I’m starting at mile 841.5. Ending at 862.2. I hiked 20.7 miles.
I took the first shuttle out of town and was back on trail around 10am. I mentally prepared myself for more grueling inclines. I had not slept well. I got only about 4 hours of sleep. I was twitchy and itchy. I had to pee what seemed like 10 times throughout the night. I felt short of breath. My soles of my feet felt numb. Sominex didn’t make me sleepy. I thought maybe I should not have drunk ice tea in the afternoon and I also thought these could be the symptoms of low potassium and magnesium. These little towns just don’t have electrolytes in their tiny stores.
I had a box with extra Emergenc-C that I was either going to mail ahead or abandon and I noticed that it said it had electrolytes. The percentage of magnesium and potassium seemed pretty low so I decided to keep them and just drink two packets at a time. The internet also said pumpkin seeds and cashews were fairly high in one or the other so I bought some at the gas station. I also yogied a couple packets of Propel.
I decided to mail home my strumstick. I would miss playing it. I just didn’t think I could continue on these steep climbs without trying to shed more weight. I wrapped it in bubble wrap and tape and slapped an address label on it. It survived the Bob and 700+ miles of the CDT, it would survive the mail.
I was still peeing every half hour well into the morning. Where was all this water coming from when I felt so thirsty? I had a headache and felt mildly nauseous.
The trail began as a road walk. It rose gently. In a few miles there was a stream and I filled up another liter. I had no idea what to expect about my performance so I felt I should be prepared to not make it the 13 miles to the next good water.
When the road turned to trail and returned to following the ID/MT border fence, I was surprised how good the trail was. It was kind. It was the mild uphill that feels easy. There were some steep climbs but nothing like the last section. The forest looked different and the open areas weren’t the soft rounded folds of the last section.
It was cloudy and rained lightly off and on. It was no longer hot. As I rose I walked in a cold wet cloud. The plants on the trail were wet. My feet were wet.
I met lots of NOBOs. One of them seemed stressed out about the climb he was doing, wondering if he was close. I said he was pretty close I think, but I wasn’t sure how long a climb it had been. As I descended I learned it had been a pretty big climb. Another NOBO told me that this whole section and Yellowstone and most of Wyoming is practically flat and would be a lot easier than it has been for me so far. This was reassuring.
As the day went on I felt better. The climbs weren’t destroying me. I was feeling pretty good. I had to pee 8 times, which was a lot, but it felt like it was tapering off some. I felt less nauseous. Maybe the pumpkin seeds, cashews, propel and emergen-c helped.
I passed up a good campsite near an abandoned ATV and ended up walking a few miles in wet brush searching hopelessly for a dry spot under a tree for my camp. At long last I found something that would work. A tight squeeze. My flattest campsite in a long time. Turned out to be the best sleep in a long time, too. I was glad to be done by 6:30. That I did more than 20 miles in such a short day was a good sign. I budgeted food for five 20 mile days. With kinder trail I should get to West Yellowstone a little early and have a Nero going into town.
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