15-08-21 Day 132 Chinese Wall – Mark Trail CDT

Hiking The Continental Divide Trail
Mark Trail CDT 2015

Since I was camped in the middle of forest fire blow downs and I had to make up fifteen miles that I’m short from yesterday, I decided to forgo the coffee and start hiking at 6:06 am. I hiked west along the South Fork of the Sun River. North then west again to the Chinese Wall. I ran into Ben, Sal, and Anthony, from Helena, who gave me my first ride five miles towards town.

We had a snack together and then I ran into, Cody, Justin, and Zane, from Lincoln, who stopped yesterday and gave me a beer. It was just like old home week.

It was after noon when I reached the wall. Unfortunately the sun was past the wall and it was shaded so the pictures I took weren’t the best.

I was doing OK time wise and stopped at 5:30 for dinner at West Creek. At 6:00 it started raining so I quickly packed up and started hiking. The smoke from the fires became thick and there was ash in the air… Another ongoing concern on the CDT. The rain let up and I was able to set up the Zpacks Heximid Plus tent before it started to rain again……..At 9:30 pm the rain stopped…and turned into snow. It was snowing so hard, I couldn’t find the bear rope I hung earlier. I ate half of a 11.4 oz bag of Peanut M & Ms to keep warm… It worked.

Below Spotted Bear Pass.  24 Miles

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