Thru hiking | Endless P Summer

Day 130 9/6/17 16 miles

So last night, before going back to the trail, a bunch of us went out to eat at the Mexican place in town and I have to say it wasn’t the best burrito I’ve ever had. The portions were good but then they covered it in like velveeta cheese or something, it was weird. I was talking to a couple there and the guy was a retired firefighter from Ohio. When I explained to them what we were up to he left the tip on our meal so that was cool. Thanks Tom! After supper QB and I hitched back to Marias Pass, where we got off trail earlier in the day, and found a spot in the woods to camp.

This morning we got up and started cruising right into town. We crossed rt 2 and some railroad tracks and got into Glacier NP but since our permits don’t start until tomorrow night we’ll be walking back into East Glacier Village and spending the night there. From Marias Pass the trail kind of parallels the road and the tracks all the way to town. There wasn’t anything too spectacular to see from trail, or maybe there was, it was just too smoky to see much of anything. About a mile from town I saw and heard a small dark brown bear crashing through the woods 15-20 feet to my right. It scared the bejesuses out of me but I recovered quickly. Once again QB didn’t see it but she did hear it. Current bear score 12-2 in my favor. We got to town and ate a couple times at the Two Medicine Grill, which I recommend. I did laundry and showered for the first time in a week and got a room half off at the Circle R motel because it didn’t have a TV. Fine with me, I feel like hotel TV’s only play Forensic Files anyway. Smoky!Ran into Recalculating in town and he’s become quite feral since I first met him in New Mexico, his shoes look like they got struck by lightning This license plate has my name on it Me and QB and some tall guy

Day 131 9/7 25 miles

Right away this morning QB and I devoured a huge breakfast at the Two Medicine Grill; omelettes, pancakes, hash browns, even a slice of pie. After breakfast we got back on trail and into Glacier NP starting with a nice stiff climb up to Scenic Point. For a while we walked with Recalculating, who unlike most thru hikers has a wife and 4 young kids at home, pretty awesome situation but not the norm out here. Glacier has been incredible so far, even with a blanket of smoke from the wildfires hanging in the air. I’d love to see this place on clear bluebird days so that’s why I’ll definitely have to come back. The smoke however, puts a whole new paint job on things and makes the mountains and the lakes look really cool. I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves. Plus I saw a bunch of animals, a moose laying around in the grass and probably about 25 bighorn sheep including a little baby. We’re camping at the Atlantic Creek site and also camping here tonight are Garbelly and Critter who we’ve been keeping in touch with but haven’t seen since Winter Park.A couple of bros just chilling out

Day 132 9/8 25 miles

Today was the day! We hiked with Critter and Garbelly for most of the day and started off with a steep climb up to Triple Divide Pass. Although smoky, this was one of the most incredible passes I’ve ever been up and over. There’s three sides to Triple Divide Peak (just to the West of where we crossed); any water that lands on the west flows to the Pacific, water landing on the east flows to the Atlantic and water landing on the north flows to the Arctic Ocean. So cool! While climbing up the Pass, Critter spotted a moose down in the valley from at least a half mile away, then we had a bighorn sheep directly in front of us on trail and on our way down we saw 4 mountain goats way up on the side of a steep wall. The rest of the day the trail was pretty relaxed but there was lots of water. We stopped to jump off rocks into an awesome swimming hole at Red Eagle Creek. In the afternoon we walked along Lake St Mary which was tough to get a good view of because it was super smoky but it’s obviously a spectacular sight. I got another chance to swim at the bottom of Virginia Falls then we stopped again at St Mary Falls. Because of the wildfire situation, QB and I weren’t able to get our backcountry permits so tonight we had to hitch to Rising Sun CG where we’re camping at the hiker walk-in site. Ideally we wanted to camp in the backcountry for our last couple nights on trail but it’s no big deal, I’m just glad the park is still open and I really hope it stays that way. This campground has a restaurant and we were able to get some good food, plus a couple guys that were eating there recognized that we were thru hiking and bought us dessert. Garbelly and Critter walking through the smoke Triple Divide Pass Cannonball!!!posing so hard Triple Divide Pass Swam where the mountain dolphins live St Mary Falls

Day 133 9/9 14 miles

Before leaving Rising Sun we grabbed some sweet potato pancakes at the restaurant. It’s so tough to pass up a good meal when it’s close by. We had a short 14 mile day until the next campground so we weren’t in a hurry. Once on trail we climbed way up to Piegan Pass and the views were just awesome. I know I said yesterday that Triple Divide Pass might have been the most impressive pass I ever climbed but that title only stood for a day. Today the smoke had cleared some and we had some better views. It really was amazing. It was super windy on the way down but that probably helped get some of the smoke out of the area. We could see cascading waterfalls, aquamarine lakes, and jagged peaks all over. After we got down to the valley it was a relaxing 5 or 6 miles into Many Glacier, another front country campground with a store and restaurant. There’s lots of other thru hikers here tonight also. Garbelly and Critter, Maine Man, Flip Flop, Liam and Kate, Spindrift and James all are camping here and planning to finish tomorrow. A bunch of us went to supper tonight and it was a lot of fun. It’s weird, I felt like there weren’t many hikers around for most of the trail but I’ve seen lots throughout Montana and especially the last couple hundred miles. They say nothing brings people together like a common enemy, like the school kids rallying together against the lunch lady. In this case it’s the wildfires causing the thru hikers to bunch up right at the end. Queen B. Macklemore Piegan Pass Swiftcurrent Lake

