CDT - Day 109 - Misery Loves Company
By morning, the rain had been coming down all night and everything was soaked. Condensation covered the inside of my tent, my clothes had barely dried, and my shoes were still completely wet. The moment I put on a fresh pair of socks, the shoes soaked them too. Somehow, we were packed up and hiking by 6:45 a.m., mostly because we were eager to get moving and hopefully dry ourselves out.
That didn't happen anytime soon. We spent the morning hiking through Yellowstone's wet grass, ankle-deep muddy marshes, and one water crossing after another. At one particularly difficult creek crossing, I slipped off a log and landed directly in the water. I was drenched. I changed my shirt, but remained cold until my shorts eventually dried later in the day.
The conditions may have been miserable, but the scenery certainly wasn't. The geothermal features in Yellowstone's backcountry were spectacular. Very few tourists venture that far from the visitor centers, which meant we practically had the entire experience to ourselves.
Sixteen miles into the day, we reached Old Faithful and immediately consumed an excessive amount of food at the lunch buffet. Our timing couldn't have been better. We walked outside after eating and caught Old Faithful erupting. Greg and Pudding had never seen it before, making it an especially memorable moment.
We spent some time afterward relaxing inside the Old Faithful Inn and charging our devices. Unfortunately, not long after we returned to the trail, Pudding's foot problems became worse. He ultimately decided to bail, hitch back to the village, and take some time off to recover.
Greg and I kept going for another nine miles before reaching Summit Lake. When we arrived, the campsite looked like a small tent city. There must have been at least a dozen southbound CDT hikers camped there.