Great Divide Trail – Twig Adventures

Wind River High Route, Part 2

November 25, 2024 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

WRHR NOBO Day 1, Saturday, Aug 10th, 2024, Big Sandy trailhead to Big Sandy Lake west end, 5 miles, Elevation 9700′. I felt a bit defeated after our first attempt at the High Route, but better about our chances on our second go around. Approaching the the route from the south allowed for more bailout points at the beginning. At first we were just going to do the Cirque of Towers circuit, but then we decided to go for the rest, wx forecast be damned. We brought about 6 days of food and hoped for the best. The biggest challenge was getting to the Big Sandy trailhead, which was almost a 2 hour drive one way. Incredibly, a Florida friend[…]

Wind River High Route, Part 1

November 22, 2024 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

We managed a quick turn-around in Pinedale, gathering enough food for about 6 days, as we planned to do the Alan Dixon version of the high route. We briefly considered the Andrew Skurka version, but it looked like a more difficult route than we wanted to take on. Plus, we were already in Pinedale, so our options were limited to the two trailheads on the western side of the range: Green River and Big Sandy. These are the 2 start/end points of the AD route. Getting to either trailhead is a daunting task, as I already knew from hitching to and from Green River while on the the CDT. But we figured we could swing it. We also had our[…]

Jackson Hole & the Gros Ventre Wilderness

November 21, 2024 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

We spent a day in Jackson Hole hanging out with other hikers and getting a taste of the town. First we made a visit to REI and Safeway for some provisions. My shoes were pretty shot, but instead of getting new ones (which I couldn’t anyway because no store carries Altra Superiors), I got Superfeet inserts. These actually did the trick in giving me a little more support and cushioning for the remainder of the summer. We met several CDT hikers at the Safeway, then got a ride over to the rec center. We’d determined the cheapest way to enjoy quality time in town was to buy a day pass for $15. So we spent the afternoon taking showers, hanging[…]

After the GDT: Back to the US, Past Glacier, Yellowstone, and onto the Teton Crest Trail

November 20, 2024 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

The following couple of posts will be more of a summary, combining multiple days in an effort to document some spontaneous section hikes over the 2024 summer. I spent about a week trying to figure out what to do after the GDT, then making my way back onto a trail. Roughly, my plan was to complete some alternate stretches along the CDT, which I missed in favor of sticking to the main route during my 2019 thru-hike. My strategy pretty much was to wing-it and see what happened. The first goal was getting back to the US. My post on the GDT FB page got the attention of an incredibly kind lady, Lisa, who offered to drive us from Calgary[…]

GDT Day 22: The End of the GDT, For Now

September 15, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Wednesday, July 24th, 2024, 0700-1800Helmet Falls Campground to Ottertail trailhead, mm 332.617.2 miles, Gain: 2340′, Loss: 4200′, elevation 3880′ Woody actually beat me out of camp in the morning…I guess he was that eager to get out, too. I was slow to begin moving, despondent about our thru hike ending so prematurely. But I pushed my way up our final pass (Good Sir) pretty fast and easily. Far Out notes warned of some bushwhacky sections on the descent, but I didn’t find it to be that bad. I caught up to Woody and we took a short morning break at the McArthur ranger cabin. It was to have been our campsite this night, but we were obviously pushing on. Parks[…]

GDT Day 21: The Rockwall

September 12, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Tuesday, July 23th, 2024, 0700-1730Floe Lake to Helmet Falls Campground, mm 31517 miles, Gain: 5375′, Loss: 6310′, elevation 5740′ Well, this was the day when we all discovered our GDT thru-hike was over. I slept well and woke feeling excited for another day, especially through an area so renowned as the Rockwall. But just as I was passing Jan’s tent on my way to breakfast, he told me the news from the GDT grapevine. Another hiker told him that Jasper National Park and the town were being evacuated due to a raging set of fires that had just sprang up in the past few days. Also, the fire in section D had grown and now closed all of that section[…]

GDT Day 20: Floe Lake

September 12, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Monday, July 22nd, 2024, 0640-1230Ball Pass Junction camp to Floe Lake, mm 298.114 miles, Gain: 3865′, Loss: 3590′, elevation 6670′ I took it easy packing in the morning, since distance-wise it was a short day. Two groups left before me: the Strawbridges of course, and another couple, Colby and Janet. I later found out they were also hikng the GDT. I think pretty much everyone staying at the campsite were on the GDT, since it wasn’t really in the vicinity of big attractions, nor was it anything special as a camp itself. But it was a convenient location along the GDT. This was the first camp we stayed at that wasn’t on our permit, but it worked out. At least[…]

GDT Day 19: Sunshine

September 11, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Sunday, July 21st, 2024, 0600-1800Howard Douglas Campground to Ball Pass Junction camp, mm 28517.5 miles, Gain: 3130′, Loss: 4270′, elevation 6380′ I was up early to hike 3.5 miles to the Sunshine ski lodge, eager to maximize my Wi-Fi and real-food-eating time. It had been over 10 days since I had a connection to anything other than texts from my ZOLEO satellite messenger. A lot of big news was coming from the US…even our Canadian friends were talking about it. But I was kind of glad to be so isolated, truth be told. The sunrise over the mountains and meadows was well worth the effort of packing so early. Even the mosquitos were still asleep, so it was a win-win[…]

GDT Day 18: Heat

September 2, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Saturday, July 20th, 2024, 0700-1700Marvel Lake Campground to Howard Douglas Campground, mm 268.720 miles, Gain: 4850′, Loss: 3350′, elevation 6080′ I felt pretty fresh starting this day, but it ended up being another hard day. I quickly covered the rest of the distance to Marvel Lake and wondered why the campsite wasn’t located anywhere near it. Instead, it was in the woods with no views of anything. But it didn’t matter to me, since I arrived late and left so early. The Strawbridges were also already on the trail, probably miles ahead of me. We seemed to be the only ones for a few hours. But promptly after 9 am, on the way up to Wonder Pass, I started passing[…]

GDT Day 17: Marvel

August 24, 2024 kaulua26 Great Divide Trail

Friday, July 19th, 2024, 0710-1920Beatty Lake to Marvel Lake Campground, mm 248.626 miles, Gain: 2880′, Loss: 4110′, elevation 5900′ Several times through the night I had to chase off the porcs. The little guy was climbing around in a nearby downed tree, making a racket, and then a much bigger porc was strolling by several times. I even caught him chewing on my bottle, which I figured would be of no interest. So I gave him a taste of the contents of the water bottle and he decided he didn’t like it after all. My goodness there seemed to be a lot of porcs! I even caught one grazing over the picnic table when I went to get my bear[…]

Category: Great Divide Trail