Day 134 9/10/17 20 miles

What a day! First of all last night was crazy windy, all night long blowing wicked loud. Even with my earplugs in I hardly slept and it seemed like everybody had the same problem. Even with minimal sleep everybody was still pretty jacked up for our last day. We set off with a big crew of hikers; Garbelly, Critter, Flip Flop, Liam and Kate. From Many Glacier we climbed up to Ptarmigan Pass that has a tunnel going 150 feet blasted through the Pass. It was awesome! We all chilled out up there for awhile enjoying the view, then went through to the other side and the trail down was absolutely spectacular! I can’t believe somebody decided to build a trail and this tunnel up here. We walked half a dozen more miles before coming across Dawn Mist Falls and took the little side trail to it. This was the last highlight of the trail and my last opportunity to jump into freezing cold water so of course I did. After the falls it was only 6 or 7 miles until the road and the border crossing at Chief Mountain. We crossed the border, did the damn thing, got our passports stamped, and took a bunch of pictures by the monument. From the border our friend had rides up to Calgary and QB and I hitched south. We got a fun ride from Ina, Karen, and Jules (an AT long distance hiker herself) back to East Glacier. There are lots of hikers in town and after pigging out at the restaurant we hung out with all them out front. Breaking camp on our last morning Pride Rock?Ptarmigan Ptunnel Walking out of the tunnel QB, Garbelly and Critter at Dawn Mist Falls Dawn Mist Falls A bunch of kids walking to Canada This trail was overwhelmingly dudes, it’s cool that we finished with 3 women; QB, Critter and Kate

Over the course of 134 days I walked roughly 2800 miles from one imaginary line to another (QB had her total mileage at 2795, I’ll go through my journals later but that seems acurate). The trail was significantly harder than I thought it would be, but also more incredible than I could have ever imagined. Finishing the trail hasn’t exactly sunk in yet and I’m sure it will take a while to digest. I’ll have it forever and I will look back fondly at this summer on the CDT. The fact that there are so few hikers on the trail makes for a tighter knit community. Probably like going to a small high school or something. I met some great people out here that I look forward to seeing again. Oh yeah, I will definitely be back here too. The CDT introduced me to so many great places that I definitely plan to explore more.

I have so much gratitude for everybody who helped me get through this trail; trail angels, folks who gave me rides, people who took me in and fed me or gave me a place to crash for a night, friends who came out to hike with me, all the support I’ve got from this blog and encouragement from friends following my hike online (it holds me accountable in a way, a good way, and provides motivation to finish this grueling hike). Thank you to my parents and family for their continued love and support and especially to my hiking partner Queen B who made this summer so much fun and without her, I would not have made it.

-Endless

PS All My Love!!! And thanks for reading

PPS from East Glacier we are catching a train to Seattle and hiking for a few more weeks. The train should be fun, I don’t think I’ve ever taken anything longer than the commuter rail from Lynn to Boston. Originally we planned on hiking the last 350 miles of the PCT so QB could finish her triple crown but due to fires might have to come up with an alternative plan. Stay tuned there should be more posts in the next few weeks. And seriously thanks for reading, it has been a pleasure writing this blog and I appreciate the feedback I’ve got. If you want to see different pictures feel free to follow me on instagram @endlesspsummer

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Posted on September 12, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, colorado, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, hitchhiking, Idaho, land of enchantment, Montana, mountains, new mexico, smoke, sunset, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling, travelling, washington, wildfire, Wyoming

Day 117 8/24 25 miles

First thing this morning I put a nice beating on the continental breakfast at the Trade Wind Motel. It was a good one too, they had like 20 different boxes of cereal to choose from. I felt like I was in Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment. So many options but I gotta have my Pops, like 4 bowls of them. After breakfast we hit the trail, actually a road. For miles we walked along pavement and it was not ideal. We crossed under I-90 and it turned to dirt road which was better. This section of trail, about 52 miles today and yesterday, is actually an alternate of the official trail. The regular route is east of here near the city of Butte and a good deal longer. I originally planned on going that way but I heard that was also a lot of road walking and I don’t think I missed too much. Another time. Besides the city of Anaconda though, which was cool, the last two days have been a bit of a slog. I definitely was excited to be back on trail when we got there this evening. Road walking on dirt road is one thing but pavement walking is for the birds, especially highways with lots of cars. What’s cool about taking the Anaconda route is that all of a sudden we’re around a bunch of other hikers. The CDT is weird. Sometimes it seemed as if we would get into these vacuums where we would barely see other hikers for hundreds of miles but lately lots of hikers have been taking different alternates and all seem to be converging at the same time and place. We’re seeing lots of people. Pei Mei and his crew caught up and we walked with some of them today after not seeing them for a couple of states. Shortly after getting back on the official trail QB and I found a good spot to camp and called it a night. Anaconda Stack, this is one of the biggest smokestacks in the world and is now a state park. Google it for some interesting infoI did this for milesand then some of thissweet coyote fence!this guy George gives water to hikers at his hunting camp

Day 118 8/25 31 miles

Today was relaxing. Just crushed miles all day and the trail didn’t have anything too spectacular for us but at the same time was pretty easy. While QB and I were taking a little break this morning Spirit came bombing by. We hadn’t seen him since near Breckinridge so we talked for a few minutes and then leap frogged with him a couple times today. At some point this afternoon we caught up to Griggs and walked with him for a few hours. We hadn’t seen him since he passed us climbing up the Argentine Spine. He’s been staying on the official route and absolutely crushing this trail, the only reason we caught him was because we took the shorter Anaconda route and he took the Red(official) route going to Butte. We moved right along while hiking with him but the 3 of us missed a turn and went a half mile the wrong way before realizing our mistake and doubling back. In everybody’s defense the turn really wasn’t marked all that well. Queen B and I walked a couple more hours before finding a campsite. While we were eating gummy bears or whatever, Bones, who we last saw near Breckinridge, walked up with a headlamp on. He was trying to catch Spirit but decided to camp here also.

