My uphill skiing pal Jim had graciously offered to make the five-hour (each way) drive from Steamboat to drop me on the CDT near South Pass City. Jim had completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route a couple summers ago and was always just as interested in my ongoing section hike of the CDT. Skinning up Mount Werner on the Steamboat resort was great off-season training and helped keep us both accountable in being ready for our respective summer adventures. The long ride was fun and seemed to have passed too quickly as we stopped at a barely noticeable gate alongside Highway 28. My excitement after almost a year of preparation & anticipation turned into hesitancy about whether I could do this. But it felt like this every year, and I knew I’d be fine once I just started to walk.
I realizing right away that I was hiking through the last of the Great Basin, having put off the 120 mile trek from Rawlins to South Pass City to another year after this winter’s crazy low snow pack. I wasn’t sure whether that was good rationale or just an excuse, and I felt like I was cheating a bit by not continuing on from Rawlins where I had left off last summer. In any case I’ll just have to go back to finish the Basin next summer. I was happy for some gentle terrain that first day and it was fun to meet a few SOBO thru-hikers. I settled into a nice campsite near a creek and a seasonal snowmobile trail. 8 miles wasn’t bad for a 1:30 pm start after working a graveyard shift and a long ride to trail.
It was nice hiking in and out of the woods the next day. I visited with SOBO hiker Pain Seeker who was finishing the CDT after being injured last year, and he shared some good advice on the route off the CDT towards Pinedale. I was surprised to find a BLM campground ahead on FarOut. There were even stepping stones leading across the Sweetwater River to the campground. I met Turtle Tracks at the river crossing who correctly cautioned me that a couple of the stones were just a bit too far apart. The campground seemed too good to be true and checked all the boxes – no charge, right by the river, lots of open sites, picnic tables, bear lockers, pit toilets, and a trash dumpster.
The next day I was excited and a bit nervous that I’d be entering the Cirque of the Towers alternate. Just about every CDT thru-hiker I had met over the years had told me this was the highlight of the trail. It was about 8 miles to alternate near Little Sandy, which didn’t look so little from above.
I found myself in a total bushwack almost immediately after entering the alternate. I missed the warning in FarOut comments not to rely on the app over the first .7 miles. Thankfully I heard the pair of women backpackers chatting across the drainage where FarOut had left me. I hiked to them to find a good trail. I had previously mapped the alternate in GAIA which turned out being correct, and I was frustrated I hadn’t trusted my GAIA route. I was relieved to find a nice established campsite a couple miles into the alternate, just past water at a little lake.
I started out slow the next morning, and looked ahead at the all the jagged peaks as I sat down to enjoy my cold coffee. I finally got moving and my first big climb up Temple Pass slowly came into view.
SOBO thru-hiker Long Story waited for me atop the narrow trail up Temple pass. We had a nice chat and I later realized I’d been following him on Instagram for the past couple years after hearing his story on a podcast. Beyond the pass I was rewarded with a pretty spectacular view of Temple Lakes with towering mountains in the background. I took an un-intended (and unnecessary) route across a challenging boulder field as I started my descent, but thankfully got through unscathed. I stopped for a scenic lunch by the lake and could hear (but not see) climbers on the rocky peaks above me.
My In-reach accurately predicted a thunderstorm and I threw up my X-Mid tent quickly when I felt the temperature drop, just in time. After a long downhill past Big Sandy the trail led back up towards my planned campsite at North Lake. A group of faster and better route-finding young women passed me and claimed the last small campsite. Thankfully the group in the larger site were nice enough to share their camp with me – it was almost dark and I certainly didn’t have enough in the tank to hike the next pass.
I got a late 9:00 am start and was a slog up the Big Sandy Trail over an unnamed pass, to start the real climb up Jack Ass Pass. I met a gang of a half-dozen female SOBOs who looked to be having a blast, and their friendly enthusiasm helped motivate me up the pass. I met Slide enjoying a hot lunch atop Jack Ass Pass, he noticed my rosary and we had a pleasant chat about our shared faith.
