This morning we got a ride from Tonya around 7:15am. She brought us 15 miles down the road to Mariah’s Pass and we got back on the trail there. Then we were able to just walk the trail north for 15 miles until it brought us back to the hostel. The terrain was nice and easy and we were able to slack pack. So everyone was feeling great!
We passed a bunch of other hikers going the opposite direction as we walked. Not everyone wanted to slack pack and deal with the logistics of having to get a ride there and get a ride back to Mariah’s Pass when we want to begin hiking South again. But it seemed like a nice and easy way to walk 15 miles without weight on our backs to us.
The trail was pretty over grown for most of the day. Our legs were getting cut up by small branches. Plus the trail was super muddy so we had to navigate around that. But there was little to no climbing to do so I really couldn’t complain.

Beautiful flows alongside the trail. These used to be called Indian Paintbrush, but I believe they have more recently been renamed.
One of the hikers that we passed toward the end of the slack pack was Crigas! That means we’ll probably be right around him once we get back on trail at Mariah’s pass later on today. It’s so cool seeing hikers out there that I haven’t seen since the AT or the PCT. It is truly such a small world on trail.
We took a couple quick breaks but surprisingly the mosquitos were pretty bad today. That helped to keep us moving. Plus we knew once we got back to town we were going to get a delicious lunch. We wound up getting back into East Glacier around 12:45pm. Apparently Giggles, Nana Man, Gas Monkey, and High Profile, had already headed back out onto trail. We’re planning to do 10 more miles today from Mariah’s Pass south to catch up with them later.

Glacier National park boundary sign. It had been painted to state that the land was stolen from the indigenous peoples.
Tonya let us borrow her car for the afternoon while she was at work. That meant we could easily run a couple of errands without having to walk multiple miles to do so. That was so cool! We went to the post office and mailed out some gear. I sent home my microspikes and my extra pair of pants. I just feel like I won’t be needing it anymore while we’re at lower elevation. Hopefully that’s the case.
After the post office we drove down the road to a stand that sold fresh fry bread. Fry bread is like a fried dough that is common up north here in Montana. Some places make it savory and do a taco or burger on top. Other places do it sweet with butter, jam, or honey. Either way it’s delicious.
I ordered a fry bread taco which up here is called an “Indian taco”. It had chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream on top of a hot piece of fresh fry bread. And it only cost $11 which was fantastic. Once everyone got their food we drove back over the hostel to eat and hangout. I charged my devices up and devoured that taco. I’d truly never eaten anything like that before, and it was fantastic.
Today my body still feels a tiny bit sore, but over all I feel good. I pushed myself a lot the other day doing nearly 30 miles when we’re only one week in to this thru hike. But my body recovered well and the slack pack today felt great. I’m excited to head into the Bob Marshall wilderness. This will be our first true test on the CDT. It’s an 120 mile section without anything in between. So this will be our longest food carry yet. And there are no possible bail out points. I’m so thrilled though to actually be immersed in nature and in this thru hike for the first time yet.
We wound up hanging out at the hostel until pretty late. First we had to take the car back to Tonya’s place. Then we walked back to the main road where we could attempt to hitch back to Mariah’s Pass. It took about 20 minutes for someone to finally pull over. Most every car that drove by was loaded full with people. So there wouldn’t have been room for the 4 of us. Then finally a guy pulled over who had either his daughter or granddaughter in the passenger seat. He was incredibly nice and knew we must be CDT hikers. Then he happily drove us back down to the pass.
Just before 6pm Tripod, Nine Lives, Dirty, and I got back to the trailhead and were ready to hike once more. We told our friends that we would be doing 10 more miles to catch up with them. We’ll just have to see how the timing works out.
Right by Mariah’s pass trailhead there is a campground that is closed for the season. But a few hikers were there hanging out when we arrived. It was the perfect place to set up for the night if you were on foot. The next closest campsites were a ways from here as well. When we went through the campground we saw Crigas hanging out and talking to some hikers. We stopped and said hello and told him where we were headed to tonight. He seemed like he could have gone either way when it came to staying at that camp site or hiking 10 more miles with us. Who knows, maybe he’ll catch up to us later on tonight.
When we got back out onto the trail it was fairly smooth sailing for a couple of miles. It was still really hot out for the day and we had the occasional steeper uphill stretch to do. But none was too long or consistent. Every now and again we just had to drop down and then climb back up a few hundred feet. The trail was pretty over grown and there were many blow downs as well. It was clear though that in the past there had been far more fallen trees. It looked like many had been cleaned up already for the season. I had heard rumors about all of the blow downs in the Bob. So I was actually pleasantly surprised by how few there were.
The whole process though of climbing up and around overgrown trees definitely takes a lot longer than walking regular trail. We weren’t moving as quickly as I had thought we would tonight. That meant we hadn’t made it as far either. About 5 miles in we stopped off to eat a snack and get some water. At this point we still had 5 miles to go and it was getting later. I don’t mind so much the thought of night hiking anymore. But the idea of trying to hang a food bag in the pitch black sounds terrible.
As we sat there we debated back and forth about our options. Everyone wanted to catch up to the group. But everyone also wanted to set up camp before it got dark. There was a listed camp site 3 miles away so we decided to stop there instead. Then we would only be 2 miles away from the rest of our group tomorrow.
We got there right around 9:30pm which was late but perfect. That left us with plenty of time to set up camp, eat something, and then hang our food bags before dark. I wasn’t super hungry so I just snacked a bit before putting all of my scented items away. Then Tripod and I went to find a tree to hang. Nine Lives uses an Ursack instead of bear bag hanging. I debated doing the same thing. But for now I’m going to hang. If I find that trees start becoming scarce on trail then I’ll have to get an Ursack.
Tripod and I pulled off the perfect bear hang. I was truly impressed. Then we headed back to camp to call it a night.
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