Day 99: Leaving the Winds

Mileage: 31.8 miles (1763.9-1795.7)

I woke up to rain so I laid in bed until it broke for awhile, didn't get hiking until about 7:30am. I needed the sleep as I still hadn't caught up from the whirlwind Teton adventure with my dad. We didn't hike big miles, but each day was full, especially the ones in town where I had to take care of seemingly endless logistics and errands. At least I was doing the tasks with my dad.

Now, I was alone again, which has kind of become a theme of the trail. I hike alone until I meet a friend or family member in a town or to do some hiking. The solitude is nice, but it takes getting used to, especially after spending almost a week so close with my dad.

As I hiked along, down from Gunsight Pass, I ran into a guy Ed (now "Papi Chulo") who I hadn't seen since the border. It was fun catching up with him and his friend and hearing about their hikes. His friend had hiked the "Butte Super Cutoff", which is what I was planning on and he said it was pretty cool. I picked his brain a bit about resupplies and we headed our separate ways as we each needed to make some miles.

The trail was mostly gentle ups and downs through Sagebrush meadows and mixed conifer forest. Recent burns had left some of the forest just a skeleton of its former self, but this allowed wildflowers, like the pink Fireweed and something resembling Black-eyed Susan to flourish, as well as the usual suspect, Purple Lupine.

Mountain Bluebirds flitted about from fencepost to fencepost as I walked the dirt roads, which alternated with indistinct trail. The Bluebird's diet is made up of nearly 90% insects and I even saw one lugging a grub around, trying to dice it up in small enough pieces  it could swallow, while also avoiding losing it to another bird. They are almost iridescent blue when they flit off, and they just couldn't seem to understand I was following the road, so every time they'd fly just a few fenceposts down, only to have to repeat the process over and over again.

I walked and walked, ran into a couple more Southbounders, one who'd flipped, and another who actually started in Canada, I think my first true Southbounder of the hike! Of course, I'm sure I missed others with my week in the Tetons, but it was neat to see others going the opposite way.

I was entering Grizzly country, so I hoped I'd meet some other Northbounders also doing the Super Butte Cutoff, but it seemed unlikely that my timing and exact route would coincide with another hiker. Perhaps another two weeks alone. 

I made pretty quick work of the day, stopping by around 7pm, getting in 30+ miles and feeling ready for bed.