It doesn’t seem real that tonight is our last night on trail. It feels as if we just started, but then, when I think back to specific events, it feels like they happened so very long ago. I’m grateful I have the blog to remind me of all the things that happened because right now it’s all a blur.
I’m happy I won’t have to endure any more insane downhills in the near future but I’ll miss almost everything else, especially the mountains. But I digress- there will be time to reflect later.
This morning we got up at a decent time since we had 20 miles to cover. It’s a good thing we didn’t plan to sleep in because the group of guys camping with us got up early and instantly started loudly talking and joking around. I know they are having a good time together and I wasn’t mad, but it WAS jarring. I prefer quiet in the morning, especially when I’m out in the wilderness. Out here, to me, it just feels wrong to be loud in the morning (and in the evening). These guys didn’t seem to have that feeling whatsoever, though.
The hike today was our last true hike with one final pass, Ahern, to go up and over. There were more clouds in the sky than I would have liked, but the temps were in the high 60s (if I had to guess) and so it was perfect hiking weather, just as it has been all week.
I relished the uphill - it was the perfect level of difficult. It was also beautiful in an eerie sort of way because of the clouds.
I saw another bear as I walked by a wooded area. At first glance I thought it was a grizzly but was just a brown black bear happily eating right off the trail. Because he didn’t seem to care much about me at all, I didn’t bother yelling at him and instead took a quick video. At the same time I saw the bear, I heard goats on the rocky mountainside above me (at first I thought it was another bear). The goats were pretty far away but were still fun to watch.
goats are all over the rocks - you’ll have to zoom in to see them
Along the way I was also high-fived by a guy hiking in the other direction as a congratulations for being about to finish the trail. Not too long after that, I was given a nice little hiking pole tunnel to walk under by two other awesome guys. They all made me smile.
these guys were fun
At the top of the uphill we had a choice - continue on the CDT and go down, or take a side trail up a little more to Sue Lake. Since the guys we camped with raved about Sue Lake and since we had plenty of time, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Usually I HATE doing extra miles but this side trip was well worth it. Besides, I wasn’t ready to stop going uphill yet.
It was very cloudy and the sun only came out after I had been patiently sitting there for 45 minutes, but Sue Lake was still gorgeous (I can only imagine what the lake looks like when the sun is fully shining).
It’s a good thing it was cold and windy up there because otherwise I would have stayed up there the rest of the day, savoring my last opportunity to be high up in the mountains. I’m going to miss being in the mountains most of all (we were only at 7600ft up there but it was sufficient).
After the stunning Sue Lake, the rest of the day was mostly downhill and mostly on overgrown trail. It was beautiful but I was sad to be going down the mountain knowing I wouldn’t be going up another one the next day. Or anytime soon. :(
At the bottom of the downhill was Kootenai campground, which, like most of the campgrounds in the park, is off-trail but quite nice. We are here with three guys who all seem to appreciate the quiet of the evening. Let’s just hope they feel that way about mornings, too, because I definitely plan to sleep in tomorrow! Only 7 miles to the border and then another 4ish to the hotel in Canada. I cannot believe it.
Along the trail:
Camp: As I write this, Nick is watching the new Lord of the Rings series on Amazon that he downloaded because, as he says, “why not?”.
