[Cdt-l] Hiker counts

[Rick Ostheimer]

Jon,

I think your nobo counts are a bit high for this year; the sobo count is 
pretty close.  In addition to Tomato, Evan, Joe, and Ed who have reached 
Canada, the only other hikers I know of ahead of me were SpeedStick and 
Voyageur.  I knew of a couple from Germany behind me as well as Paranoia 
and one other who doubled back to go through the Gila after the fire 
(and to avoid some of the snow) behind me.

I left the trail in Helena and am now a "Chunk Hiker" having done 1200+ 
"Ley" miles in 2010 and 1025 miles this year.  I think a Ley Mile is 
about 1.1 actual miles, based on the I have about 575 miles planned for 
2012.  Voyageur is also a "Chunk Hiker" and will be completing the CDT 
this year.

As to sobo's, over two days I encountered 15 on August 8 and 2 on August 
9 south of Lima, MT and there were a few, Gadget among them, who snuck 
by me on the Macks Inn route while I was taking the Henry's 
Lake/Centennial Mountains route (which I highly recommend).  I camped 
one night with sobo hiker Poppins, but he was planning to leave the 
trail in Yellowstone.  I did meet a few sectioners out on the trail, a 
couple from Helena and another couple from Miles City.

Handlebar