CDT - Day 108 - Carwashes and Witches
Today was only supposed to be an easy 20-mile hike to our next campsite, so we decided to sleep in a little. We woke up around 5:45 a.m. and were on the trail by 6:45.
It had rained overnight, and this morning the forest was covered in fog and dew. Fog is kind of a novelty for me, so I loved hiking through the trees with an eerie mist hanging over everything.
I also learned a new hiking term today: "car washing." It's what happens when you hike through fields of wet grass and the vegetation brushes against you, completely soaking your legs and feet. That pretty much describes most of our morning.
After just a few miles, we reached Witch Creek, which is famous for its perfectly warm water. The three of us stripped down to our underwear and climbed into the flowing creek. The water must have been around 102°F, and it felt incredible. I had hoped to soak in a hot tub back in Dubois, but, as always seems to be the case, the hotel hot tub was broken. Witch Creek more than made up for it.
After our soak, we continued through fields of geothermal vents and pools. I've visited Yellowstone before, but experiencing its geothermal features deep in the backcountry, with hardly anyone around, was something completely different.
After about 12 miles, we reached the junction for Grant Village and managed to get a ride within a few minutes. We stopped at the store for sandwiches, drinks, and a few supplies. Outside, we ran into Temu and Leaky and chatted with them for a while.
We didn't stay in the village long and quickly found a hitch back to the trailhead. As luck would have it, our driver was a tour guide who had just finished his shift. His van was loaded with leftover sandwiches, fruit cups, sodas, and snacks. He told us to take as much as we wanted because everything left behind was going to be thrown away. It was an unexpected and very welcome bit of trail magic.
Once we got back on the trail, the weather turned miserable. It rained the entire way to camp, and we had to pitch our tents in the rain. At least we weren't alone—there were half a dozen other hikers camped there with us.