Brian and Brenda's 2009 CDT Adventure

Deming, NM to the Mexican border

2009-11-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

From Deming we only had 60 miles to the border, and we could all feel the excitement building. The last 60 miles followed either paved highway or jeep road. Our route skirted around the only mountains in the area, the Floridas and the Tres Hermanas. Water was scarce and weather remained sunny and cold. The worst, however, was when we awoke in the middle of the night to find that our cowboy camp had been invaded by giant red ants. Brian actually got bit on his lip and looked like a plastic surgery gone bad for about 24 hours. As we walked the highway into the town of Columbus we were happy to see our tax dollars at work; as evidenced by the hundreds of border patrol vehicles we saw driving up and down the highway. We strolled into our final town and gathered the group to hike the last 3 miles together. With our packs full of champagne and beer we hiked the last 3 miles to the Mexican border in style. We made it to the border on November 17, 2009 and just like that, our 2600 mile journey across the country was over. It was time to celebrate!

We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who supported us throughout our journey, both on trail and off. We are so lucky to have such amazing friends and family. We look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Doc Campbells, NM to Deming, NM

2009-11-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

Doc Campbells wasn't a town at all. It basically consisted of a general store, bed and breakfast, and some amazing hot springs. This "town" was also the point at which we had to make a critical route decision. From here we had to decide between the shorter route to Antelope Wells or the longer route to Columbus. We actually opted for the longer route because of its close proximity to Columbus; only 3 miles from the Mexican border. After a quick resupply and a refreshing soak it was off to the town of Mimbres. The walk to Mimbers consisted of a long and mundane road walk. When we arrived in Mimbres we were greeted with the generosity of trail angels, Julie and Pat, who took us into their home and transported us back to the trail. The trail then took a 30 mile jog to the East where we hiked to our final 10000 foot elevation, Hillsboro Peak and fire lookout. We were actually surprised when we found that the cabin at the top of the peak was open, complete with bunks, and a wood burning stove. From the peak it was a steady descent into the Southern New Mexico desert. The hike into Deming consisted of sandy jeep roads, broken windmills, rattlesnakes, and every prickly plant imaginable.

Pie Town, NM to Doc Campbells, NM

2009-11-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

Our Stay in Pie town was A-Ma-Zing. Nita, Kathy, Ty, and Meghan were magnificent. I walked into town convinced that I didn't love pie and oh how I was wrong. If you're ever driving thru Pie Town, NM, stop at the Pie-O-neer. Enjoy everything and tell them Brian and Brenda (CDT 09) sent you. Oh and don't miss the VLA. From pie town we continued our walk south once again finding our tread to be jeep road, and water to be scarce. Special thanks to the guy driving the truck with the camper who hapended to have an extra 2 1/2 gallons of juice that he didn't need. After almost 90 miles of difficult water conditions we finally reached Snow Lake, and the source of the Middle Fork of the Gila River canyon. As we began our hike down the canyon the walls began to rise above us. The trail in the canyon crossed the Gila River over 70 times, in only 15 miles of trail. Halfway through the canyon we took a sidetrail that took us the famous Gila Cliff Dwellings and on to Doc Campbell's.

Grants, NM to Pie Town, NM

2009-11-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Grants was a fun town to hang out in. We found the best little Mexican place in town, called El Cafecito, and were introduced to the wonders of green chillie. We also got to see a movie, Zombieland, in town and highly recommend it. Oh, and due to the lack of water expected in the next section, we rented a U-Haul to place a water cache in the desert. Brian and I weren't exactly thrilled to leave Grants; due to the snow storm that we had to road walk in. It was impossible to stay warm as the icy desert winds blew across the volcanic landscape. We camped near a beautiful historic arch formation the first night out. The weather had been so cold that our water cache was frozen solid. The next days were full of endless road walking. However, it all paid of when we met the Thomas family on the highway. The Thomas's were trail angels who picked up our group of 15 hikers and took us into their home. Their kindness and hospitality was endless, and for that we are forever thankful. For Halloween we all camped together outside of Pie Town and shared ghost stories around a huge campfire. On November 1st we hiked into Pie Town.

