Day 111 - The Best Laid Plans by Beth Whittington

The mosquitoes must have slept by the tent, because they were there waiting for us when we woke up at 4:30am.  The boring chore of packing up suddenly became exciting as we had to combat the little monsters while also trying to quickly stuff everything back in our packs.  Usually we don’t have issues with mosquitoes so early in the morning, but these guys must have been really hungry, like I have been the past few days.  I woke up starving.

Besides having to navigate blowdowns, the trail was pretty easy.  As a bonus, it was overcast the entire day, which made for perfect hiking weather.  

The blowdowns caused both Nick and I to go the wrong way at a junction because they were obscuring the real trail.  Since we are no longer hiking together (I know we probably should but we are just so much faster when we hike separately), I was the first to miss the turn.  Luckily for me, a part of my brain remembered seeing a turn on the map, so I only went 0.1 miles off trail before realizing my error.  When I tried to walk back the way I had come, however, for some reason I couldn’t find the trail I had just walked down (I had crossed a river and lost the trail when I crossed back).  I ended up bushwhacking my way across a marshy meadow and getting my feet soaked (sigh) to get back to the redline.

Once back on the CDT, I wondered if Nick had made the same mistake because I didn’t see his fresh footprints on the trail.  I was right - when my Bivy message telling him I went off-trail finally went through, I saw he sent me a similar message.  Sadly, he went further off-trail than I did.  It’s too bad I got lost on the way back to the CDT because I would have been able to turn him around.  

The blowdowns almost made me go off a trail again a few miles later, but someone was kind enough to put a few branches across the false trail, which prompted me to stop and check my position on the app.  Stupid blowdowns.  :)

so many blowdowns

Still, we made decent time and knocked out the 20 miles to the Lake of the Woods (where we were meeting Mark and Mary) by 4pm. On the way there we saw our first SOBO CDT hikers, which was cool.  

The plan had been to meet Mark and Mary at the lake for dinner and to resupply with another 2 days of food to get us to Dubois.  (I completely ran out of food by the time I got to the lake, eating my last snack at 2, so I was keen to meet them).  

We didn’t see them at the lake, but because it is pretty big we figured they might be on the other side.   We just weren’t sure how much extra walking we wanted to do, especially since we weren’t sure if they were even there yet.  

While we were standing there, trying to decide what to do, a guy on a side by side (Ken) just happened to be driving by.  Nick flagged him down and asked if he (Ken) could possibly give him (Nick) a ride around the lake to look for Mark and Mary.  Ken said that he’d be happy to - he just wanted to drop off his father-in-law (Rick) and sister- in-law (Julie) first so they could do some fly fishing.  While we were waiting for Ken to return, Nick checked the Bivy for messages.

He had one.

It turns out that the road to the lake was too washed out for Mark and Mary to get to us, so their message said they would meet us  at Union Pass Road, which we had crossed a mile back.  I wasn’t thrilled about hiking back an entire mile, particularly when I’d just have to turn around and walk the same mile back to the lake. 

Happily, Ken was kind enough to drive us to Union Pass road to meet up with Mark and Mary.  He made it seem like it was no big deal, which was a gift to me because I felt terrible for putting him out.  

Unfortunately, Mark and Mary weren’t where the trail crossed the road.  We knew they had had to drive several miles up the road just to get service to be able to text us, so we waited.  Again, Ken made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.  We chatted and continued to wait.  Finally, Nick asked if we could drive down the road a little to see if we could meet them as they drove to us.

We found them.  They had been waiting about a mile down the road from where the trail actually crossed.  I don’t know what we would have done had we not had Ken!  

Ken and the side by side

Before Ken left to go back to Rick and Julie, he offered to let us stay at his house about 30 minutes down the road, saying he’d bring us back to the trail in the morning.  It was an offer we couldn’t refuse - we hadn’t taken a shower or washed our clothes for 6 days. 

Ken went back to pick up Rick and Julie while Nick and I hung out with Mark and Mary.  In addition to our resupply, they brought all sorts of amazing food for us to eat.  It wasn’t as idyllic as eating with them at Lake of the Woods would have been, but it was a lot of fun to have our own private Trail Magic on the side of the road.  After hearing all they had to go through, to include driving in reverse on a one-lane road next to a cliff for an entire mile, I am incredibly humbled and so very grateful for all they are doing for us.

Since we weren’t finished with our roadside picnic when Ken drove up with Rick and Julie (the fishing wasn’t great), Mark and Mary dropped us off at the house on their way back to Dubois.

This house is incredible.  Ken and his wife, Trudie, live full time in Minnesota (this is the second time people from Minnesota have gone above and beyond for us - Minnesota for the win!) and they rent this house on VRBO when they aren’t here.  If anyone is looking for a place to say in Wyoming, definitely consider staying here!!!

When we walked in the door, we were greeted by Ken and Trudie, Rick and his wife Barb, Julie, and Julie’s mother-in-law (?), also  named Barb.  Everyone was friendly and welcoming and it didn’t take long for me to feel like I was part of the group.  I had so much fun talking with everyone that I didn’t do any of the things I thought I would, like send in blog updates or go to bed early.  

Instead, we spent most of the time downstairs, chatting with everyone.  I finally made it upstairs to shower, and when I came back down I saw they had decided to make dinner.  We were NOT expecting that whatsoever.  Two ‘real’ meals in one day?  While I had been starving for the past few days (not having enough food to eat on the trail isn’t pleasant), now l’m incredibly full.  I’m also incredibly grateful for this amazing family who were so willing to open their house to us.

We stayed up very late, but I don’t care because I had a great time.  These are the moments that make the trail such an amazing experience and I would have regretted missing even a second with such a  great family.

Rick even gave Mary and me some beautiful earrings he made!  They are the perfect souvenir for this unexpected little adventure.  

the earrings Rick graciously gave Mary and me

Along the trail: