CDT Day 61 (WY – Pinedale to Dubois)

Green Goodness and Gunsight

• CDT Miles: 1,827.2-1,846.3 (19.1)
• Total Hiked: 973
• Elevation Range: 7,975-10,200

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It always amazed me when on trail how I can be so exhausted and beat at the end of the day and wake up and have energy to do it all again. The body is an amazing thing and getting the actual rest you need is a big deal. I am thankful to be able to sleep pretty good out here most nights!

We all got good sleep last night despite the mosquitos singing to us. I really enjoyed the morning hike. It was just all around pleasant getting to walk along the Green River Lakes without much elevation gain or loss.

Think there were a few mosquitos waiting for me to exit the tent!?

6:34am hitting the trail…

Lots of colorful flowers today… Violet, light purple, light yellowish white, pink with violet stripes, orangish red, bright yellow, brighter yellow, brightest yellow, cream, white baby blue, dark blue. Here’s a few (not all of these are from the morning, but the lakes edges did seem to be a hot spot for the flowers)…

Pretty stellar views and flowers right? Right around the time we neared the far end of the lake, it got warm enough to take off our layers. There was a bridge leading across to a trailhead that some choose to take into Pinedale. Since we’d resupplied a few days ago, we kept going and checked out some old cabins in the meadow.

I think it was around 8:30am at this point and we would now be leaving the Green River to head up again. Yesterday, we’d dropped from around 11,000 to 8,000 feet elevation and now we were climbing back up to Gunsight Pass, which is just above 10,000 feet. It really felt like we were saying goodbye to the Winds, but who’s to know what’s ahead. We were sure if we’d be hiking right back up into snowy mountains again.

Things started our at a steady incline. It was tiring, but not the typical CDT style of going straight up the mountain, which was nice. Early on, I spotted an animal down in the valley. At first, I thought it was a horse since there seemed to be a fence nearby, but as I watched it became clear it was a moose. Pretty far, but I got to watch it for a while and it eventually started running, galloped over the fence, and made its way towards the river

Awesome pic, right? Yep, that speck is a moose. Up we went and traverses up to a pretty awesome break spot…

It took us a good chunk of the day to get up to the pass. I think we got up there around 3:00pm. On the way there was some nice Aspen forest, pretty meadows, some downed trees over the trail, and more colorful flowers. It was a pretty steep hike.

I made it to the pass a little before the others and so decided to hike up above to see what I could see. It was nice 360 views, including the Tetons off in the distance. This time I was sure it was them, so pointy and jagged looking, even in a haze of smokiness.

The rest of the day was generally downhill and we cruised pretty good. Mosquitos have lightened up in the day some since the last stretch, but they’re still around and we’re still using our bug spray. As we neared the end of the day, things opened up into a big meadow/valley. We ended up having our dinner out there next to a creek and got a visitor while eating…

Pneumonia has hiked thru from the Mexican border, mostly on the actual CDT red line, and he joined us for the rest of the day and into camp. It was a fun hike hearing some of his stories. Just before finding camp, we had to cross a river and get our shoes and socks wet again, but it was worth it to see the two elk hanging around.

Album of the Day

“JOHNNYSWIM” by Johnnyswim