Cuba, NM to Grants, NM

2009-11-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

From Cuba we headed out into our first section of flat, waterless, and harsh desert terrain in New Mexico. The good news is that we began to increase our daily miles. Our days of 20's were long gone. It is a whole new level of torture, to the body, when you walk over 30 miles in a day; our longest day was 34 miles! Walking on flat terrain also brought back the challenge of blisters. We were also playing catch up in this section due to the fact that we had taken an extra day off in Cuba. It took us 3 days, but we ended up catching up with the pack just before reaching the summit of Mt. Taylor. Mt Taylor, our highest summit in NM (11,301 feet), provided amazing panoramic views of the vast and varying terrain of New Mexico.l From the summit we walked straight down to the town of Grants, NM, located on historic Route 66.

Ghost Ranch, NM to Cuba, NM

2009-11-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Whoever said that is doesn't snow in New Mexico is a liar. From Ghost Ranch we climbed back up on the divide, mostly in foul weather. We had very cold conditions with rain for the majority of the hike. However, above 10,000 feet in the San Pedro Peaks area, we were given the opportunity to again hike in knee deep snow, in blizzard conditions, for an entire day. Oh, and it is also a myth that New Mexico is all desert. We were happy to finally descend 3000 feet into Cuba and see Walley one last time.

Chama, NM to Ghost Ranch, NM

2009-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

We have to say that one of our happiest moments on the trail occurred at Cumbres Pass. Number one, because there was no snow, and second because we reunited with other south bound hikers. We met up with Puff, Snappy, Freefall, Chance, Luna, So Far, Patch, Toothfairy, Valley Girl, Panda, Mike, Bret, Brie, Samurai Joe, and Sheryl. It was very strange and exciting to go from hiking alone to being part of a large group of hikers. After only 7 miles of hiking we finally crossed into New Mexico! With only 700 miles left to hike on the trail we were stoked. The landscape transformed as we headed south. We went from forested mountains to rocky desert within 100 miles. Descending into Ghost Ranch was a beautiful mix of cactus, sandstone, aspens, and red landscape.

Pagosa Springs, CO to Chama, NM

2009-11-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

From Pagosa Springs we attempted to hike from Wolf Creek Pass. However, we only made it about four miles before turning back, due to the bitter cold wind and knee deep snow. So, we were forced to pick up the trail at Cumbres Pass.
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Silverthorne, CO to Pagosa Springs, CO

2009-11-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

We had some big decisions to make in town regarding the early and persistent snow issue. We were not impressed when we learned that two of the ski resorts around Silverthorne were opened the first week of October! The next week and a half took us though snow flurries in Leadville, to ice storms in Colorado Springs. We caught up with our good friends Sterling and Meaghan (congratulations on the new jobs guys). We also got to drive up Pike's Peak with Walley while we were in CO Springs. We ventured up to Monarch Pass only to find that there was way too much snow for hiking. After a quick visit to the wonderful little town of Gunnison we made the decision to make our final attempt to hike in the San Juan Mountains.

Grand Lake, CO to Silverthorne, CO

2009-11-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

We left Grand Lake reluctantly, due to the very chilly weather. We had actually took a few zeros in town to wait out some brutal snow storms, and purchase some warmer gear. We also met a fellow thru hiker in town named Jeff. The beginning of the section brought sun, but we were soon to have snow. We hiked in the Indian Peaks Wilderness during the first section and camped illegally the first night. The next day we hiked in snow, and crossed frozen beaver ponds where giant trout lurked beneath the ice. The weather arrived quickly. We were greeted with the ominous icy winds from the west. In the worsening weather we climbed to 12000+ feet as it was getting dark. The weather stayed bad for the remainder of the section. We could only hope that the rest of CO was not getting as much snow as we were. Unfortunately, the rest of the state was getting more snow.

Sorry for the delay...

