Author: Daleen Cowgar

“I almost passed out two miles ago,” I said, walking into camp. Catch-up was ahead of me and was already setting up his tent. I dropped my poles next to a tree and gasped in pain as I clumsily dropped my backpack to the ground. There was a cold drizzle and my raincoat was closed…

“Do we just send it?” Catch-up asked. Just the day before, we’d been at this pit toilet shivering from the rain. Today, the sun was shining through broken clouds, and though the wind had a cold tinge to it, it was much warmer than before. Currently, it was 1 p.m., but only 20 miles from…

My ride out of Lander dropped me off on the side of the highway, next to a barbed wire gate, and wished me good luck. Behind me, the truck with Solemate and Catch-up also stopped and they pulled out their gear. “Welcome to the Basin,” Catch-up said. I knew what to expect: blistering heat, long…

“How were the Winds?” I asked a NOBO hiker before we entered Yellowstone. There were a couple of alts coming up there–Knapsack Col and the Cirque of the Towers–and I wanted to know if they were worth the extra mileage and elevation. “Like church,” he said, excitement lighting up his face. “It’s the most beautiful…

“Exploding water, exploding water, exploding water,” I chanted in beat to my footsteps. We were entering Yellowstone National Park, and I couldn’t hide my childish glee. A year ago, after hiking the Teton Crest Trail, we had an opportunity to spend two days driving through Yellowstone. I was just in the beginning stages of dreaming…

“How did you catch us?” Sarah’s eyes shone teasingly from inside her tent. Ever since Augusta, she and Oracle had been half a day ahead of me and I hadn’t been able to catch up any closer than reaching town as they were leaving. But now here I was, the sun setting behind me just…

Helena was a welcome break. I spent the night in a hostel only a mile from the outfitters. There, I got new shoes and new socks, which is always a wonderful day for a thru hiker. The day I headed out was a Sunday, and so I visited a local church before leaving. There, a…

I’m sitting on a ridgeline after a hard climb, catching my breath. There’s a bee, pollen clumped up on his legs, landing on me to gather salt. The wind is steady and I’m learning to tune it out. I look out over the valley I just climbed out of, following the winding trail with my…

My shoes and my heels are currently at war with each other, and both sides are losing. It’s been a couple of long days walking through the Bob Marshall Wilderness, as my feet continue to collect blisters and the heels of my shoes disintegrate. However, even with those challenges, “the Bob,” as we’ve been calling…

The start of a thru hike is always complicated, and when you start in Glacier, it’s even more. There’s packing, making sure everything at home is done, putting together resupply boxes, turning your backpack into a carryon. Once you get there, it’s navigating there from the airport, scrambling through permits, finding your trail rhythm and…