Day 4 - zero

Our first trail zero. After yesterday's horrific walk in to St. Mary, we all agreed to a much needed zero. (In trail parlance, zero = 0 trail miles). We slept in at the lodge, drying out our clothes, tents and boots, and made our way over to the St. Mary campground per our permits. Much love to Ranger Joseph and Meg for finding us nice sites.

Am currently safely and warmly ensconced in front of a roaring fire, typing up this blog entry. Just overheard a waiter describe our entrance yesterday, "a bunch of hikers looking real rough". We are all healing up, and looking forward to hitting the trail tomorrow.

Trail gossip is that the trails are still tough, a lot of snow (ice axe definitely needed), and high fords (chest high). The rains over the past few days will make this an interesting next few days. Just bumped into 4 hikers who bailed on Piegan Pass due to lightning and hail up top. We'll have to be measured in our approach, since I have no interest in channeling lightning through my ice axe.

Met more of the CDT pack today: Smiles, Columbus, Huck, Bluefoot, Train, and so many more. Looking forward to seeing more CDT hikers along the way.

Will now focus my mental energy on channeling protein to my healing feet and legs. Eager to get back out tomorrow.