2009-11-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Brian and I would like to apologize for the delay of our Blog updates. Due to the early arrival of winter on the Divide and the lack of computer availability in the trail towns, we have been directing our focus to making our way South. The following sections are to update our travels over the last month, and pictures will be added as soon as we find a computer. And we have some great ones so stay tuned..
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Steamboat Springs, CO to Grand Lake, CO

2009-09-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

We started off this section with a familiar face. Soren, from our Wilderness First Responder class, graciously put us up for the night, fed us, and got us back up to the divide. Thanks Soren. We were blessed with the most beautiful weather we've seen in quite some time. Four days of bluebird! In this section we traveled the top of the divide and made camp at 11400 feet the first night out. The mountains around us continue to grow in elevation, and it always seems that we drop 3000 plus feet in between them. We saw our first bear since Idaho. He was a huge, fat, and shiny black bear. We also saw several mountain sheep on our trek. Today we are hanging out at Grand Lake to hopefully wait out the "big storm". It's threatening up to 8 inches of snow in the mountain towns with 40 mph gusts. But, a sunny weekend is predicted, and so we will hopefully have a window to make it to Silverthorne; before we need our shred sticks.

Rawlins, WY to Steamboat Springs, CO

2009-09-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

This section was full of adventure! Just out of Rawlins we met a wonderful group of gentleman from town who shared food, drink, and showed us one of their favorite camp spots. We took off the next morning and made our way back to the divide. We hiked in pine forest with intermittent aspen groves that were beautiful. We weren't as alone as we would have liked. Unfortunately, with the coming Fall, we have encountered the elusive camouflaged bow hunter. Not to worry, Brian and I have already purchased our fashionable hunter orange attire for the hunting season. We camped that night by Highway 70 and went to bed with clear skies. In the morning we awoke to a cold rain storm. We waited till the afternoon when we finally got a break to hike. The storm persisted on and off through the day, but it was nothing like what was to come. Again, we went to bed with clear beautiful skies at 10500 feet. We woke in the middle of the night to the howling wind breaking on our tent; it wasn't long before the snow began to fall. Morning greeted us with over a half a foot of snow and zero visibility. Once again we were forced to wait for an opening to hike. When we saw our chance we descended to lower ground to determine our best route to Steamboat Springs. Unfortunately, our safest and warmest route was to leave the divide and follow a country road to town. The road walking was not as bad as we had anticipated. The views were still amazing and there was hardly any traffic on the road. The temperatures at night were around 20F and the daytime temps only in the high 30s. We were very happy to descend in elevation. We finally made it across the WY/CO state line, making our halfway point official and giving us only two more states to hike! From the state line we continued towards Steamboat and were lucky enough to find a beautiful secret spot to camp. Thanks J+K for everything. The last bit of our journey into town took us by the Strawberry Hot Springs where we were able to soak the aches and dirt away. We walked into town the next day after sharing a camp the night before with a wonderful guy from NZ who was biking the Great Divide trail. Good luck Jeremy. Our arrival in Steamboat was great we were able to get a shower, some good grub, and meet some awesome locals like Corey who helped us find the gear we needed. Now the sun is out where we can see it, so it's off to Grand Lake and more adventure.

South Pass City, WY to Rawlins, WY

2009-09-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, to make a long story short, this section sucked. Well, not entirely, but it is really hard to come out of the most beautiful mountains you have ever seen with water abound, and walk into a desert. The land was beautiful, but we walked on sandy jeep roads primarily. The highlights of our day included spotting antelope and wild horses. We were actually approached by one stallion who troted back and forth in front of us. He didn't take his eyes off us until we were out of sight. The sunsets were beautiful. But, I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled to get to Rawlins and take a shower. Next we are off to Steamboat Springs, CO. That's right, this is the section that we meet our half way point! We can only hope, since we are not skiing in Colorado, that they have a indian summer and the snow stays away, just for the next 25 days or so. Wishful thinking, we know.