Day 119 8/26 23 miles

The trail was a bit bland today. Easy but bland. Although it’s been enjoyable, this whole section since Anaconda has been somewhat dull as far as the CDT goes. We walked a soft dirt path for awhile through a lodge pole pine forest and then joined a dirt road for miles. We walked in and out of the forest and over a few open meadows until we got to MacDonald Pass. Everything was all good today except for one mile that had tons of blowdowns that we had to walk over, under or around. A total nuisance. At the pass we put our thumbs out and the first truck that went by turned around and picked us up and took us into Helena. Hitchhiking with QB is pretty easy. Ted, a retiree and avid hiker, along with his dog Trip, took us all the way to our hotel and even offered us a ride back to the trail on Monday. We’re planning to take a day off here tomorrow and enjoy the capital so we took care of our resupply tonight then went to dinner downtown before crashing out for the night. a view of the valley from MacDonald pass

Day 120 8/27 0 miles

Took the day off today to enjoy Montana’s capital city, Helena, and possibly our last zero on this trail. Helena is a nice little city rich in gold mining history. At one time it had the highest concentration of millionaires in the world living in it, or something like that. Queen B and I took a nice little walking tour of the city this morning and it was cool. First of all we switched hotels to one closer to downtown so while we walked there we explored the State House and ran a few other little errands. The other day one of my trekking poles got stuck closed to the point that it was rendered useless. So we had to go to a gear shop and instead of selling me new sticks, they let me borrow some pliers and with a little bit of effort I fixed the stuck one. We also checked out the St. Helena Cathedral, the original governor’s mansion, and a really cool art museum but the name is escaping me right now. It was a regular good old fashioned walking tour of a state capital on a nice 95 degree day. Today also included McDonald’s for breakfast, pizza, gigantic burritos, and ice cream. It was a very enjoyable day off.the State House Red Sox nation is everywhereis this creepy?the original governor’s mansionSt. Helena’s Cathedral, I’m not against incredible architecture. This building is impressive.QB beautifying the sidewalk with a chalk mural

Day 121 8/28 20 miles

This morning we got breakfast down the street and looked over the upcoming section that includes a potential fire closure and reroute situation up ahead. After breakfast we went back to the hotel and noticed some of the other hikers had fresh haircuts. These guys bought clippers in town so we borrowed them and I gave QB a haircut. Not really, I just shaved the lower half of her head, I guess that’s all the rage these days. We then started back to the trail and got two relatively quick hitches back up to MacDonald Pass around 11. Back on trail we met up with Mac, Appa, and JPEG and hiked with those guys for most of the day. At some point we were in Ted Kaczynski’s old neighborhood(the Unabomber). The FBI seized his whole cabin though so there was no sign of the weirdo. This section is pretty dry and very smoky due to the wildfire up ahead. We took an alternate to the west of the trail that had a better water situation. Once back on the official trail we made it to a water source and shortly after that found a place in the pines to camp. This is an old train tresses and looked extremely apocalyptic possibly what the unabomber’s cabin would have looked like, as this was in the area where the lunatic lived JPeg, QB and Mac

Day 122 8/29 31 miles

Today was a hot, humid, hazy, and smoky day to walk to Canada. The water sources were very limited but luckily we came across caches twice. There’s some awesome person in the area that stocks caches at both Stemple Pass and Flesher Pass and because of them I didn’t dry up today. Due to the weather and a bunch of short steep climbs it was a tough day to conserve water. We hiked with Mac and Appa this morning until those guys took a different route towards town. As of right now there’s a big wildfire up ahead causing a trail closure and a reroute so hikers are taking a few different routes to get down into Lincoln. Queen B and I got to Flesher Pass tonight and instead of going to Rodgers Pass(where the trail is closed), our plan is to walk the road from here to connect with the reroute a little earlier. This plan will eliminate some of the highway walking around the closure that will be inevitable. Wildfires and trail closures are a pain in the ass but also part of the hike and not really all that big of a deal for us compared to the people who are living up here and who are actually affected by the fires. Anyway after a long hot day we found a spot to camp about a quarter mile from the road and we’ll be walking that for awhile tomorrow before getting into Lincoln.lots of hikers along this ridge, I felt like I was in the desert in on the PCTa large group of hiking enthusiastscool house!moo!!! I drank a bunch of this gigantic cow’s water

Day 123 8/30 13 miles

Holy smokes!! It’s been a super smoky morning as we walked down from Flesher Pass and even smokier here in Lincoln. We started walking down a trail that Queen B invented, following power lines steeply down to a road after a mile or two. Once we got to the road we walked along it for about 6 miles, took a left and walked another 6 miles to the point where the reroute cuts north. At this point we hitched into Lincoln and we’ll start back here tomorrow morning. We’ve got a big section coming up going through the Bob Marshal Wilderness so we’ll take care of a few chores in town this afternoon and hit the trail hard tomorrow. The sun looks crazy in the smoke, don’t even need eclipse glasses

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Posted on August 19, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, Idaho, Montana, mountains, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling

