CDT85
18th July Tuesday
25 miles
I camped within the Yellowstone border last night which I knew I shouldn’t have but I’d just had enough walking for the day. This morning I had only 4 miles to cross over to the Idaho state, which there wasn’t any real signage except for what an other CDT hiker made up and then not long later, I said goodbye to Yellowstone and the constant concern of bears being on the trail.
Saying goodbye to Yellowstone
Nothing really exciting happen today where the trail was in fact a disused road and the ground was hard on my soles. The local government looks to block these forestry roads by diving a big hole and putting the dirt across the road to stop any vehicles driving through, but they don’t stop at building, one but usually like 5 of these in a row, road blocks that double as an off road bike trail with adventure.
My goal was to get to the post office before it closed so I can retrieve my food package. I still have plenty of food left in my backpack, due to my skipping a segment to an impassable river crossing. So tonight I’ll decide if to take the food now, which will be 10 pounds of extra weight I need to carry, or post it forward which doesn’t cost anything extra as long as I don’t open the package.
As the post office was closed I found myself an ice cream shop and ordered a doubled helping with soda drink with unlimited refills, I had three refills.
Internet wasn’t very good, I talked with Eunhwa for about half an hour but then the WiFi kept cutting out, I think it was that time of day where it gets the biggest usage from the local holiday park.
I walked out of town for about half a mile to find a place to stealth camp, after I setup camp in what I thought a very well hidden spot from any bypassing locals. I was spotted by a local standing there from a gravel access road, it was the dog that found me, thankfully he was very friendly.
Not sure how the locals feel about me camping in the bush, I approached and introduced myself, Greg Miller with his Corgi dog were very friendly and took pity on me and offered me a shower at his holiday home. Or could it be my uncleaned clothes of 7 days that gave me away? admittedly I did have a shower yesterday then donned dirty clothes.
Greg’s a retired engineer and during the summer , stays at this lovely home made what looks like pinewood logs and in the interior furniture was mainly made of the same. The main theme of the place was local wild life, bears , dear and Elk wall hangings and even the cutlery had bear designs on the handles.
Greg and his friend
Had Lasagna which was surprisingly nice considering it was a TV dinner pack. 10 minutes in the microwave it was ready.
Bed in my tent at just after 9 o’clock where I had difficulty updating my blog being so tired.
Another great day in America with really friendly people offering help along the way.