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<DIV>I'm not sure if this made it to the list, so here's the repost..</DIV>
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<DIV>A month ago we left our northbound CDT trek at Homestake Pass, seven miles
<BR>from Butte, MT, and headed to East Glacier to begin hiking south through
<BR>Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat Wildernesses and the
<BR>Helena and Deerlodge Forests. Yesterday afternoon we completed our
journey <BR>from the Mexican border to the Canadian border when we once again
wandered <BR>into Homestake Pass - this time from the north side. With the
exception of <BR>a section of trail in Wyoming closed by the Purdy fire, we
managed to <BR>connect our steps the entire way. We'll close that gap next
year.<BR><BR>We had hoped to continue hiking south from Butte until stopped by
either <BR>winter or Jim's knees. Jim's knees got there first - but
barely. The last <BR>ten days have given us a taste of winter camping;
we'll be happy to head <BR>south now to warmer climes.<BR><BR>Leaving Lincoln,
MT, we enjoyed classic fall weather as we hiked the hgih <BR>meadows near Rogers
Pass. Blue skies and sunshine made the miles feel easy <BR>as we enjoyed
far ranging views. The third day out the clouds dropped low <BR>and we
experienced intermittent snows all day. Going over the meadows near
<BR>Nevada Mountain in total whiteout was an adventure in itself as there are no
<BR>cairns and virtually no tread - but that's why we carry a compass. Our
<BR>biggest surprise that day was that Dana Spring, our water source for the
<BR>day, was bone dry. We followed Jonathan Ley's suggested alternate
route and <BR>found water five miles later, right where he said there would be a
good <BR>creek. Thank you Jonathan.<BR><BR>While we were in Helena another
cold front moved through, dropping <BR>temperatures and four to six inches of
snow on the trail. At 9:00 a.m. it <BR>was 27 degrees in town - and much
colder at the Pass 3000' higher. Even so, <BR>the sun shone as we wandered
through our winter wonderland. I felt like I <BR>was walking through a
Christmas card. We were happy that so much of the <BR>trail in that
section was on jeep roads as the trail tended to vanish in the <BR>open
spaces. It's hard to tell a deer path from a hiking path when the snow
<BR>is fresh. The snow covered mountains were beautiful - the Anaconda
<BR>Pintlers, the Tobacco Roots and the Highland Range especially. We
enjoyed <BR>reading the many tracks in the fresh snow. It's one of the pleasures
of <BR>winter hiking. Days were beautiful and nights were cold. The
snow remained <BR>all week on the shady sides of the mountains and ice kept the
trail firm <BR>underfoot.<BR><BR>Ending our hike in Butte is something of an
anti-climax. The hiking this <BR>week was easy but mostly on jeep roads or
ATV and motorbike trails. We saw <BR>24 motorbikes yesterday
afternoon. There was no Eureka moment, no Katahdin <BR>high, just an "I
guess we're here, let's get to town."<BR><BR>We're both sad that this year's
journey has come to an end, but we're <BR>already making plans for next
year. We aren't finished with the CDT. There <BR>are still a lot of
options we haven't explored and places we want to return <BR>to visit.
It's a vast, beautiful country out here and we've barely touched
<BR>it.<BR><BR>Our special thanks go to Leslie, who went 'above and beyond' as
trail <BR>support for our hike - we couldn't have done it without you - and Mark
<BR>Howser, whose kindness and generosity were invaluable - as well as to the
<BR>cookie bakers who gave us much needed love and support for our
hike.<BR><BR>Did we find what were were looking for on this long journey?
I think so. <BR>We both love hiking, being surrounded by the beauty of the
mountains and <BR>deserts, exploring new country, discovering wildlife,
following the <BR>progression of the seasons from spring flowers to summer
sunshine to autumn <BR>leaves to winterr snows - and meeting new people.
The Continental Divide <BR>Trail provides all of that, and more. The trail
is still a challenge, but a <BR>beautiful one, despite our having done it before
and despite its <BR>increasingly 'civilized' nature (i.e. better blazing/marking
and hundreds of <BR>miles of newly built trail since we were here in
1999.) We hope it won't <BR>take us another seven years to come back and
do it again.<BR><BR>Walk softly,<BR>Ginny and
Jim<BR><BR>http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/<BR><BR><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>