(September 14, 2018, on the CDT Pushing Towards Canada)

Hello all. 100 miles to go. And the CDT is beginning to push back.

There’s a fire up ahead that has closed some of the trails.

The weather has turned cold and snow and rain are in the forecast.

But the biggest obstacle is my right ankle, that has decided it is no longer interested in hiking and swollen up. Thought about going to a doctor but I suspect the diagnosis would be an overuse injury. (Yeah uh huh.) Anyway, I’ve been practicing my one-legged hop and am certain Canada is still reachable.

Here is the latest batch of what caught my eye.

Not too much else to tell. Though I was attacked by a wild animal in my tent. I knew it was bound to happen. About 3 AM I felt something tugging on my feet. Sure it was something that was going to drag me out of my tent I grabbed my bear spray and headlamp to do battle. But the grizzly turned out to be a large toad who had wandered into the tent and was hopping around on my feet. I put the grabs on him and he or she promptly pissed all over my hand and sleeping bag. Which greatly increased the aggressiveness of their departure.

The only other story of note involved water preparation. I filled my bottle out of a creek, added water purification drops and then a little drink powder. Right before imbibing I noticed a 1-inch long sea dragon-looking creature swimming merrily around in my bottle. Apparently immune to water purification drops. After all that preparation there was no choice. The sea dragons death coming when they hit the straining barrier of my teeth. And that’s all from the trail. On to Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Steve Halteman, Signing Off from the CDT – Canada here we come!