Togwotee Pass, WY to South Pass City, WY

2009-09-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

On September 2, Brian and I headed out for the first couple of miles with my brother and mom. We said our goodbyes on a hill that looked out over the Wind River Range. Not five miles down the "trail" we ran into bushwhacking issues and trail that was MIA. We did finally make it to a forest service road that evening, thanks to our handy GPS. We were exhausted from carrying the weight of 9 days of food. The next morning we were greeted by a pack of five wolves that we had heard howling all night. They actually approached us! Good thing they turned around, because I'm not quite sure what we would have done if they had gotten any closer. We made our way south toward the ever impressive Winds. They looked like the Yosemite Valley as approached them from a distance. There is no way that description or pictures could do justice to the beauty of the Wind River Range. We highly suggest that you put this on your list of places to see. The passes were high (up to 11,500 feet), the mountains were jagged, and ALL bodies of water were filled with the most beautiful trout an angler could ever hope to lay eyes on. Brian and I can't wait to return. The hiking in this area was incredibly challenging due to the hairy terrain. We actually only traveled 13 miles one day because we had to climb over 3 11,000+ foot passes. But, it was all worth the amazing views. The Cirque of the Towers, a place we hope to return to rock climb at someday, was beyond words. As we left the mountains, the elevations dropped and we began to walk through arid sage land. And, before we we knew it we were in the flat desert! We saw antelope, wild horses, and horny toads throughout our travels; oh, and the ever elusive truck driving hunter. The wind NEVER stops blowing in Wyoming. The air was so dry, and the water sources were always 20-25 miles apart. The walking was the hardest we had encountered yet. We thought the snow was bad up North, but the sand of the desert makes for super slow hiking. Needless to say we still bumped our mileage from around 20/day to 25/day. We were so happy to get to South Pass City and pick up our resupply box! We, for the first time, were literally out of food by the time we got there. The hardest part was knowing that we still had five days to Rawlins. Which meant five more days without a shower.

Old Faithful, WY to Togwotee Pass

2009-09-02T08:19:00.001-07:00

We hiked in 11 miles to Heart Lake with Dan and Sarah on a very warm day. We camped by a creek and had an amazing evening roasting hot dogs and marshmallows by campfire. In the morning we parted ways and Brian and I headed South. The terrain changes were subtle, but before we knew it we were back on the Divide at 10000 feet with stunning vistas of the Teton Mountain Range. We could also see ahead of us the spectacular mountains we would climb to in the coming weeks. At Togwotee Pass we met my mom and brother. We drove to Jackson and hung out, along with doing our other in-town "chores". We even got to play a round of golf! Now it's back to the trail where we head into one of the most remote sections, the Wind River Range. It will be our longest stretch between towns, nine days.

Macks Inn, ID to Old Faithful, WY

2009-09-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

From Macks Inn we hiked out on the road, in the rain. We were fortunate enough to get a ride from a wonderful woman named Karen. She took us back to her cabin to wait out the rain. We had great conversation and were later joined by her husband, Dan. She then took us to the trailhead, after the rain had passed, and we headed towards Wyoming. The next day we made it to Yellowstone National Park. We didn't have mountain views, but the amazing geysers and hot springs were plenty to keep us interested. We walked to Old Faithful Village and were lucky enough to perfectly time the eruption of Old Faithful Geyser. The next morning we watched Lonestar Geyser erupt in the early morning fog. We then met our friends from Big Sky, MT, Dan and Sarah, to join us for a short jaunt in our next section, to Heart Lake.

Lima, MT to Macks Inn, ID

2009-09-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, our time in Lima with Brian's dad was too short. But, the visit with family was well needed and incredibly appreciated. From Lima we headed off into the Centennial Mountains. We were on heightened alert for bears because we had heard stories/read of the healthy population in this region. Much to our relief we managed to make it through without any sightings. The terrain was more gentle, as far as elevation changes go, but we had many horrible miles of bushwacking. We had warmer weather for this section, which of course corresponded with a lack of water sources. It is interesting to mention that we were traveling through the US Government's Sheep Experiment Station. Who knew we even had a sheep experiment site? The most important success of this section was that we finished hiking the state of Montana (finally!!), and only had two days left in Idaho. We made it to the Sawtelle Mountain Resort and waited out the weather for a day, it was well needed rest.

Bannock Pass to Lima, MT

2009-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

From Bannock Pass we started to ascend to the highest elevation obtained thus far on the trail, 10,200 feet. This section was cold! Montana had a random cold spell and it was sub freezing temperatures in our tent! The scenery was amazing throughout the entire section. Grasslands with giant mountains in the middle of it all. We saw a badger this section, 3 bull moose hanging out together, herds of elk, antelope, and a small black bear. We were so happy to arrive to the end of our section because we were greeted by Chuck, Brian's dad, halfway up the divide. We stayed in Lima, MT at a great roadside motel. For dinner we even went to a colorful restaurant where we cooked our own steaks. Now we are off to Wyoming and beyond.

