. We talked as he drove to the trailhead and he regularly gives rides to hikers.

We reached the trailhead about 10:00, I thanked him for the ride and started down the trail. The trail began as a two track road and headed into the hills where there were trees. I was excited already. About 5 miles in the trail turned off the 2 track and became a single track trail through the hills.

The terrain was still semi desert and the trail went through a lot of sagebrush. There were pine trees as well in the sagebrush and pond e forest in the valleys where there was water.

Water also became much more plentiful as I crossed multiple creeks and rivers throughout the day. I reached a creek about 6:30, collected water for the night and found a flat area to Camp shortly down the trail.

I set up camp, cooked and ate my dinner, then stashed my new bear canister near a fallen tree. I crawled in my tent as the sun set behind the mountains and got ready for a good nights sleep.