July 28th, 2019
Mm 6.5 of Mac’s Inn alternate to Summit Lake, CDT mm 988
Distance in miles: 19
0730-1600
Today is the shortest distance I’ve hiked on the CDT when there isn’t a town involved. It’s also one of the easiest days terrain-wise. I don’t recall one rise where I even have to increase my breathing. We get started super late, by my standards, since we are in no hurry. We can only go so far without getting too close to Old Faithful Village for the night. It’s kind of nice to lounge around, talking and enjoying breakfast.
This was the first night that Samson camped with us and we love his company. He’s a fluids engineer and worked in Germany for a spell. That’s how he got his name, after a muppet on the German version of Sesame Street. I google the name and have a wonderful time reading the wiki description. It says that Samson the Bear is big, goofy, clumsy, and with the psychological development of a 5 year old. We get a good laugh out of all this. If you’d like to follow Samson’s adventure, here’s his blog: http://michael-hemmerle.squarespace.com/2019-new-mexico-to-canada-samsons-journal
Back on the trail, we follow roads for quite a ways, reconnect with the main CDT route, and get some water at the last spring for the rest of the day. I have to stop several times because something I ate in town is disagreeing with me significantly. I hope it will pass shortly. I don’t feel nauseated and my energy is good, so I doubt it’s anything serious.
We reach the park boundaries and then the Idaho-Wyoming border. We are elated to be done with Montanaho after all this time and take many pictures with the sign. Finally I have completed one whole state on the CDT …the longest and perhaps the hardest one.
We only have 6 more miles until our planned lake stop and the miles fly by. The trails is soft and flat, with only the occasional rock or deadfall. Already Wyoming feels so much gentler. We walk through forests all day, over what feels like a giant dome. Then there are some springs where I smell sulfur. Yellowstone is a super-volcano, after all.
At the lake, we do a lot of relaxing and eating. There are so many dragonflies that the mosquitoes barely make an appearance. It feels so weird to get into camp this early. What a treat. But I think it would drive me crazy if we did it every day. Our plan is to get up at 4:30 am to hike the remaining 10 miles to the Village. A breakfast buffet at the inn beckons.