Days 86 and 87 – Jackson/Wisdom Resupply and Recharge

We haven’t hitch-hiked yet on the CDT, and I guess we aren’t going to start if at all possible.  It’s that bikepacking self-support ideal, I suppose.  Or maybe we’re trying to prove something — not sure.  Either way, we rode the 36 miles to Wisdom for resupply today, and it was actually a pretty nice ride.

Day 86 started at our camp above Pioneer Creek.  Beautiful sunrise, spoiled only slightly by hunger pangs, and a little bit of worry about the trip as a whole unraveling.  It had been a rough stretch from Lima, especially for Eszter, and she was losing the motivation to climb big mountains after big mountain — especially on limited fuel.  I feel bad for underestimating this section and not carrying more food.  That would have helped.  But I suppose if you don’t think about quitting at least once, you’re not doing something hard or interesting enough, right?  Maybe?

The other thread unraveling was that I smacked my knee on a branch while following Eszter a bit too close.  It’s the one that has had a tendency to hold swelling for long periods of time, for my whole life, actually.  It felt semi-swollen but ‘ok’ for the remainder of Day 84, but it was definitely a concern.

All concerns are pretty meaningless when your food stores are dwindling and you are still 20 miles from any town.  There’s only one priority — find food.  We got up slowly, noted that Marmot and Gabriel were already gone by 6:30 (holy motivated hiking!), and hit the trail.

Fun singletrack dropped us to the creek.  We noticed the temps drop and the dew everywhere down there.  A couple of the hikers had continued past our camp on the ridge for 10 minutes, which seemed like a very poor choice to us.

I had a bit of phone signal and had by coincidence seen that Corey from Bozeman had just ridden out on Pioneer Creek the day before!  This was nice to learn because it wasn’t our intended resupply exit.  It was a bit of a gamble to turn off a few miles earlier than I had mapped out and researched, but seeing Corey’s fatbike track was reassuring.

There was a 2 foot deep crossing of the creek that our feet didn’t particularly enjoy on the crisp morning, but otherwise it was a straightforward ride.  We limped the 14 miles of graded road into Jackson, hoping that breakfast was served.

It was.  Sunday is the only all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet day at the lodge.  SCORE!

We ate 5 or 6 six plates of food while talking to Dash and Ben, two thru-hikers who had hitched part of the way into Jackson to check out the hot springs.

We were so stoked to be there, but there was a problem.  The Mercantile across the street was permanently closed.  It was open the last time I was here.  Crud.

That was a problem to deal with after a soak.  And it turned out, after a good night in a bed, too.  We weighed our options the next day and though hitching probably made the most sense, it was a nice day out, so why not pedal?  That’s what we do, right?  Pedal!  (Well, ok, we push our bikes a lot, too)

18 miles out, 18 miles back.  A recovery day!  Erm, right?

Luckily the highway is pretty dang flat and pretty dang empty.  Like 20 cars an hour empty.  Almost felt like a bike path.

We watched the osprey picking up sticks to build nests on power poles.  We saw hundreds of big winged bugs fly across the road — in twos attached and apparently copulating.  We wondered about how they create the many rolls of hay that the Big Hole valley is famous for (land of 10,000 haystacks, it is said) using the old wooden beaverslides.  Then later, we saw the little tractor that follows the mower, gathers the grass, rolls it up and poops out the rolls.  Cool.

Pizza was tasty and a nice change from the usual Montana Bar/Grill menu.  We hit up the grocery store for 3 days of trail food, sent postcards from the Wisdom, PO, then got to riding back.

We wouldn’t have minded if the ride back was half as long, but it wasn’t so bad.

My knee is due for a couple more hot springs ‘treatments’, another night indoors, and then we’ll head out to tackle the last section of what is becoming the legendary MT/ID border.  I think it may be one of the most difficult parts of the trail for bikes….

Then we will return to Wisdom for resupply — again!  A big Wilderness detour will get us over to Fleecer Ridge for more CDT.  Then the trail is rumored to be very bike friendly around Butte.  Butte to Helena to Lincoln, then we have a bit of an issue — the ‘Bob’ Wilderness and Glacier NP.  That probably means some divide route and then some creative thinking to get to the finish of the CDT.  Still not sure how that’s all going to sort out, but it’s exciting, and it’s starting to feel like the finish is in sight.