After hiking to the far side of Lonesome Lake I began the climb up Texas Pass. It was surprisingly steep and I lost the trail when I reached a burn scar, with even more sketchy footing. I was happy to hear some other downhill hikers to direct me back to main trail. I finally reached tree line but that was far from the top. I was happy to encounter some other encouraging hikers on the way up.
Several hikers had cautioned me to take it slow on the the way down the north side of the pass, as it turned out for good reason. It wasn’t technical but was a steep, rocky, choose your path descent. At the bottom I (of course) saw a trail runner easily picking his way from boulder to boulder up the climb.
(north side)
(north side)
I finally reached camp in a long lovely meadow by a creek, looking back on the Cirque of the Towers and Texas Pass. I’d had a long, hard day and covered only 7 miles over 10 hours. But now looking back this was my best day of this hike.
I needed to make up some miles after yesterday. I zoomed in on the backside of the Cirque and Texas Pass and it really was impressive. I think hiking SOBO into the the Cirque might be even better than the way I just came.
I had seen a lot more hikers and backpackers by the Cirque than expected, but this morning I only met SOBOs Kanga & George who had just entered the alternate from the north. I was was ready to rejoin the redline, and it was so nice to have a soft dirt trail to follow! I covered about 8 miles by 1pm and thankfully found a meadow to set up my tent and wait out a storm. I was glad the stormed had passed as I hiked up onto the tundra. I passed by lots of pretty lakes and chatted with Old Oriskany who was hiking Yellowstone to Breckenridge. It was fun to reconnect a couple weeks later when he passed through Steamboat with some of his SOBO pals.
After a much better (and much needed) 17 miles I found good camping on rise between Pipestone Lakes just as the rain started up. The forecast called for rain the next day and I got an early start to get up and over Hat Pass. I met SOBO hiker Andreas from Germany who was waiting out the storm, with the most perfect X-Mid pitch I’d ever seen. I often set up my mine to wait out the rain but all the lightening-struck trees from prior storms encouraged me to keep moving up and over the pass.
I had hoped to make about 13 miles, to get within 10 miles of the Elkhart trailhead where my pals Art & Teresa were camped. But when I found nice campsite by a creek and a saw chance to set up my tent during a break in the rain, I pulled up short after just 8 miles for the day.
I ended up waiting out the storm all the next morning, frustrated I still had almost 16 miles left. Some moose wandered right past my tent and didn’t even seem to notice me. That time in the tent at least gave me time to find fully charge my headlamp and find a quicker route back to Elkhart. Shout out to Sheep Dog for leaving the super detailed route instructions in the FarOut comments.
I finally got a break in the storm and left camp around 1pm. After about half a mile I reached the Bell Lake Trail, where I would exit the CDT with 15 miles left to Elkhart. I was thankful for a well-used trail and made good time. I was especially happy to have a spot where I could call my wife Maria in Mexico, the first time we’d talked in over a week. After a wide but shallow creek crossing at Pole Creek the trail weaved around several more lakes.
I passed through a seemingly endless series of drainages and finally reached the last trail junction just past scenic Elklund Lake. I had 5 miles to go and it was almost 7:30 pm. I sent Art an In-reach message that I had good all-downhill trail, a fully charged headlamp, and I was going to finish in the dark. After all the rain there were some super boggy sections, not ideal for a rushed pace, and I hyper-extended my calf on a stray log with about mile to go. I was a bit spooked with the random unidentified howling sounds in the dark and passed by some bear skat for just the second time this hike. I broke trail etiquette by playing music on my phone at max volume. Finally I could see some lights and even a set of headlights below. I suspected it was Art, and was not surprised to find him waiting at the trailhead.
This hike had been all I could handle. I told Art & Teresa that it was probably a bad decision to finish in the dark in the outskirts of possible grizzly country, and won’t do that again. Teresa knows this area well, and emphatically nodded in agreement. As meaningful as this hike was, I think the best part was feeling truly blessed to have such good friends who had offered to bring me all the way to and from trail in support of my adventure.