Chief Joseph Pass to Bannock Pass

2009-08-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

We started back on the trail amongst piles of hail. The sky was so dark and it was only noon. We amazingly did not get stormed on this day, but the weather was a lot cooler this section. The Bitterroot Mountains were beautiful and rugged. We followed the Montana and Idaho border the whole entire section. We paid dearly for taking two weeks off of the trail. Our bodies got reintroduced to the pain of hiking 20 miles a day, in new shoes. We were now two weeks behind all of the other southbound thru hikers that we started with. However, we started running into hikers that were northbound and had started in New Mexico in April! Towards the end of the section we began to feel like we were at home again, and the joint and foot pain started decreasing. However, there was still the mental pain of knowing that we still have 2000+ miles to hike. We just continue to take it day by day.

The Weddings

2009-08-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

In case some of you didn't notice, by our lack of updates and SPOT transmissions, Brian and I took two weeks off of the trail to attend the weddings of our friends Lane and Rory, and Melody and Mike. We wanted to share some of the pictures because both of the weddings were so beautiful! We were so happy to see all of our friends, and make new ones, and share in the celebrations. Lane and Rory were married on "the farm" in Bozeman, MT and Melody and Mike were married on "the spit" in Homer, AK. It was also wonderful to meet the parents and family of our friends, and we wanted to say thank you to everyone.

More updates to come...

2009-08-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

We apologize for our lack of updates over the last several weeks. We attended our close friends weddings; one in Bozeman, MT and the other in Homer, AK. We got back on the trail August 7th and hiked from Chief Joseph Pass, on the Idaho/Montana border, to Bannock Pass. It was very brutal to get back on the trail after two weeks off and with new shoes to break in. This section was beautiful through the Bitterroot Mountains up north and south into open high grasslands. In the next section we continue to make our way through Idaho on our way to Wyoming. We will make every attempt to update our web page after this next section with pictures, assuming we find a fast computer.
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Anaconda to Chief Joseph Pass

2009-07-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Anaconda was a restful town. We stayed for two nights to recover from the road walk we had walking into town. The highlight of the town was definitely the large community slide (see pic). We slid down it over and over like little kids, it was fun. Anyway, from Anaconda we road walked along the highway in some, finally, hot weather. We had been blessed by sun in the forecast, which we must admit is nicer than being cold in high elevation thunder storms. The terrain in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness (see pic) was vastly different from what we had seen before Anaconda. The wilderness was full of 9000 foot passes and beautiful peaks and alpine lakes. It was an area only second to Glacier National Park, in beauty. Our second day out we decided we would bust out a 24 mile day which included 8000 feet of elevation gain over the four passes we climbed that day. Our goal was make it to Warren Lake (see pic), which was described in our guide book as a "gem". We made it and didn't even have the energy to make dinner, but it felt so good to make the miles. With the weather being so hot, the mosquitoes were as blood thirsty as ever. Brian and I had to wear long sleeve shirts and pants through the burned forests in 85 degree heat, it was fun! The terrain mellowed out as we made our way out of the Anaconda Pintler area to the Beaverhead/Deer Lodge Forests. We eventually made it to the Idaho border at Chief Joseph Pass. We were blessed to run into a wonderful couple named, Jim and Rexine (see pic). They took us back to their camp where they were the camp hosts for the summer. We got to soak in the amazing hot springs (see pic) next to the camp and come back to a wonderful home cooked meal. They were truly tail angels! From the Idaho border we departed to Bozeman, MT for one of two weddings. Next we are off to Homer, AK for another wedding. We will return to the trail at the same location on August 6th when we will resume our hike and head out to Bannock Pass in Idaho.

Helena to Anaconda

2009-07-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

This section took us through, prospect land, lodge pole forest and rolling hills. It was short but like the other sections it still offered its share of challenges. Weather continued to be a concern with daily thunder and lightning storms and rains that would turn the trails into rivers. The trip to Anaconda also included a jaunt across private land giving us the chance to get charged by an angry cow and to perfect the important skill of navigating through barbed wire fences. We even got to sleep in a ditch. So goes the CDT. From here we head off into the Anaconda Pintler wilderness; our last leg before we head off the trail to attend some wedding celebrations.