Day 99 8/6 30 miles

Yesterday after eating burritos at Mack’s Inn in Island Park we walked a couple miles on the highway before getting to the Sawtell Resort campground. Included with a cheap tent site was full use of their hot tub, pool and showers. Along with a couple southbounders, Magpie and Schweppes, and a pair of section hikers, Margo and Jasper, we soaked in the hot tub for a couple hours. I really hope they change the water in that thing after they let 6 stinky hikers stew in there for hours. After our soak I got a plate of Lo Mein at the Chinese food place across the street and called it a night. This morning we ate breakfast sandwiches then ice cream sandwiches at the little grocery store and began walking. The first ten miles were a dirt road walk that climbed up towards Sawtell Peak. Then we followed what wasn’t much of a trail at all for about 5 miles, more of a bushwhack, through tons of wildflowers next to a creek. At some point during this bushwhack we crossed into Montana for the first time and then walked along the Idaho/Montana border for the rest of the day. Once we got away from the creek the trail climbed through a forest and up on a ridge. We walked into an awesome sunset along the ridge but there was no place to camp up there. Luckily the moon was full and we are so far west that it stays light out until 9:30. Eventually we dropped down but the only decent spot to camp was right on trail. Oh yeah I saw a coyote puppy or maybe even a wolf puppy this afternoon jumping around and stuff, it was at the top of a hill probably about 50 yards away and I really wish I got a better look at this little rascal.Bushwhacking through buku wildflowers as you can tell from these pictures, I walked into an awesome sunset tonight

Day 100 8/7 25 miles

Today was rather uneventful. We got a later start than usual since we hiked late last night. The trail went up on a ridge this morning and then through forest for about a dozen miles before we stopped at Arduous Lake for lunch, not really fit for swimming though. After lunch we walked through a burn for hours and then had a nice climb up to a pass right before Rock Spring where we broke for supper this evening. I don’t want to say it was boring, I enjoyed myself and everything but it might have been the most uneventful day of the whole trail. We did see a couple of big sheep dogs barking at us shortly before we found a spot to camp but other than that didn’t see much wildlife and no other hikers. It has been a good section for birds of prey though, lots of cool hawks.delicious icy cold water at Rock Spring

Day 101 8/8 16 miles

We pretty much just crushed the trail all morning and into the afternoon to get to Interstate 15 where we got a ride into the town of Lima, Montana. This is a tiny little town and the motel there was full of mostly southbound hikers who are filming a documentary or something. Jan’s Cafe across the street was renting out little cabins so that was cool, we got one of those for the night. In town we finally caught up to 3 hikers who we last saw in Chama, NM and have been just ahead of us for months; Moaglee, Little Spoon, and Kibbs. After we took care of some town chores a bunch of us went out for supper at Peat Cafe where you can cook your own steaks. The place was cool and the concept of cooking your own steak must work out especially nice for them since they don’t have to pay a cook plus nobody sends their food back. We ate our steaks then resupplied for the next section at a gas station. I’ve been eating all crap on trail and that’s what gas stations specialize in.school bus for snow days that way you can’t send your food back
Day 102 8/9 21 miles

This morning we had breakfast with Moist at Jan’s Cafe next to the cabins. He had been hiking with Mac and Appa when we last saw him down in the boot heel and got off trail in Winter Park but was about to rejoin his buddies. Mac and Appa walked in the restaurant and were shocked to see that their buddy had come back from the proverbial dead. B and I put a beating on breakfast then walked out to the interstate and put our thumbs out. We got the rare big rig to pull over and drive us the 20 miles back to the trail around 12 o’clock. Once back on trail we walked on dirt roads through desert for a couple hours until the trail climbed up on an open ridge. There were electrical storms all over the place so we took an alternate that kept us low for a few more miles and hopefully the T and L would subside. This worked out for us for awhile since we didn’t get struck by lightning but on the bushwhack up to the ridge I had to walk through all kinds of nettles that made my legs itch like whoa. The ridge was a roller coaster of steep ups and downs for about a dozen miles before eventually dropping down into some pines where we could camp. I ran into 3 southbounders today including ‘One of Us’ who I first met in Northern California on the PCT in ’15. On the left is Idaho, on the right Montana. Or the other way around This rainbow started in Idaho and ended in Montana with the trail in the middle

Day 103 8/10 29 miles

For some unexplainable reason I tossed and turned all night and barely got any sleep. Insomnia has been, without a doubt, the most frustrating and difficult obstacle I’ve had to face on this trail so far. I ended up getting a couple hours of sleep and didn’t start hiking until close to 9am. My first half dozen miles were miserable, I was exhausted and dragging ass through tall grass and constantly stepping on fresh cow pies. The trail then steeply climbed a few thousand feet and Queen B and I must have both caught the eye of the tiger or some other rush of adrenaline because we both bolted up that pass. The rest of the day my body felt pretty strong and thankfully the trail wasn’t too fierce. A good amount of dirt road and some long slow climbs and descents with wide open views. After seeing absolutely nobody all day we came across a group of 8 sobo’s all within a quarter mile of each other(rare to see that many people hiking together). Among them was Salt Lick who I met in ’15 in the California desert, it’s got to the point where every time I see a hiker coming my way I wonder if we’ve already met. QB and I walked a few more miles into the sunset and down towards Deadman Lake where we set up for the night just out of reach of a thunderstorm in the distance. Just when I thought this trail couldn’t get any weirder, we come up on all these huge white cliffs

