I forgot to write about what happened to Ice Age’s spoon I found on night 1!

When I got to Many Glacier, I asked the front desk if they were holding any hiker boxes.

They were! I asked if they had one for Toast or Ice Age. They did! Awesome! I was able to leave the spoon with the boxes.

Last night Toast arrived but with out Ice Age. Apparently he injured his knee going over Indian Pass in the icy rain and snow.

He hiked out to Chief Mountain trail head next to the border and is waiting for Toast in East Glacier. Gosh that’s too bad! Glad he’s okay tho! Toast is going to deliver the spoon to him. This spoon has been on adventure!

I slept pretty good last night for how many people we had in camp.

There are seven other CDT hikers, include myself and that makes eight! That’s way more people than I expected haha

When I was researching the trail, most sources say that south bound route is the less popular option and to be prepared to hike without seeing anyone for days. So far that has not been the case at all!

It’s fun getting to talk with the other hikers! We have two geologists from Canada, their trail names are Shamrock and Scraps, they hiked the Great Divide Trail (a continuation of the CDT that goes all the way north through Canada)! Then there is The Professor, he is a scientist that engineers cancer killing drugs. Mr.Poppins is also in the film industry! He works on live action shows like The Boys. Toast is a lawyer. Disco is a tiny lady from the east coast, she is hiking solo like me and uses a giant pack cover over her backpack. When you hike behind her all you see is her giant pack cover with little legs coming out of the bottom! There’s a Norwegian couple, I don’t catch their names, but they eat Nutella and seeds for dinner.

I wake up at 5:30am and am out of camp by 6:30. The trail travels along Saint Mary Lake and passes several gorgeous waterfalls.

It’s beautiful and very easy hiking.

I pass Poppins, Toast and The Professor having breakfast.

I suddenly find myself in the middle of a patch of trail covered in tufts of deer fur. It looks like there had been a struggle, yikes. I consider waiting for the others (you should avoid dead animals because of bears)

But I didn’t smell anything dead and I was already right in the middle of whatever it was so I hiked through with no incident.

The trail enters a large burn section and I feel more relaxed being able to see farther down the trail.

Poppins catches up and we hike together for a small stretch. We stop at a large suspension bridge.

The Geologists pass us. I continue on and Poppins waits for The Professor.

This next section I am in the zone and just blast up the trail. I pass by Red Eagle Lake and continue up and up.

The land is just beautiful. I come across some bighorn sheep hiking up the trail in front of me. They bound off up the hill giving me a wide birth. Sorry for kicking you off the trail sheep! They navigate the blow downs with ease.

Closer to the top of the Triple Divide Pass, the burn section turns back into live trees with lots of wildflowers and bear grass!

I leapfrog with The Geologists all the way to the top! They are really strong hikers.

I reach the pass first and take a beat to do a painting. Hiking with Geologists is really fun, they talk about how the pass was formed and why the rocks look the way they do. Some of the peaks look like goblin castles to me.

The hike down traversed along some beautiful red rocks.

I reach camp and pick out the biggest site I can.

The rest of the crew rolls in and we have dinner in the communal kitchen area. There is a guide at the campsite and we have fun chatting with her and her clients! She makes them dinner and shares some delicious dehydrated pineapple dipped in melted dark chocolate with us. Yummm Thank you!

What a neat job!

I turn in early to get some rest from today’s hard work.