Rogers Pass to MacDonald Pass (Helena, MT)

2009-07-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

This section can be summed up with one word, weather. The terrain was not that difficult but walking while it is pouring rain and blowing it in your face is hard, especially with lightening striking all around you. Basically our routine was to walk in the sun for the first few hours of the day and then at 1pm sharp a huge thunder head would start dumping on us. We also had our first couple days of 20 milers which were tough on the feet. At least our bodies are just now starting to get use to what we are doing to them. We also got our first opportunity to mingle with the local cattle population. Cows are actually really scary when you get up close to them, and they give really mean stares. Brian also got to see a bobcat on our last day in the section, too bad it was faster than our camera. When we finally made it to MacDonald Pass we were greeted by Uncle Wally who had Coke and ice cream waiting for us. Gosh he really knows the way to a thru hikers heart.

Benchmark to Roger's Pass (Lincoln, MT)

2009-07-10T14:14:00.001-07:00

In this section we were trying to get through it as fast as possible to make it to our next town, Lincoln, MT. We had already been on the trail for 7 days from East Glacier, and we had 3 more days ahead of us. But of course, the weather had other plans for us. We hiked out of Benchmark in areas that were marked by fires from 1989. We wondered through matchstick forests over increasingly larger passes. We finally got our chance to camp/walk directly on the divide, which is so incredibly breathtaking. We were, however, held up one day when we found ourselves at 7000 feet in the middle of a huge lightening/thunder/hail/rain storm. We huddled in the small trees to try and escape the hail for ~30 minutes. Then we got smart and ran for cover about 200 feet downhill and set up our tent to wait out the storm and dry off. The storm didn't pass until late evening so we hoped for the best the next day. Turns out we got our sun and it was a very good thing because we still had 2000 feet of elevation to gain that day. We climbed our first major summit, Caribou Peak, reaching over 8900 feet. We also found that while the the views were beautiful from the divide, they lacked one thing, WATER! This issue of no water sources would prove to be a problem for miles to come.

East Glacier to Benchmark

2009-07-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

First of all we wanted to go ahead and thank all of our family and friends for your continued support. All of your kind messages, conversations, and remarks are what help fuel us to continue hiking.

From East Glacier we set off on a journey into one of the most remote parts of our hike. This area is know offically as The Bob Marshall Wilderness, but we call it the "Bob". The Bob was 120 miles of probably some of the most challenging terrain we will see on the trail. It was to be described as pure bliss and brutality. We hiked out of East Glacier to just pass Highway 2. The northern part of the section was primarily a web of jeep roads and stream/river crossings. Can we say wet feet! The weather in the beginning was beautiful, we had several bluebird days that made for some pleasant hiking. We made our way South slowly. The terrain was very rugged especially as we approached the "gem" of the Bob, the "Chinese Wall". When traveling below the wall we spent about 6 miles post holing in snow and bushwacking through all of the avy debris that had rocked the area in the winter. We finally made it into horse country as we approached Benchmark, one of our resupply locations. We encountered many of Montana cowboys in this area. When we got into Benchmark we were a little turned around and a friendly cowgirl named Susan (see picture) befriended us. She drove us to the Benchmark Wilderness ranch to p/u our box of food and then took us back to her camp where she gave us a cold Coke (YUM!), and we got to meet her horse "Bronzy". Bronzy was a beautiful Tennesse Walker who liked nibble at the salt on our shirts (as seen in the picture). From Benchmark we headed down the trail a few miles and pitched camp for the night.

