Day 146, Benchmark Trailhead/Augusta to Sun River

As with everything else, we took our time at breakfast. The morning was almost over before we walked back to our campsite. We then needed to figure out how much food to buy for the next section of our hike. That would be about 110 miles, a little longer than I typically try to go between resupply stops.

The distance was extra long because three-quarters of the trail section was within Bob Marshall Wilderness. That made it one of the most remote sections of the entire CDT. We won't see another road until we're within a few miles of East Glacier Village, near the entrance of Glacier National Park.

Other than a small convenience store, the only place to buy groceries in Augusta was Allen's Manix Store. Before we headed there, Polecat shared some freeze-dried chicken with Top O' and me. He had a large can of it, and he knew once the can was open, it wouldn't keep long. I was glad to get some because it was a lightweight protein that could be added to any dinner.

The store operated with the slogan, "If we don't have it, you don't need it!" We almost couldn't put that to the test.

We found the door was locked when we arrived. This brought on a brief moment of panic. We immediately wondered if we would have to make a long drive to another store. That would keep us from returning to the trail for several more hours.

Then I knocked on the door. An employee opened it for us and apologized, saying it had been locked accidentally.

Despite the brief worry about wasting time before we could get to the trailhead, we didn't act like there was any urgency for the rest of the afternoon. When our shopping was done and our food was packed for the trail, we walked next door to Buckhorn Bar for lunch. We stayed there for nearly two hours.

Dirty Money joined us, and before we left, she kindly surprised us by paying the tab. She then rode with us back to the trail.

We stretched our time in Augusta so long that we didn't arrive at Benchmark Trailhead until 4 p.m. We then managed to drag out the time further by talking to hikers just arriving from the trail.

I was mortified when I pulled my backpack out of Polecat's truck. It weighed far more than I expected. How could I carry that much?

A week's worth of food was needed for the next section. What's more, my body's metabolism was at its peak, and I knew it was demanding extra calories. Still, I may have over-compensated for this. My pack weighed more than I was willing to carry.

I quickly opened my pack and pulled out any extra snacks I thought I could do without. My body demands or not, I needed to compromise for pack weight.

After removing what I could, I weighed my pack using a scale Polecat brought with him in his truck. The total weight was 35 pounds, at least five pounds more than I prefer to carry, but it would have to do.

The time was now almost 5 p.m. At last, we left the parking lot and crossed the footbridge over the South Fork Sun River to return to the trail.

I was glad Polecat decided to hike part of this section with us, though I also wasn't surprised. The trail will take us past the Chinese Wall, a rock escarpment that stands more than 1,000 feet high and 12 miles long. Polecat has a degree in geology, and I knew the wall would capture his interest.

When we reached the other side of the footbridge, Dirty Money found two friends she had been looking for, Tik and Tok. I had met them once before on the trail when we were hiking south through Colorado.

Because of the late hour, Top O', Polecat, and I knew we wouldn't be hiking far today. We only hoped to get far enough that we could easily reach the Chinese Wall tomorrow.

We started by following the trail on an old road that took a route parallel to the South Fork Sun River. Except for where the trail climbed to an overlook, there were no views of the river.

The trail then entered a burn zone, which was much like the one we walked several miles through yesterday. With so many dead trees, I began to wonder if we could find a safe spot to camp. I was in no mood to be crushed in the night by a fallen tree.

A campsite appeared sooner than expected when we found a wide and flat spot near the confluence of the South Fork Sun River and West Fork South Fork Sun River. (That seems like an absurd way to name rivers, but that's how they're labeled on the map.)

We elected to stop there, even though we had only walked about four miles. The space was all grass with no trees. From what we could see of the terrain, many more dead trees stood ahead.

The sky had become smokier today. There was no way to tell if the smoke was from a new, nearby fire or one of the large, distant fires that have erupted all over the western U.S. Either way, the sky gave me an unsettled feeling. I didn't want to be stopped by a forest fire this close to the end.

Then my attention quickly turned, and I forgot about the smoke. I heard an elk begin to wail and scream far in the distance. His throaty voice echoed across the broad expanse of the untamed river valley.

What a magnificent place.