Continental Divide Trail – Day 89

August 20, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 24.3 / 1,589

The rain was supposed to stop around 2am, but when I woke up this morning it was still pattering against the top of my tent. I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up again about an hour later and the rain had stopped. I slowly hot around and started packing up my gear.

The skies still looked like rain as I started down the trail. The trail came to Sandypoint Lake, the first of many lakes today. The trail l seemed to be going from valley to valley today and there were lots of ups and downs as the trail climbed to a pass and then descended into the next valley.

The views from the passes never failed to amaze as more and more if the Wind River Range was exposed. The views from the passes were fabulous and the many lakes below were fantastic to see.

I passed many CDT SOBOs today and yesterday. I think I found the southbound bubble. As I was stopped filling up my water bottle I saw Bud coming up the trail. Bud was a fellow Eastern Continental Trail hiker last year and we passed each other several times between Alabama and Virginia. He’s hiking the CDT SOBO this year.

I reached the Pole Creek Trail and made a left turn to head down to the Elkhart Trailhead – the access point to Pinedale WY.

I hiked about 6 miles and ended up camping near Elklund Lake. This leaves me about 5 miles to finish up in the morning to catch a ride into Pinedale.