August 27 & 28
The Goldstone fire north of Leadore closed 35 miles of the CDT. The forest service provided three alternates around the fire closure. The first two alternates added a significant number of miles and climbing to the hike, which didn't seem reasonable given I was in a race to reach Canada before winter. The third alternate was shorter than the official CDT, but required 90 miles of road walking on paved highways.
I left Leadore planning on the 90 mile road walk, but after the first day, my feet were aching and I couldn't imagine hiking another three days along the highway and feared injury if I did. I spent the night in Salmon, Idaho and considered my options and made the difficult decision to hitch the remaining miles to Chief Joseph Pass where I would rejoin the trail. It took three separate rides to reach the pass, but before hiking north, I needed to retrieve my resupply box in Darby, another 30 miles from the pass on Highway 93.
I couldn't afford to abandon this box because it contained my winter gloves along with other essential items. So I put out my thumb again and hitched to Darby, retrieved my box, and was back in under three hours. This day especially I am grateful for the generosity of 6 strangers who helped me get from Salmon to Darby and back to Chief Joseph Pass. I hiked until dark to get in as many miles as I could since tomorrow I would leave the CDT AGAIN on another fire detour.
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