Day 104 8/11 29 miles

I thought I would be pretty sluggish today after another lousy night’s sleep but I got my mojo back right after climbing the steep trail to a pass from Deadman Lake. We then descended and followed the trail onto rolling plains for awhile. This afternoon thunderstorms moved in right before we had to climb up on to an exposed ridge so we found some shelter in a few pines and waited about a half hour. Perfect timing. The clouds moved through and the 3 or 4 miles up on the ridge went smoothly. We saw Moaglee and Little Spoon doing the same thing, chilling out and waiting for the storm to pass. Up on the ridge we had some pretty sweet views and saw a herd of pronghorn bolting past us(I thought these were the same thing as antelope but I guess there’s a difference). We dropped down from the ridge and everything was nice and peaceful for awhile and then out of nowhere we had this super cold rain for a couple hours. Whatever. It cleared up and we found a nice spot to camp in some pines by Morrison Lake. Howling The sky hazy from distant wildfires About 15 super fast pronghorn

Day 105 8/12 25 miles

Finally some rest. Slept like a rock last night. This morning we got up and just cruised all day. The trail was mostly rolling dirt road up high on an open ridge but there were some good climbs in there. We saw a little red fox jumping around in the grass either playing or looking for mice and stuff. When it saw us it took off into the woods. Too bad because the last time I saw a fox it came right up close to play, probably expecting a frisbee toss or something. Once the trail turned off the dirt road onto actual trail and started up towards Elk Mountain I saw what I thought was a black dog. It wasn’t, it was a little black bear cub following another cub but this one was cinnamon colored and both were following a cinnamon colored sow. At first I thought it was a black bear cub hanging out with his grizzly bear friends, but I’m pretty sure this doesn’t happen. After this cool little bear sighting we got up over 10,000 feet on Elk Mountain and then just cruised downhill about 12 miles to Bannock Pass. Sam, the owner of the 4 room Leadore Inn, drove up to the pass and brought us down into Leadore(population 105) for the night. To get here from Bannock Pass we drove down gravel rt 29, the last unpaved highway in the country, supposedly. In town we grabbed some burgers at the town restaurant and then hung out in yard at the inn with Moaglee, Little Spoon, Kibbs and Lux. To see more pictures of this trip feel free to follow my insta @endlesspsummer QB crushing miles

-Endless

PS All My Love!!!

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Posted on August 13, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, Idaho, Montana, mountains, sunset, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling, travelling

Day 88 7/26 7 miles

After sleeping in this morning in the comfortable guesthouse at the 3 Peaks Ranch I enjoyed a substantial breakfast with some much needed fresh food. Cereal with milk and bananas for a change(instead of the off brand dry lucky charms that I’m always eating on trail) and fried eggs with cheese on bagels. Plus grapes, lots of fresh delicious grapes. We hung out for awhile with some of the Nols staff and then Nina took us into Pinedale to resupply. In Pinedale we got pizza and grilled Nina on all things Nols and she told us about her fascinating job as a cowgirl, super b.a. After pizza we grabbed milkshakes and then Nina dropped us off at the trailhead. Queen B and I hiked for a few hours on the Seneca Lake Trail that led back to the CDT. We found a sweet spot to camp near Hobbs Lake and enjoyed the sunset with a view of the mountains while we ate dinner. QB and Nina and a whole buttload of horsesSeneca Lake

Day 89 7/27 29 miles

Today was awesome. Honestly it might have been the most scenic landscape I’ve ever walked through. I could try to describe it or you could just look through the some of the pictures below but the camera never does the scenery justice. I had heard the Winds would be pretty impressive and they definitely lived up to the hype. The beauty of the Wind River Range rivals anyplace I’ve ever walked through before. We passed Seneca Lake early this morning and then walked through a landscape of snowy jagged peaks in every direction and crossed countless icy cold rivers. Eventually we descended into a the Green River Valley and before we camped had awesome views of Square Top Mountain. Green river really is green!

Day 90 7/28 30 miles

Today started off with a moose sighting. There was a great big bull moose eating grass or something right across the river from where we camped last night. We walked through the valley that contained Green River and the Green River Lakes for half a dozen miles this morning and views looking back were incredible. Square Top Mountain dominated the horizon above the snaking Green River that is literally bright green, there must be some minerals in it or something that give the water it’s unique color. After passing all this water the trail climbed steeply up to Gunsight Pass, this might have been our steepest climb in Wyoming to date. On the north side of the Pass we got a nice view of the Grand Tetons (I think) in the distance. The CDT doesn’t go through the Tetons but I’ll most definitely make it a point to come back and traverse that park some day. After lunch QB was leading the way and had a close encounter with another moose and then we both had close encounters with about a million mosquitoes. The forest we were walking through led to a huge open meadow and it was something of a mosquito hell. I put on long pants, my rain jacket, and head net and not only was I still managing to get bit now I was walking around in a sweat box. It was annoying. On a positive note we saw a massive bald eagle this afternoon and this was definitely a confirmed eagle sighting (usually if either of us see a large bird in the distance and don’t know what it is, it’s an eagle until proven otherwise. We’ve had many unconfirmed eagle sightings). After walking across some fields with views of the massive Tetons we found a pleasant place to camp for the night.tough to see in this picture but this was an awesome moose sighting, first thing we saw this morning.ol’ Square Top crossing Clear Creek, coldest water everQB climbing up Gunsight Passand me at the topBlame it on the Tetons!

