Continental Divide Trail – Day 97

August 28, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 26.5 / 1733.2

The rain ended before I went to sleep, but everything was still wet this morning. I packed up and headed up the trail. The trail climbed over a pass and stayed up on the mountains for a few miles before dropping down to Soda Fork.

Soda Fork was the 2nd of 3 river crossings before Yellowstone. The water was about knee deep and flowing pretty fast. I crossed without any issues, but noticed a couple of logs laid across when I came up the other side. I could have crossed on the logs and stayed dry.

The trail followed the Soda Fork River downstream until it joined with the North Fork Buffalo River. The trail crossed the North Fork. It was wider than the Soda Fork, but only about shin deep.

The trail then turned and followed the North Fork up stream for several miles before turning off and heading up to Two Oceans Pass

Two Oceans Pass in s a large marsh situated on the continental divide. There are 5-6 creeks that run into the marsh and two that run out. Pacific Creek exits on the west side of the marsh and the water eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean. Atlantic Creek flows out the east side of the marsh and eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a pretty unique spot.

Crossing over Pacific Creek and skirting the west end of the marsh the trail then climbs upwards to a pass and a high meadow. The trail crosses the meadow and then begins descending toward Mink Creek.

Since the sun was getting low in the sky I began searching for a campsite on the way down. Due to a lot of dead trees in the area it was difficult to find a good spot, but I finally found one nestled in amongst some pine trees.