CDT Day 54 – Leaving Yellowstone

Date: 8/14/20

Daily Miles: 24

Total Miles: 959

It was really chilly when we got up this morning. We retrieved our food bags from the bear hang area and then started to pack up. At some point last night the wind died down and Heart Lake was absolutely still when we were down at the shore.

We started out with our extra layer of clothes and ended up keeping it on for several hours. There wasn’t any climbing this morning to warm us up, so instead we just had to wait for the warmth of the sun to hit us.

We decided today that Wyoming is determined to keep our feet wet. We forded multiple creeks today, often the same creek multiple times. It felt like just as our feet were starting to dry out, we would encounter another creek to ford. By the end of the day, when we took our shoes and socks off, our feet were very shriveled and soft.

Today the landscape seemed to change, with some medium mountains along the river valley. It has felt like we’ve been just walking through flat forests with no views the past few days. So, it was nice today to get up a little bit and to have some views. We also seemed to find where all the wildflowers have been hiding. The hills were covered with flowers in so many different colors.

In the afternoon, we crossed the park boundary and left Yellowstone. It is nice to be able to have the ability to camp where we like again. We enjoyed having the opportunity to hike through Yellowstone, but sometimes it can be challenging to be on a “schedule” for where to camp.

We didn’t see any hikers today. We’ve actually been surprised at how few hikers we saw in the park…only 5 who were out more than a mile from Old Faithful. There is definitely a lot of backcountry areas to explore in the park.

We know that there is another CDT hiker going south who wasn’t too far ahead of us yesterday. Chances are we won’t see that person, or any southbound hikers ahead of us. In fact, we should be getting passed by any southbound hiker currently behind us. They have to be going a much fastest pace in order to get through Colorado by the end of September. We’re glad not to have to be rushed at this point.