Day 91 7/29 29 miles

There was nothing all that remarkable about today except I’m pretty sure we saw a grizzly. Plus lots of birds of prey. The trail was rather tame all day following fields, snowmobile tracks and gravel roads. Shortly after lunch we were walking down a dirt road through a burn area when we saw grizzly bear running in the opposite direction about 50 yards away. Now I’m not 100% sure it was a grizzly but if it was a black bear it would have been the blondest black bear I’ve ever seen. This was a little alarming but it wasn’t a dangerous situation just a gentle reminder to continue to be aware. After a full day of hiking we got to Togwottee Pass and started to hitch towards Dubois. This is the first paved road the CDT passes in 180 miles. After a little while a couple in a pickup towing a boat pulled over. Walking up to the truck I recognized the voice of Joe Castiglione announcing a Red Sox game on the radio, I knew this was a good sign and the couple drove us all the way to town. St. Thomas’s church has a free hostel in Dubois for hikers and bikers, it was awesome. There were a few other hikers there that we hadn’t met yet and also 3 cyclists riding cross country. The hostel had a kitchen so QB and I whipped up some spaghetti with meat sauce since we both had been talking about pasta for about a week. Dubois is a cool little town and it was really nice of the church to let us crash there. We were walking towards a view of this thing all day, whatever it ismy favorite kind of hitch, the back of a pickup truck

Follow me on insta for more pictures @endlesspsummer

-Endless

PS All My Love!!!

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Posted on July 30, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, hitchhiking, mountains, sunset, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling, travelling, Wyoming

Day 79 7/17 9 miles

Enjoying some much needed sleep this morning, I didn’t get out of bed until close to 9:30. Just in time to put a good beating on the Days Inn continental breakfast. Then I returned to the room to continue sleeping until checkout. Queen B and I spent the bulk of the afternoon resupplying and relaxing inside an air conditioned McDonald’s with free wifi and a steady flow of double cheeseburgers and vanilla ice cream cones. Even though we sat out the heat of the day the temperature was still close to 90 when we got back on trail around 5. The trail cuts through the city of Rawlins and then follows rt 287 for a few miles before joining a dirt road out in the open range paralel to the highway. We ran into Buddy Backpacker and his parents Andrea and Dion who were hiking south for a section. I saw these 3 briefly last year in Colorado and we met Dion again way down in the boot heel of New Mexico a few months ago. We walked on, enjoying a nice sunset and found a place to camp as it was getting dark. People in Rawlins keep deer as petsstill living inside an REI commercial

Day 80 7/18 40 miles.

We knocked it out of the park today! The trail was flat, hot, dry and treeless all day. It was ideal for big miles. Early on we decided we would aim for 40 and were relentless in our pursuit. Honestly though it wasn’t all that difficult. The trail through the Great Basin is made for cruising. You have to go long distances in between water sources and since there’s no trees there’s no place to take breaks in the shade. Might as well just keep walking. There wasn’t any other people out here but we did see some wild horses and about a hundred antelope. I’m not sure if the horses are actually wild but I didn’t see any fences or cowboys and the hoof prints didn’t look like they were shoed (plus my friend Speed said that BLM has something like 10,000 horses). We walked through the sunset and as it began to get dark we hit 40 miles and called it a day.this all day long!QB going all Clark Griswold across the desert there’s antelope in this picture, there so fast and skittish it’s hard to get a good shot of themWalking into a beautiful Wyoming Sunset

Day 81 7/19 32 miles

There really is no sense in taking our time through the Basin so we tried again for 40 today. The skies were mostly overcast all day and this provided some decent shade and was good for hiking. Yesterday the heat was borderline oppressive but today it was much cooler and rather comfortable. I saw more wild horses again and tons of antelope(those things are fast!). Around 30 miles in we came across an awesome water cache stocked by Hawkeye and stopped for supper. I was feeling really good after we ate and definitely had ten more in me but Mother Nature had other plans. About 20 minutes later, the clouds that were providing shade and keeping us cool all day suddenly got really dark and suddenly we were enveloped on all sides by thunderheads. There was lightning in every direction and it started to pour. The only move was to quickly find a lower lying area and quickly set up camp. This wasn’t a passing storm, there was heavy rain with thunder and lightning for about an hour, and then there was an incredible sunset and a faint rainbow visible from my tent. More of this today but with a few more trees here and thereWild Horses!! Run Faster!! Run Faster!!!it looks like this weather is starting to change on usthen it stormed like whoa!

Day 82 7/20 36 miles

Today might as well have been two separate days, at least it felt that way. It was mostly blue skies, with a few clouds, a slight breeze and hot until about 6:30. We even came across the Sweetwater River and jumped right in. So nice to cool off after a few hot days in the desert. We stopped to eat dinner around 6 and had some big time thunderheads looming directly in our path. There was another crazy electric storm just a few miles ahead of us and we were the highest points on a flat plain. Continuing forward was not an option. We could have either retreated backwards and found some lower ground to camp on but instead we audibled. Looking at the map we decided to cut West down to a river and then stick between a river and a road that went all the way to South Pass City(this isn’t really a city but more of a historical area along the lines of Plimoth Plantation or Sturbridge Village). We had resupply boxes waiting for us in SPC and this was our next destination. Taking this route we figured we could go along the edge of the T-Storm and avoid trouble. It was crazy! For the most part we stayed out of harm’s way but were right on the edge of a couple different storm systems and more than once had to stop and hunker down for a few minutes. We had to cross a river, crawl under a few fences, and were cutting across what was probably private property but it seemed to be the safest and only option. After a couple hours we were out ahead of the danger and were not only happy that we didn’t get struck by lightning but were also able to enjoy some incredible skies for the last hour into town. There was a remarkable double rainbow as well as bright orange, yellow, pink, purple and dark gray sky in all directions. This was a truly incredible experience, I’ve never seen such an intense sunset. Wyoming has the best sunsets! It was dark by the time we got into SPC and found a spot to set up. I’m relieved to be able to sleep in tomorrow since the store where I’m picking my package up doesn’t open until 9.

