Adventures in Onionism

Postcard: I'm in Mammoth waiting for the backcountry office to open. That means I'm in Wyoming, right? Sweet! I'll be headed east from here then south down the Lamar. The first day and a half in the park were very tough--hopefully the river trails I have in mind will be cruisier like the Flatheads. In general Montana was totally amazing. Just a tip for visitors--if you want to be liked say, "my dad went to high school in Browning" not "I'd like to see less cattle-grazing on public land." Phone: Garret was in Dubois today. He says the route he took made him miss most of the northbounders, but thinks he may be ahead of his friend Andy Skurka (headed south) which would be good company if Andy catches up. Note to parents: Greetings from Tower Fall Campground. I'm supposed to be at a backcountry site 6 or 7 miles back, but I couldn't bring myself to stop hiking at 5:00, so here I am. Today I saw The Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Man, it was HOT...

From a postcard: I'm sittng at the ranger station in Ennis trying to figure out the best way from here to Yellowstone. My preferred route crosses private property so I'll make a little change. Also looks like I won't be able to make it to Mammoth Hot Springs before my first night in Yellowstone, so I'll have call and get my permit from here. Aside from these minor annoyances and seeing way too many cattle pooping in my water, all is well. The Tobacco Roots definitely had cool parts. On to the Madison Range.

Me, pointing to where I was at the time. The red blob is a big fire that went from 19,000 acres to 32,000 acres the day the photo was taken. Yep, that's all smoke in the air as I passed the Fool's Creek fire. Crap, did I take this? Sure looks pretty. Wish I had some idea where it was. I want to say it was on the border of the Lewis and Clark NF and the Blackfoot reservation near the Swift Dam, but I could be wrong. Yep, I'm wrong, it's in Glacier. It's St. Mary's Falls, or Virginia Falls, one of the two. The Ahern Drift on the Highline Trail in Glacier. Usually this is a totally treacherous spot because the trail is crazy narrow and the cliff is steep and covered in snow, but there was nothing to worry about when I got there. Me at the border on August 6 at around 10 AM. From a postcard: "Please blog this. Aaron Rutman, it has been an honor to call you "one of my four friends" for the last 3 years. It's a shame I've only live...

From a phone call: No cute girls around. In fact, they're Butte ugly. Yesterday was a BAD day--feet were bleeding. Not sure if it's the cheap socks or the shoes that last 8 days. Possibly flesh eating bacteria eating the fleshy bottoms of feet. Despite it all, Garret sounded great and was in high spirits. He just got a new playlist for his MP3 player, so look out for a bearded Onion singing Neil Diamond in your neighborhood.

From a postcard: Arrived at Lincoln safely. Thanks to all the rangers and firefighters trying to keep us and our forests safe. Even more thanks to those with some compassion and a sense of adventure as well. I was totally safe, but just barely got through; hikers behind me are totally screwed. On to Butte.

On Aug. 6 Garret started a letter. On Aug. 9th he finished it. We got it this week. Here's the deal: He reached the Canadian border at 10:25 AM on the 6th. He kinda wanted to continue on Canada's Great Divide Trail, or take a left and hike along the border, but mostly he "just wanted to turn around and get to Colorado ASAP to see what the the San Juans look like when they aren't filled to the brim with snow." So he started a westerly route south through Glacier, trying to stay west of the Bob, but fires drove him east. He plans to reach the Mexican border by Nov. 2, making it 95.5 days northbound and 88 days southbound. Which he thinks is doable, but he's going to take a major alternate/detour through Yellowstone (don't send stuff to him between Butte and Dubois). A ranger he met kept muttering about him being "insane" just like on the PCT when the tough old dudes said, "Have you always had calves that big or you just do a lot of hiking?...

Garret called me at 5:45 Saturday morning, which would be 6:45 his time. He began with one sentence: "It's cold!" Even though he's at lower altitudes now than he has been at his entire trek, he was really feeling the chill. He told me that he's on the east side of the Divide (at least that's what I understood) just avoiding wildfires. It's weird to him that he's only going to hike about 5% of Montana on the actual trail, but he's glad to be southbound. He's also hiking closer to towns (thus the ability to call) which is somewhat disappointing. But on the up-side, he's glad he's not risking his life hiking through a forest fire. Also he's seen several bears. He should hit Lincoln today or so.

Woohoo! I'm alive! I just walked ~180 miles from Lincoln, almost entirely off the official CDT to detour around 3 huge fires. (Ahorn, Fool's Creek, and Skyland, the last was for a while the top priority fire in America. Check out www.inciweb.org for really up to date info.) I didn't even know that Skyland existed when I left Lincoln, so I was making up a route on the fly, asking crew I met to radio ahead and see if trails were open. Last night I slept a hundred yards from a dirt road that itself is the firebreak at the east end of the Skyland fire and watched the fires on the hills above me all night. At least they didn't keep me up all night like the wolves a couple nights previous. I also saw a griz yesterday. So it's been pretty rough/amazing the last little while. I'm excited about heading into Glacier tomorrow. I need to tell this story: I left Lincoln and was walking on NF roads to get back on the real trail. From Lincoln, I'd ordered a pack ...