Continental Divide Trail – Day 90
August 21, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 6.0 / 1,595
I was up early this morning. Too early. I was ready to go before 6:00am and it was still too dark to see. I waited around a little bit and started hiking about 6:15.
The trail from Elklund Lake was mostly down hill and had some great views in the early morning light. About 2 miles from camp I saw a hiker join the trail about 200’ in front of me. I sped up a little and caught up with her pretty soon. She was a SOBO hiker named Stud heading into Pinedale as well. We walked and talked the next 4 miles to the trailhead.
We arrived at the trailhead about 8:30 – a little early to catch a ride back out. Hikers were arriving to start day hikes but wouldn’t be leaving for awhile.
We started walking down the road toward Pinedale. The road was under construction and they were using a pilot car to lead the cars through the construction area. After leading a small group of cars to the trailhead the pilot car was returning to the other end and stopped and one of the drivers offered us a ride into town.
We still had to walk to his car, but it was only about 0.2 miles down the road. We loaded up and discovered he was the father of the lady driving the pilot car and had come up to see his daughter this morning.
He drove us into Pinedale and Stud and I walked a couple of blocks to the Heart & Soul Cafe to get some breakfast. I ordered the breakfast scramble and some hot coffee. We ate, talked for awhile and then headed over to the Great Outdoor Shop. I needed a new pair of shoes and they had exactly what I wanted. I also left my trekking poles in the car that gave us a ride and had to replace them. That turned out to be an expensive ride.
After doing our gear resupply we headed back toward the Jackalope Lodge. This was a traditional motel, but had also converted 2 adjoining rooms into bunk rooms. A total of 12 bunks, gear storage and 2 bathrooms. They had also created a nice hiker hangout area with a covered awning, fire pit, picnic tables, an outdoor shower, a washing machine, and a sink. It was a very nice setup.
We checked in and I promptly took a shower to get the smell and dirt off me. I u to oil my dirty clothes and threw them in the washer. The clothes had to be line dried and I needed to get them dry-ish so I could put them back on and get out of my rain pants.
I visited with the other hikers there as my clothes dried and began posting my social media updates. I also discovered that one of the other hikers there – Tight Squeeze – was also a caver and I had actually used his multiple ascending gear list to put together my vertical caving gear setup. We talked caves while my clothes dried.
It put on my kinda-dry shorts and walked over to the grocery store for my good resupply. Back at the hostel I repackaged my food for the 4 day section to Dubois WY.
I spent the afternoon updating social media an visiting with the other hikers. About 5:00 a big thunderstorm blew through bringing heavy winds and rain. It only lasted about 20 minutes and was gone.
A group of us went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner and had some good conversation while we ate. We walked back to the motel and it was already hiker midnight (9:00pm) before we got back. I got ready for bed a crawled into my bunk to get a good nights sleep.
