Near LEMHI PASS, MT
There was rain last night, which I enjoy while dry and warm in my tent. I did not enjoy getting my shoes, socks, and feet completely soaked in cold morning dew in the first five minutes of the next day’s hike.
Fortunately the weather stayed dry all day, which was new. By the end of the day I was dry
I had some big climbs today. At the top of the first one I had a defecation break and nearly had a repeat of the Red Gap Pass disaster. In my crouch a strong gust of wind started blowing my soiled toilet paper down the mountain. This would be a serious violation of the leave-no-trace policy. With my pants down to my ankles I scrambled to retrieve them and was successful.
On the CDT, if there is a way to make you climb it will happen. Climb one peak, and then the trail takes you down to climb the next one. Despite the nice views, this got rather old today.
On the peak of the last big climb I was getting low on water. One set of maps has a 45 mile dry stretch here, but fortunately the Jon Ley maps show a source 9 miles away. By the time I got there I had a splash left. It is great finding these water sources when you really need them
By the way, when I have had a developing rash in my nether regions, hydrocortisone does the trick.