CDT Day 125: Chief Joseph Pass

Daily Miles: 15.8, Total Miles: 2.193.4

I seem to always wake up early on a town day – on the trail by 6am. With the smoky haze and shorter days, I even needed my headlamp for awhile.

Lots of old burns and pointless ups and downs today. The trail religiously follows the Divide which is the ID/MT border, no doubt the original path of the survey crew that installed the border markers.

Today, I cursed the trail in frustration several times. Ridiculously steep, badly eroded and loose rock – an accident waiting to happen.

As I got closer to the finish before dropping down to Chief Joseph Pass, I found a new section of trail that actually had a decent grade and proper switchbacks. I soon heard and then saw a large trail crew from the Idaho Conservation Corps. I thanked them profusely!

After reaching Chief Joseph Pass, I walked one mile down to Lost Trail Pass (Highway 93) to hitch to Darby Mt. I quickly got a ride from a fisherman to Sula, about halfway. Big mistake – cars were going way too fast with little reason to slow down. 2 1/2 hours later, a truck blazed by me then reappeared minutes later coming back the other way. It was a grandfather and his two grandsons I had met and talked to near Rock Island Lake north of Miner’s Lake a few days ago. They had recognized me and turned around.

Word of warning – Darby’s only laundromat has shut down and the motel doesn’t have the facilities. I washed everything in the bathtub by hand and draped wet clothes everywhere.