CDT + GDT: Wisdom to Anaconda – The last state of the CDT

Requirement 25 | Wisdom, Mt A Anaconda, MT through an Anaconda cut

Day 98, 33.3 miles.

I don’t have much to say about hiking today. I went up down. I walked through forests and burned forests. I ate food, I rained. It was a very normal day. What I do want to say is this:

On the 74th, I said that I told my parents that I would be the first known woman to connect the CDT and GDT, and then I said on the 82nd to document this walk while trying to put in big days it is difficult. Since then, I have received many questions about my motivation. I wrote about this in my Q&A and on the walk before starting this walk, so I don’t feel that I need to answer again. I thought that walking the entire division in regard to the path seemed obvious. You can walk continuously through some of the most beautiful landscapes in two countries and see the leaders of each important river in the United States. I was surprised that I could only find a record of two men who complete it, one in 2019 and another in 2021. There were no online guides on how to connect them, when to start or what conditions will wait or what kind of rhythm would be reasonable and necessary to complete in a season in a season. I did not set out to be the first woman, I just wanted to make this walk and turn out to be the first woman. And I hope that, because of this, I have documented this, there will be a second, one third, and a fifteenth, and a seventy ninth.

When I heard for the first time the triple crown of the calendar year, they told me that fewer people have done that on the moon. And now only this year there are four or five attempts in progress, and three of them are border to border. One is the slip, one is Punisher, and one is Peg Leg, who will be the first woman.

There is a Greek word that I really like: Athelic. It is the opposite of Tellic: that is, doing something for a goal, such as pocket 27 peaks or obtaining a promotion at work or becoming the first woman. But doing something that is atelic means doing so. To climb the mountain because you like to climb mountains. Do a good job because it is proud of your work. To walk because you like to walk. Tagic results are conditional. Atelical results are unconditional. Honestly, I like to be outside. That’s why I started. That’s why I’m here. Some days are more difficult than others, but ultimately, I have never questioned whether this is more than an atelic adventure.

Recognition by itself, without personal integrity, is empty and meaningless.

Once I read somewhere a native old man putting feathers in a headdress. He had almost finished, when he realized that he had done it wrong. And he began to disarm everything. His grandson asked: «Why would you rebuild it? Nobody will know.» And the grandfather said: «But I will.» That is integrity.

Because you are the only person whose opinion about yourself is important. Everything else is temporary.

Why am I here? Do you know that the nursery rhyme? The bear crossed the mountain, to see what he could see. That’s why.

Day 99, 28.1 miles.

Today I found my friend Mamacita del PCT. Of the first 40 people to overcome the Sierra in the highest recorded snow in California, there were only seven women. We were two of the first seven women. I was leaving my ears, I was very happy. All hiking friends are special, but the friends you make on your first walk are very precious. And I share a certain understanding with any other person who will also endure suffering and experience the beauty of the Sierra in that year when the snow extended for 500 miles, as a kinship born of a trauma bond.

I went up much above and down today, but after doing so much steep snow and released astragalus and screen outside the path, I am grateful to have curves and everything is a level and stable dirt.

The most significant milestone as of today is that I have reached the final map in Farout. The maps are downloaded by state, but now I am on the final map of North Montana, which means that the Canada border is now visible on my screen. I can touch it and see exactly how many miles I have left in the CDT. The edge is no longer abstract. It is somewhat inevitable, provided that it continues to place one foot in front of the other in the right direction, moving patiently through each square of the padded fabric of the landscape. When I am here, I can see until now. In daily life we are often in closed spaces. We do not have a reason to look beyond the room we are in. I cannot avoid thinking that what I am doing is probably how we are destined to be, and how overestimulated and malnourished we must be in our normal lives. And I don’t mean food in terms of food. I am talking emotionally, spiritually. When I was looking for an exit to my depression last year, my doctor recommended making another walk, because I was doing a bad job doing all the basic things that keep us alive and well: eating, sleeping, moving, having time outside. That is all I do here. This is how I ended up in the Colorado trail last year, where my idea was born for this combined CDT and GDT walk.

Day 100, 23 miles in Anaconda, at 8.2 miles outside. 31.2 miles in total.

Well, 100 days have passed. Two years ago on the 100th day of my first walk, the Pacific Crest Trail, had just reached the midfield of the path at about 1300 miles. I was still in California. Okay, that was a high snow year, so we couldn’t move quickly, but now on day 100 of this walk, I’m already almost 2400 miles and I am in my last state in the CDT. That would be the equivalent that I am in Stevens Pass in Washington at this time. Honestly, being on the way for 100 days does not surprise me as much as making videos and blogs for 100 days. I never thought I would have to say so much. Today I saw my fourth bear on the path, but once again it scared me so much that it escaped immediately before noticing it. I am an apex predator and I scare in the hearts of the bears. I made a long way along the road to Anaconda along a road where I saw four dead animals: a beaver, a cushion, a deer and a dove. In the city I obtained my refueling and found journalists from the Montana standard. It was fun for a photographer to follow me while I was doing the tasks of my city and I stayed in the hobow of hikers because I think everything is not remarkable. The journalist got me some snacks and even apologized for not finding the flavor of white chocolate of Lenny and Larry’s cookies because in a blog post somewhere I mentioned briefly is the only one I like. I was impressed. At night, I went out to a storm, but since I was in the city, I could at least add layers in a pizza bath.

Instead of going out in the rain. I am testing latex gloves now since all my fabrics eventually get wet. It worked well. They also offered me a backyard to camp for a place and a trip from another, but I had to decline because I had to make more miles and unfortunately this road is part of the path. I camped right next to a strange.

XX

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