CDT day 0.1-After a 15 hour train ride I arrived in East Glacier. Sleeping on the train was pretty difficult and if money were no concern I would have upgraded to a sleeper car. That being said I left the train on the edge of Glacier National Park and had plenty of logistics to take care of in order to begin my last thru hike of the year. First I walked to the local store and asked them to hold a package for me there. In 4 days and roughly 120 trail miles I will be right back in that town I left the train in. With my first resupply taken care of I needed to get to the ranger station and figure out where I could get a permit to camp in the backcountry. After 3 different rides (all could only take me part way) I made it to St. Mary’s and was able to work very flexibly with the ranger to find some open camp spots. Since all of the National Park has only designated camp spots you must reserve your entire trip ahead of time. Once I had a very unique itinerary I began the frustrating job of hitchhiking across the Canadian border. It took two more rides and I had to walk across the border but eventually I made it to Waterton. From here I set off into a thunderstorm and after 4 miles of hiking I was at the official start to the Continental divide trail. I snapped some picture and continued walking. I saw many day hikers including one family with small kids. The kids asked me 100 questions and I answered them all and then as I was leaving one of the boys blurted out, “you are really brave.” This made me smile and At that point I finally walked my first four miles of the trail to my first reserved camp spot at Goat Haunt on Waterton lake. I stayed here 2 years ago so it is a bit nostalgic. Done hiking by 7pm and the evening to relax and sort out my maps. Tomorrow I have 31 more miles planned in to Many Glacier.
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