CDT Day 78 (8/4/23)

Miles 1872.1 (red line 2133.8)- 1893.6 (red line 2155.3) (21.5 miles)

Verbatim

Today was a good day. Beautiful hiking and good company. I woke up having slept alright. I will always sleep better outdoors on thruhiking trips. It has to be the perfect hotel to compete with a bed of soft grasses or pine needles with a soft breeze. Sleeping having showered, however, is quite nice… Anyways. I showered and brushed until 8am when I made my way over to breakfast. I sat at a big hiker table and look who walks in but Rhino! Hurray! Two NOBOs amidst twelve SOBOs. I ate two pancakes and two cups of canned peaches. I asked the waitress for extra butter and she gave me a lot. That was the best part. I think I pooped three times this morning. Hah!

After breakfast I called with my family while waiting for the hitch from Monty. They were all at the terminus of Jonathan’s walk. They were all very happy which was fun to hear. Yay my family!

The ride out to trail was concerning. It was cloudy and rainy. Drops on the windshield had Monty complaining about getting new windshield wipers. The clouds were dark and thick. When Rhino and I were dropped off we put on our rain gear under the overpass. For three miles it rained pretty consistently. But the rain broke eventually! And we had a splendid time road walking over way up to the divide. We bumped into Kismet and BeeKeeper as well while we were walking. It was fun to see and talk with them. It really feels like the final phase of the trail is beginning. I’d walked close to 700 miles when I met them. I have close to 700 miles left before the finish. And this is interesting, because there’s only 250 left in MonIdaho (the portion of trail which runs the ID/MT border). And 450 in Montana. Rhino alerted me to a fire and closure near Helena MT as well. So things really may be shaping up for a finish. At my average I have about twenty-eight days left. Which isn’t much. That’d make a 105 day thru. Which is really respectable. I’m happy about that timeline. Maybe I can even make it a bit faster.

I enjoyed the PUD (pointless up and down) today. The sculpt of the mountains was incredible. The shadows awesome. The forests dark and inspiring. It was windy and cold but the rain held off. This section is notorious for horseflies in the heat. They were held off as well. So it was an epic high ridge walking day. Straight out of a John Z video, haha. Rhino and I chatted away the road walk, motivated each other through the storm, and wondered at the mountains. it’s a shame his mileage is a bit slower and his expected schedule much slower than mine. I enjoy hiking with him. I told him about carrying my plastic and he remarked at how fast I’m going. He said his pack would be so much more full! I’ll find out how that hell would feel. He started a month before me. And I’ve got a month to go…

We met a while host of SOBOs today. They say the Leadore resupply is great! Which is good news because my resupply is crap. I’ll be eating PB&Js for the next three days… I think I’ll eat one now. I just realized I forgot my cheese in the motel fridge.

Post Note

Rhino is an incredible human. A few years older than me. Male. From Germany and looking forwards to an engagement (or already was engaged?) to his love back home. We talked about relationships and what it looked like to be moving towards marriage and a family. Every time that topic has come up in my past relationships I get scared shitless. Even now it seems like something that I definitely want but which is still far away in my future. It’s never something I’m looking towards “right now”. Like, only grown ups who have it figured out get married. Or only those people who are so hopelessly enamored with their partner that they haven’t yet taken the cooldown time to realize their partner is a real human and that marrying is going to be really hard and a really big deal. Or maybe only those people who can’t come up with something better to do with their lives. I don’t know. I’ve never trusted another person enough to marry them. Maybe I have unfinished business. I certainly don’t have consistency in my life. I guess some people can figure it out. Or at least know how to give it the good ol’ try. To walk with Rhino and learn of his experience was a blessing. I could sort of model after him. Or at least imagine after him.

I forget where I met Rhino… I must have been in Yellowstone. Or maybe some time before. The first memory of Rhino I can access, right now at least, is from the moment I stepped out of Yellowstone National Park and into Idaho. Lots of hikers camp right at the border of Yellowstone. On this side of the sign you’re ok. On that side it’s illegal. “Property” is so arbitrarily weird and honestly really selfish. Anyways. Camping right at the border is either the first place someone can stop once getting out of the park or the ideal placement for maximum incision into the park the following morning.

When I rejoined the CDT outside the park I returned to trail actively showing CDT signage. I haven’t referred to this “CDT signage” before. Let me explain. The trail is made from a pretty obvious footpath. That’s clear. You’re walking the same trail you were walking five minutes ago. However, sometimes the trail intersects with other trails, makes a strange or ill-defined turn, or crosses over terrain that doesn’t hold a foot path (e.g. water or rocks). In cases such as these you need trail signage! A little aluminum triangle-circle (I don’t know what else to call it) is painted light blue with the letters “CTD” where the T in the middle points as an arrow in the direction you’re supposed to follow. Though a map should always be consulted when changing directions, these signs come in handy all the time for the quick identification of where to go next. Problem is, in places like Yellowstone, where Yellowstone comes first, the little blue CDT signs go away.

So! When I excited Yellowstone and resumed my presence on the independent CDT I saw my first sign in a few days. I excitedly strode towards it, reached to touch it with my hand, and rather kindly and lovingly said “good to see you old friend”. From an olive drab tent I didn’t see opposite the sign a voice said, “Haystack? How’d you know it was me”? It was Rhino. hahahaha. So I knew Rhino sometime before my first memory of Rhino. But I can’t place it. I saw Rhino only one more time on the whole trail. That’s four meaningful interactions. The initiation of friendship I can’t remember, the encounter by the trail sign, day seventy-eight, and in East Glacier (did I see Rhino in East Glacier?! I can’t remember… I think I did. Finishing trail is always so overwhelming and you see so many people again). I’m not sure… Maybe it was only three. Point is. Rhino mattered to me despite our limited experiences. I saw him four times (three?) and consider him my second most meaningful and consistent relationship of the whole trail. I was alone.