CDT Day 112 Trail Reunion

7th August

13.5 miles

Grants Village (1790.3) to Basin Beach Campsite (1803.8)

Nips and I made our way to the all you can eat buffet breakfast. The same place I frequented yesterday. Six plates of food, we both ate six plates of food. Lots of fresh fruit and yogurt. We both needed it.

I went with Nips to the backcountry permits office. We organised to hike together for the next couple of days. The Bear attack a couple of days ago freaked us both out, just a little. I showed photos of the bear prints outside my tent a couple of days ago to the Rangers. Grizzly, definitely grizzly tracks. That also freaked me out that a couple of days ago I had a grizzly bear a couple of metres from my tent. It occurred near the same area a grizzly attacked a thru hiker, and I also found out that the problem Grizzlies from Yellowstone are not killed but relocated south of Yellowstone to the same area. So, the bad bears from Yellowstone attacked a thru hiker and the bad bears from Yellowstone walked through my campsite several nights ago. I’m not walking alone for at least the next little while.

Nips and I hitchhiked back to the trailhead after lunch and suffered through intermittent showers and thunderstorms for the rest of the afternoon. The scenery was not overly stunning but I was told that tomorrow will be amazing.

Our camp for the night was a shared camp. When I arrived I saw the Warrior Hikers. I was reunited with Lucky. I also caught up with John, I hadn’t seen him since Rawlins. And Porchlight, I hadn’t seen him since the start of the Gila River in New Mexico, 1500 miles ago. We all camped together. I think it’s the most thru hikers I’ve camped with on the whole trail.