-Endless

PS All My Love!!!Walking towards Wind River Range in the distanceswam here in the Sweetwater Riverthe sky got so crazy!I swear there was a perfect full double rainbow but when it was visible my hands and phone were too wet to take a picture escaping!Getting through the T-Storm safe and sound

Feel free follow me on insta for more pictures and maybe even a video once in awhile @endlesspsummer

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Posted on July 21, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, mountains, sunset, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, thunderstorm, travel, traveling, Wyoming

Day 72 7/10 Zero miles

I spent the day in Steamboat relaxing, running errands, eating and not hiking. It was really nice. I’m not a big fan of taking zeroes because they’re just unproductive and 2 nights in town get expensive but Queen B and I have both been feeling pretty beat lately and wanted to take a day to rest in order to go into the Wyoming nice and fresh. While in town we had a few little hiker errands to take care of. In a couple hundred miles or so is a town where there really isn’t any amenities so in addition to the food resupply for the upcoming section, we had to buy food for the future and mail it to South Pass City. We also mailed home our ice axes and microspikes since we hopefully won’t be needing them again. When we took care of all our chores we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the Yampa river at Dr Rich Weiss Park. They’ve got hot springs there too, or more like warm springs, and they’re really nice. These are built up pools collecting runoff water from the resort hot springs across the street. I also ate tons of food today. I won’t bore you with the details but I stuffed my face. It was very nice to take a day off and just chill out. Swam here in the Yampa RiverSteamboat looks a lot different in January

Day 73 7/11 20 miles

No hurry getting out of bed today so that was nice. Eventually we made our way down the street to McDonald’s for breakfast and I have to say that stuff is underrated. I know it’s hard to screw up breakfast and McDonald’s is no exception. We saw Roswell there and hung out with him for about an hour. I first met Roswell in Lordsburg and he’s been popping up every once in awhile since then. He was modeling a new pair of shorts he just picked up at the Wal-Mart next door and since my shorts were on life support I decided I too should upgrade my wardrobe. So I did. I also needed to get some more sunscreen because this pair was considerably shorter than my old pair and exposed my fish belly thighs. From Wally World we walked over to the highway and started hitching in order to return to the trail. I figured with my new shorts I would immediately hear a bunch of cars screeching to a stop but this wasn’t exactly the case. After about 20 minutes Karen Sue pulled over and gave me and QB a ride all the way back to where we left off the other day. She was totally cool and went way out of her way to bring us back. Once on trail we pretty much crushed it the rest of the day. It was almost 1pm when we returned but we still managed to hike 20 miles. The trail was relatively flat and relaxing and cut through forest for most of the afternoon and evening. At one point we rounded a corner and saw 3 big old moose looking back at us and shortly after that saw another moose way out in the middle of a lake. There is so many moose in Colorado. This evening we crossed into the Zirkel wilderness and found a place to camp right as it began raining. I saw 22 moose in Colorado. Anymore and I would have stopped counting new shorts have me exposing a little more leg than I’m used to

Day 74 7/12 33 miles

We just had ourselves a banner day out here on the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. At 33 miles today was our biggest day of the season and what should also be our last full day in Colorado. We started our day in the Zirkel Wilderness aka the Steve Urkel wilderness and it was awesome. This place is a hidden gem within the state. I hadn’t heard of it until just a couple days ago and judging by the lack of hikers not many others know about it either. For a few miles this morning we hiked with Thunder and Snow. We had heard of this couple and had even seen their tracks because they skied through the San Juans ahead of us. If you look back in this blog I’m pretty sure I’ve got pictures of their perfect figure 8’s in the snow. QB and I had a good pace going all day and didn’t even slow down during some afternoon rain. This was probably the most substantial rain we’ve got the whole trip and it really wasn’t all that bad. I think I even saw an eagle today. We’ve had many unconfirmed eagle sightings(if either of us see a big bird it’s an eagle until proven otherwise), but this was as close as it gets, I’m almost positive it was a bald eagle. There was a nice climb at the end of the day and as we looked for a place to camp we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset that will probably be our last in Colorado. Early morning walking thru the Zirkel last Colorado sunset
Day 75 7/13 33 miles

Had another big day out here, slightly less than yesterday but still some big miles. About 10 miles into the day we crossed the border into Wyoming. I think crossing state lines on a thru hike is a big deal; it gives me a sense of accomplishment and also makes me feel like I’m in a whole new place, which I am. Recently I heard Colorado referred to as the hardest state out of any on the triple crown. Although I’ve got a couple states to go I would agree with this statement. Previously I would have said New Hampshire but since it’s only about 160 miles, so I guess I’ll give NH the pound for pound title. Colorado has been amazingly beautiful and at the same time consistently difficult and relentless. I had very few easy days through CO. Still awesome though. After we crossed into Wyoming we followed the trail up and down through open fields and forests for about 20 miles before reaching Battle Pass this evening. We didn’t see another person all day and then there was absolutely no traffic at the Pass. For a few minutes I was concerned that the world had ended. It didn’t. After awhile of trying to hitch we called a hotel in town and the owner, Desi, drove up and gave us a ride down into Encampment. Spending the night here, resupplying and getting back at it tomorrow evening or something. Follow me on insta for more pictures @endlesspsummerYeah it is quartz(I think) everywhere as soon as we got into WyomingQueen B walking to Canadauntil next time,

Endless

PS All My Love!!!

