Continental Divide Trail – Day 99
August 30, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 20.2 / 1774.5
I took my time getting around this morning. I only have 20 miles to my next designated campsite so there really isn’t much of a hurry.
I visited a little more with Nomadic Norseman this morning and took the time to clean out my tent. While shaking the dirt out I noticed a slit in the floor and patched it up as well. It was about 7:30 before I got on trail.
The trail circled around Heart Lake and even walked along a sand beach for about 1/2 mile. it then turned and started climbing up to a pass. As the trail climbed up it passed several steaming and bubbling pools. The pools were a bright blue with other colors rimmed around the edges. The smell of sulfur was strong in the air.
I continued upwards and finally entered a forested walk to the park highway. It was only noon and I had 7 miles to camp so I tried to hitch into Grant Village with the hopes of buying some lunch there. After an hour of hitching and no luck I got back on the trail and ate my exciting lunch of Nutella and tortillas.
The trail from the highway started out on an old roadway through the forest and then turned off and began a small climb through the forest. I came to Shoshone Lake and had a good view. The trail crossed the outlet of the lake and I was told the water was waist deep. I’m not sure where they crossed, but when I crossed it was only knee deep.
After crossing the outlet, the trail began a climb up a hill. From the hill I had a good view of Shoshone Lake and a large marshy area nearby that the trail was going around.
The trail circled the marsh and began a descent toward Moose Creek. My campsite was just before the creek and I turned up the side trail. I arrived at 4:30 and was the only one there. I selected my campsite, set up my tent, and collected water for dinner.
I updated my blog while waiting for a reasonable time to eat. I cooked dinner and ate then crawled into my tent for the night to escape the cold wind. It was still early so I took the chance to read, which I haven’t done on this whole trip.
