CDT Day 87 (8/13/23)

Miles 2100.35 (Red line 2363.1)- 2132.65 (Red line 2395.4) (32.3 miles)

Verbatim

There are actually a handful of mosquitoes where I’m camped tonight. That sucks! I may have to break out the head net. It’s a reminder of the horrid time in CO/WY trying to sleep through swarms of mosquitoes each night. That was hell. shudders :) The mosquitoes stopped immediately when I entered Idaho. Tonight is my last night in the ID/MT map section. Hopefully the mosquitoes aren't coming back!

It will be sixteen days on this 400 mile map; of which I’ve hiked 360. That’s slower than I would have liked. But, I really have taken four days off this section. Which is atrocious, but is sometimes what trail is… Basically a full two days at Chuck and Loraine (off at noon, then a zero day, then back on at 11am). One day in Lima (off at 3pm but done hiking at noon and then back on at noon the next day). And then yesterday’s basically full day in Darby waiting for and then with ET. Those were good times off, but man were they mileage sucks.

Today was a relatively easy day regarding elevation, but had a ton of burn zone that really sucked. So many logs to climb over. So many bunches of slippery grass. A 32 is right on point. My bag was really heavy too.

Breakfast was good! Oatmeal+Grapenuts+Breakfast Essentials+raisins. It’s nice to eat something sizable out of a pot for breakfast. I’ll enjoy more grape nuts tomorrow! They bring such a good steady wheat crunch. The chocolate is a bit dense in the cereal/oats combo though. I should get French Vanilla for breakfast essentials next time. I burnt my pasta during dinner. So there’s a thick layer of char on the bottom of my pot. Hopefully that doesn’t disturb tomorrow’s breakfast. Dinner had a distinctly burnt flavor.

The Premier League is back on! And today Chelsea played Liverpool to a 1-1 draw. I got enough service and really enjoyed watching the highlights. The Chelsea jersey has no sponsor on the front. It looks soooo clean. I want one!

The best part of today, however, was seeing a Pine Marten! It had its head up, watching my approach from the trail. I spotted it and watched it. After about twenty sections it started looping its way up the hillside. They are such beautiful creatures. The brown pelt is stunning. it’s like a real life beanie baby!

Sleeping time. Here’s to another thirty tomorrow and Northern Montana! The last map awaits. :)

Post Note

My grandmother, whom I love and adore and consider myself very lucky to still have in my life, used to spoil me rotten with beanie babies. It was the best. I knew as a child that every time she came to Maine to visit she’d come with a handful of new stuffed animals for my brother and I to play with. I knew every time I visited her house in New Jersey I’d get to explore and befriend a whole new set of creatures up in her attic. But there was one beanie baby in particular whom I always loved best. That beanie baby is a Red Fox called Sly. Sly is a Red Fox, but looks more like a Pine Marten. I know this because I saw a real life Pine Marten and thought immediately of Sly! The same ovular face with even distribution of white chin and red face. The same lithe and bendable body which seemed to contort to any required shape as it bounded up the hillside. The same length of limbs. That Pine Marten was awesome and totally made my day. There are so many animals we don’t see. Getting lucky enough to see something new, something rare, is a really holy place to be.

And then there’s Breakfast Essentials. Chocolate Breakfast Essentials forever have been and always will be my favorite trail food. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t been drinking any chocolate milk, other than the one bottle L gave me on day two, so I didn’t have the real thing to compare it too. But man, some cold unfiltered spring water into your pot to be mixed with two or three of those sweet sweet protein infused sugar powders… Nothing beats it. So fresh. So rejuvenating. So yummy. So easy to take down. Chewing food takes a lot of work. And while you’re chewing you’re often thinking about how you’re actually kind of thirsty. The opportunity to drink calories is a luxury. Like. I’m serious. Drinking sports calories is a modern luxury.

You can buy Breakfast Essentials at the store in two forms; bottled liquid or powdered. I’ve never had the liquid form because what hiker is packing out liquids and because plastic. The powder, however, comes in boxes of 10 packets which have something like 110 calories each and 13 grams of protein. Or maybe it’s 130 calories and 11 grams of protein. I could seriously eat twenty packets of chocolate Breakfast Essentials over a four day section. They’re that yummy. You can buy ten of chocolate, or ten of French Vanilla, or a mixed pack which has four chocolate, three vanilla, and three strawberry. But the strawberry Breakfast Essentials are horrendous. Never have I tasted such a vile chemical taste. The vanilla are good, still chemically, but taste much better with cereal, oatmeal, or grape nuts than the chocolate do. The chocolate should be reserved for strictly pure usage. They are already perfect on their own.

So here arrives one of the many experiences of mental confusion I have when in town. I want all the chocolate. I want some vanilla for my breakfasts. Do I buy a 10 pack of chocolate? Do I buy a mixed pack? Do I buy both and then throw the strawberry in a hiker box? Or will I be so hungry by the time the section is through will I wish that I hadn’t thrown the strawberry in a hiker box? Will I be willing to stoop that low? I get hung up at the Breakfast Essentials isle in the grocery store contemplating with a thousand yard stare. Maybe these questions don’t impress you. If not, then I challenge you to walk for three months and get hungry and tired and lack for calories and then stand in a grocery store with screaming children and obnoxious background music and someone who just bumped you with their cart because you’ve been staring at the same box of Breakfast Essentials for two minutes with your phone out trying to calculate your food right for the next four days in the woods. These are serious questions because they matter.