CDT Day 54 (7/11/23)
Miles 1275.3 (Red line 1488.3)- 1306.5 (Red line 1519.5) (31.2 miles)
Verbatim
Today I entered WY! It was a good day, although the miles in the evening were a real slog. I was walking down meadows which are holding and shifting all the snowmelt down from the heights. I’m still at 10,500 feet, camped here at Butte Pass. And I was higher today as well, up at 11,000. There’s still snow up here, although it’s melting fast. My feet got soaked in the afternoon. At one point I stepped into a meadow stream while thinking it was really a gravel bottom. I sunk up to my knees, pitching forward and desperately catching myself against the other bank. That alternate bank, only an instant ago at ankle level, was now at my hips. Walking through all that water is frustrating. It tears at your feet and at your shoes. My shoes have begun opening up big rips. I hope they last until Yellowstone. Seems unlikely.
I have mosquito bites all over my body. On my legs and shoulders as I walk. On my forehead as I sleep. Not the best feeling or experience. There are mosquitoes with me again tonight as I camp. I hope I can sleep well!
While walking through the meadow this afternoon I spooked a heard of about 25 Elk. I could only see six of them when I passed along the copse of trees. As I walked closer they became alert and one stood up. It’s funny how they all rest with their heads facing different directions. The group stood and made for the forest. One was just a baby. A fawn? Another didn’t immediately break, but stood watching. I was confused until I heard the thunder of hooves squashing in the mud. Can it really be called a thundering, then? About twenty more Elk came cantering out from behind the glen. They were mostly female, but there were two young males at the very back.
There was a creek today that was awesome. It’s definitely fed by springs up above, but had the additional power of snowmelt. The water has cut a deep channel in the earth and rock. Where the trail passes the stream there’s a depression functional as a bath tub! If I wasn’t chicken about cold water and butt chafe (which comes from moving while wet) I would have jumped in. I wish I was getting in more water. Uncle T and I did take off our shoes and stood in the water. I got cold and my feet went numb. Uncle T said it wasn’t cold. But he was standing in the sun after 10 minutes while I stayed in the shade. sooo
There was trail magic at Battle Pass! I ate some sardines that were there. It was the no plastic choice. They were potent but quite yummy. I was very hungry. Onwards to the basin!
Post Note
Wyoming is an exciting place to be. It’s the most diverse of the CDT states. In Wyoming every section feels different. You begin Wyoming by escaping the ferocity of Colorado’s high mountains by going down to lower elevations. What you find at lower elevations, however, isn’t any more relaxing. You descend into the Great Basin, a hot and dry expanse of sage brush sea. It’s monotonous. It’s generally hot, but can suddenly get cold. It can be stunningly gorgeous, but generally only really at the beginning and end of the day. The rest of the time it’s sort of dull. The basin is the place on the CDT where the discipline of walking early, siestaing, and walking late is most advantageous. You should walk until you cannot see anymore and only then plop yourself down in a cowboy camp to immediately slumber. You’ll be up early in the morning to beat the sun by an hour. Ideally you’ll be lucky enough to stumble across a lone tree or big shrub for some noontime or early afternoon shade. But, lacking this, the only real option is to keep walking. You’ll get to the Winds soon.
The Winds are a jewel which cannot be spoken of in any human language. I’ve made a pact to not speak of the Winds. It’s part of my Leave No Trace principle. The one principle which really should be on the LNT list, but isn’t, is the prohibition against posting about scenic places (welp). When some influencer gets famous and posts a picture suddenly 100 million people show up and it’s destroyed. Whatever made it idyllic is consumed by the ceaseless appetite of humans. You want to see the Winds? Earn it by walking the CDT. You want to hike the John Muir trail? Walk the PCT to get there. On each trail I’ve walked on, the best mountains have only come after walking a desert. Colorado after New Mexico. The Winds after the Great Basin. The Sierra after the SoCal desert. I’m a firm believer that you should only head up into those high desolate places, those sanctuaries, if you’ve experienced some desert first. It’s a good idea to walk some desert first for a couple reasons. One, it will make you fit enough to enjoy yourself in the difficult mountains. Two, the hardship of the desert will make your grateful for the hardships of the alpine. You think about the prevalence of water differently once you’ve experience the absence of it, for example. You think about how this sharp climb up at 12,000ft isn’t actually that bad, at least not in comparison with walking across a sandy wash in the desert. See what I mean? I walked the Great Basin in 2022 and then walked around the Winds because there was still too much snow when I was there. I walked across the Great Basin again in 2023. Did I want to? No. I’d actually been praying to the trail gods that they might light the basin on fire so there would be a closure and I could legitimize (more like rationalize) skipping it. Didn’t happen. So I walked the basin again. I’m glad I did. The Winds wouldn’t have been the same without it.
After the winds comes the Yellowstone ecosystem, which is either an idyllic and savage wilderness (outside the park) or a zoo (inside the park). There’s not really any reason to talk about Yellowstone on the CDT to be honest. I didn’t like the national park at all.