CDT111
13th August Sunday
5 miles
Resupply day in Helena, all keen and eager to get into town I was at the highway at 6:30 waiting for a kind driver to pick me. It took a while but about 90 minutes later Jeff coming back from a 10 day skydiving event stopped and offered me a lift.
Jeff that gave me a lift onto town, relaxing in Starbucks
It really goes to show how some people go out of their way when they see a hiker like myself, there was initially no room, the passenger seat was covered with skydiving gear along with the back, but he jumped out and spent time making room. I was happy to be dropped off in the centre of town, my goal was breakfast, coffee and then resupply.
Being a Sunday, things weren’t open as yet and after driving about we spotted a shopping centre for my resupply, but first I needed breakfast.
Starbucks was really our only option for what we could see and Jeff was kind enough to buy me a hot Mocha and breakfast, thanks Jeff. It was great talking with him, he’s an international airpilot , not sure if he still flys but with his hobby of skydiving over the last ten days, he managed to jump upto seven times each day.
I must have stayed at Starbucks for about four hours, mainly because I needed to get all of my devices up to 100% charged and update my blog.
I’m getting a hang of podcasts which I have downloaded many many hours worth, good to listen to on speaker phone while walking, my headphone doesn’t work anymore as i dropped my phone the other week and something happened to the plug-in. Something I’ll have to get fixed when I return to Thailand. But it works out better this way as having a speaker playing while I’m walking lets animals on the path know that I’m coming so it minimises any surprises on the trail.
I would love to see a grizzly bear but then I really don’t want to see one.
Lunch was great, I loved the Clubfoot sandwich, I had Roast beef with feta and as a side, chips and Salsa and the deal with bottomless refills they have in America, which I refilled many times was great value.
Time to head out of town, it was a very successful town day and with a hour climb ahead of me, i first need to get to the trail head.
Took a while to reach the outer limits of the city, just as I was crossing the road, a vehicle stoped and asked if I was a CDT Hiker, he said he’ll come back and give me a lift and sure enough he returned. I wasn’t sure at first as 15 minutes had passed and maybe I just misunderstood him. He was in a different vehicle as he left his “mum car” at home and came in his old jeep with no doors. He came around the corner and I guess misjudged the curb and up and over he went and then pulled over and reintroduced himself.
Thanks Colter for the lift back to the trail head
It was hard to talk in the jeep with wind blowing everywhere and I could definitely feel the coldness in the air as we climbed back to MacDonald Pass of 6,200 feet. Colter Epler was great, we must have talked for almost an hour where he dropped me off, a constant theme I’m hearing from others that I’m skinny, I feel it as well in particularly in my back where my bones are poking out and making things uncomfortable so today I paid special attention to eating as much as i could and buying some decent food like, tomatoes, Apple’s, oranges, bananas, blueberries and more food for the trail than what I really need. My new strategy is to stop and eat more frequently maybe instead of every three hours I stop and eat every two hour would be better.
I know, my beard is getting messy, been told this twice in one day so there must be some truth to it. My thinking, I just have to put up with it for another 18 or so days then it comes off.
I have been helped out twice today by some really great guys that made my visit to Helena much more memorable and pleasant.
Yep, it’s defiantly getting colder now days with cloud cover all around me with visibility reduced. I camped out at the top of the mountain where I found a nice sheltered spot protected from the winds by a few large trees. I’m using my thermals in my sleeping bag and after talking with Colter, where he had just dropped me off back to the trail, he suggest I get my gas cooker back before I do the last 5 days from East Glacier Park to the Canadian boarder. In fact I could do with it now, hot coffee would be nice.
ThaiStick