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Posted on July 14, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, colorado, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, mountains, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling, triple crown, Wyoming

Day 68 7/6 29 miles

This morning we walked from the campground for a little over a mile until we rejoined the trail in downtown Grand Lake where we proceeded to crush a huge breakfast before moving on. GL is either within Rocky Mountain National Park or right on the edge of it. The deal with the park is you need a permit to camp there overnight. To get a permit you need to be carrying a bear cannister and I most definitely wasn’t going to do that. Our options were to either take a 4 mile trail that cuts through the park or hike a 28 mile horse shoe shaped trail that goes deep within RMNP. We chose the latter, I mean the place is a national treasure after all, and just knew we had to crush all day so we wouldn’t be camping within the park boundaries. It was a wise choice, the place is beautiful. Because it’s a national park the trails are well built, well maintained and nicely graded. Early on it was hot out and I was moving fast so I jumped into an icy cold river to cool off. Possibly the coldest water I’ve ever swam in. This afternoon we spent a lot of time up along a ridge outrunning some fierce looking thunderheads. We then dropped back down below tree line, walked for miles beside a meadow, and then really had to pick up the pace to avoid death by mosquito bite. Queen B is a conscientious objector to the war on bugs and I’m forgetful, so between the two of us we don’t have a drop of bug spray. I always forget while I’m in town and then remember when I’m feeling the wrath of the mosquitoes fury. The situation improved once we got to a road but for about 3 miles this evening the bugs were about as bad as they get. Right around sunset we reached the border of RMNP and the Never Summer Wilderness where we could camp freely without a permit or a bear cannister. Oh yeah we saw 4 moose throughout the day today and dozens of elk up on the ridge.

Day 69 7/7 19 miles

I don’t know what my problem was last night but I just couldn’t sleep. I should have been super tired because of the day I put in on trail but I tossed and turned for hours. So today I was exhausted all day and the trail hasn’t been working in my favor. During the first 6 miles there was a long uphill slog to the top of Bowen Pass and then lots of ups and downs throughout the rest of the day with many blow downs in the trail that we had to climb over, duck under or walk around. During the climb up to Bowen Pass this morning we rounded a corner with QB leading the way and had a close encounter with 4 gigantic moose, 2 bulls and 2 cows. It was wicked cool! They were just chilling there eating and scratching themselves and really didn’t pay us no mind so we watched them for awhile from a safe distance. Today was difficult, mostly because I was running on barely any sleep, but also because the trail was no picnic. We called it early around 6pm at the bottom of another major climb that we can save until tomorrow. Hoping for some rest tonight. A great big moose all sneaky behind that tree looking back from Bowen Passsave that climb for tomorrow

Day 70 7/8 25 miles

Damn! Today was tough. The first few miles were a steep climb up to the top of Parkview Lookout. This might have been the most difficult climb of the whole trip. At least it felt that way, and that’s what really counts, right? At 12,300 feet this is the last time the trail goes up over 12,000 feet. I’m not 100 percent on that though I just glanced at the elevation profile for the rest of the trail. As I was climbing up the ridge to the top of this peak I saw what I could have sworn was a polar bear. That didn’t make any sense though so I convinced myself it was an albino black bear. Turns out it was a mountain goat, I’m an idiot. After the initial climb the trail really didn’t let up the rest of the day. We descended for awhile on a ridge and then it was up and down for miles slowing me down and beating me up. This evening we had one last solid climb before reaching a forest road and finding a spot to camp. Looking back at a pretty rad ridgewalknot a polar bearthat was one beefy climb

Day 71 7/9 25 miles

Last night we finished reading Grapes of Wrath. That was an incredible book. Both thumbs all the way up and what an ending! Queen B and I are trying to come up with a thru hiking summer reading list. So far Huck Finn and Grapes of Wrath both make the cut, next up is Swiss Family Robinson, I’ll keep you posted. Today the trail finally gave us an easy day. Not the most scenic or anything but just good cruising miles. We walked mostly downhill along a dirt forest road for about 15 miles. This was a long dry stretch but thankfully a couple that was camping in an RV at the edge of Arapaho forest hooked us up with some good clean water. Eventually the forest road ended and we walked for about 10 miles along highway 14. It wasn’t super exciting but we moved quickly all day, doing 25 miles without stopping. When we reached rt 40 we stuck our thumbs out and the first car that came by scooped us up and drove us a half hour to the town of Steamboat Springs (I’d like to think it’s me but it’s probably QB that’s been making hitchhiking so easy). I skied here in January and have been looking forward to returning ever since. I’m not big on taking zeroes during a thru hike but there’s a good chance we spend the day here tomorrow. A little rest will definitely do me good and this is just the right town to spend some time in. Feel free to follow me on insta for more pictures and even some videos of this adventure @endlesspsummer Roadwalk: the highway kind

-Endless

PS All My Love!!!

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Posted on July 10, 2017 by endlesspsummer

Hiking, Thru hiking, travel

adventure, cdt, colorado, continental divide trail, hike, Hiking, moose, mountain goat, mountains, thru hike, Thru hiking, thruhike, thruhiking, travel, traveling

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Endless P Summer

Canada!

Lincoln, MT

Wisdom, Montana

Leadore, Idaho

Dubois, WY

South Pass City, WY

Encampment, WY

Steamboat Springs, CO