Day 138 – 9/7/13 – 20.5 mi (2567.8)

Last night we experienced the worst storms I’ve ever been camped in, hands down. There were 3 or 4 major bursts of downpours during the course of the night. I probably fared the best, ending up with just a damp sleeping bag. Some others were wet enough to wring out their down. Not good.

It misted and lightly rained all day, with no sunshine or chance to dry anything out. In a  burn zone, we slogged through the worst mud I’ve ever encountered. It was so bad it was comical. LoveNote took a great video capturing all the slurping sounds of our feet being sucked into and pulled out of the mud.

We also had to cross a creek, muddy with runoff, back and forth dozens of times. The great thing about being soaked is that you don’t waste time trying to find a dry way across creeks, you just wade right in!

Thankfully, we had a bail out option at Marias Pass, 20.5 miles from last night’s camp. We couldn’t walk further than there today anyway, since it’s the boundary line to Glacier National Park, and a permit is required to camp within the park. We would’ve had to camp at the boundary and walk the next 15 miles into East Glacier Park tomorrow. Instead we hitched into East Glacier Park and got a motel room. We’ll hitch back to the pass tomorrow and slackpack the 15 miles into town instead.

Upon arriving in town, we went to pick up our resupply packages from the store. It turned out to be Hiker Christmas, as we received all kinds of unexpected goodies from friends and family! It was such a treat, especially at that moment when we were all feeling beaten down from the recent weather. Thanks everyone for your support and kindness!!