Many Gacier to East Glacier

2009-06-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

From Many Glacier to East Glacier we had 3 large passes to hike over: Piegan, Triple Divide, and Pitamakan. Piegan essentially climbed right out of Many and proved to be a challenging day for my bilateral pinky toe blisters. Brian also battled with his blisters, which we blame on the snow and Gore-tex. The next day involved little elevation gain as we traveled around St. Mary's Lake for miles and miles. That night we were rewarded with a beautiful view right out our tent door. It sounded like a swamp monster but it turned out to just be a gigantic moose bounding through the lake waters (see picture). Triple Divide was amazing because we got to stand at the head waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Hudson Bay all at the same time. Our last day over Pitamakan was beautiful with Two Medicine Lake greeting us in the distance as we slowly hiked (or hobbled in my case) down through a beautiful glacier carved valley. We made it to East Glacier the next day with 100 trail miles under our feet. We picked up the gear that Brian's Dad had sent and also picked up a pair of overnighted, larger toe box, shoes for me. And now we head off into the Bob Marshall Wilderness for 10 days (170 miles of trail) with no cell reception till Lincoln, MT (hopefully to celebrate the 4th of July).

Goat Haunt to Many Glacier

2009-06-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Our first full day on the trail we hiked 18 miles and were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty and remoteness of Glacier National Park. Not 1 mile down the trail we were greated by a huge bull moose, but he didn't seem to have much interest in us. We came to our first pass, Stoney Indian (see picture), where we utilized our backcountry navigation skills. A majority of the trail was under the winter snow that day. We made it to our first backcountry camp (see picture) just after seeing a black bear and her cub on the trail. The next two days repeated themeselves in that we would hike from one valley, over a giant pass, and into the next valley, zig zagging our way through GNP due to trail closures. We made it to Many Glacier and camped among RVs and tourists. We got to take a well deserved shower and it felt amazing! We were also fortunate enough to befriend a group of other CDT hikers: Chance, Freefall, So Far, George, Luna, and Aaron. They instantly felt like family. From Many we also were able to get a hold of Brian's dad who saved us from our multiple gear failures. My pack

B and B forever, we're engaged!!

2009-06-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

On June 14th, on the bank of Waterton Lake at the US/Canadian boarder Brian knelt down on one knee and proposed. Of course I said "YES", while crying. I was toltally shocked. That night we celebrated in style at Goat Haunt Port of Entry. One of the gracious rangers, Mark A., gave us a bottle of Meridian wine and a couple of retro cups so we could toast to our engagement. We sat and chated by the lake for awhile, it was wonderful. The next morning we awoke to have our passports stamped and headed down the trail into Glacier National Park.

Goodbye to the "normal" life

2009-06-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

Well here is a picture of us and the Boise family (Corbin, Mom, AD, and G-ma) at our last get together before the hike. Tomorrow we will drive for 12 hours to East Glacier, MT. Since our last post we visited my Dad in Spokane and had a wonderful and relaxing stay on Coeur d'Alene Lake in Idaho and celebrated Brian's and my Grandpa's birthdays at my cousin's place. We then drove back to Seattle and took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to spend a few days with Brian's parents. This time was crucial because it allowed us to finish up some much needed planning for our hike. The weather was beautiful and it made me sad that I was going to be missing a potentially beautiful Seattle summer, but then I got over it:) We then made a stop in Leavenworth, WA for a climbing festival called Rock Fest. Then a pleasant drive to Boise, our final driving destination. We had put 5000 miles on car-car (the very original name of our 85 Camry) in the last month and were happy to park it in the drive of my mom's house. It is hard to describe the excitement, stress, and anxiety that we are feeling right now, but all I know is that I am ready to start walking! On Sunday we will drive to Waterton Lake, Canada and say fairwell to the "normal" life. So, next time we post we'll have a few miles under our sore feet and will be back in the US somewhere in Glacier National Park.

Our Security Blankets new home, Our Pack

2009-05-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come. This is the last view of what we considered security. Now we're jobless and homeless. With nothing but ten months of adventure ahead of us. OK that's not to bad I admit. We just finished the website and are pretty happy with the results. Hopefully you all enjoy it. But, be sure to let us know if your having any troubles with it or would like to see something else. We have a few more things to wrap up here in Seattle and it looks like it might even rain a little for us. It wouldn't be a proper send off without it. Next it's off to Spokane to spend some time with Brenda's dad. Should be a good time he's a man of many talents and I learn something new from him every time. Much like my own Dad. While I'm at it I would also like to thank all our family and friends for being so supportive as we prepared for our journey. We will try to update this page as often as we can so you can follow along with our adventures. Don't forget starting soon you will be able to follow us real time using the Where Are We Page. Have fun!!