July 31st
The motel owner gave me a ride to the trail. I was weighed down with my resupply. The air was hazy. We couldn’t tell if the smoke was from yesterday’s thunderstorm sparking a new fire or if this came from the bigger fire in Wyoming.
The initial climb up from the highway was nice. There was water in the tiny streams. I could see the footprints of the group of four for sevetal miles, but as the trail elevated and the land dried out, their tread disappeared. This was another part of the CDT where there were alternates.
I took the higher “official” route. It was less traveled and paralleled a snowmobile trail. I saw a family out on their off road vehicles, but otherwise I did not see any people all morning.
The trail soon joined an old rail bed. This route was popular with off road enthusiasts and I saw several. There was a side-by-side (an off road vehicle with two seats in front and two in back) stopped at the intersection leading to my last probable water source. I asked them if there was water up the side road. They said everything was dry.
The trail climbed away from the railroad bed and eventually became a snowmobile trail behind a locked gate. There were a few long straight stretches. The terrain looked as if it had been logged 30 years ago, with smaller sparse trees.
I ran in to a few northbounders through the late afternoon. Based on what they knew from southbounders in front of me, I blew my last chance at water by believing the off-roaders; there was water down the side road. Two were from Israel and one was from Korea. This is truly an international attraction.
As the light faded, I searched for a campsite. There were some thunderstorms in the area but I found a clearing that had level ground, a tree for hanging food away from bears, and a sunset view.
backpacking over the hill 