SUMMARY:  “Back to the PCT!” was our goal this morning, and shortly after breakfast, hooray—there it was. We  were hiking very happily along a very nice trail, when we met none other than Elusive, who is 72. He was very glad to see us and knew who we were, but he had bad news. “This isn’t the CDT. We’re on the wrong trail.” He was using his Garmin GPS to help him get back on the CDT. We’d all missed a key turnoff junction.

Fixit went to get out Guthook so he could help navigate, and that’s when we discovered our cell phone was gone—it must have fallen out of  his pocket yesterday. So now we have no GPS, and this afternoon we lost the trail again and without GPS, we could not find it. So we went back (I hate going backwards) till we knew for sure we were on the CDT, and now we are hoping for someone to come along to be our guide (Elusive had left, and I stupidly did not think to ask him). We are praying about what to do.  This is getting ridiculous.

DETAILS:  Shortly after breakfast, we were back on the CDT.  Not sure what we will do about a whole day lost.  I thought to myself, “At this rate, we’ll be needing to beg food from other hikers pretty soon.”  There were some pretty lakes and lily ponds along the trail, and the lilies were blooming, which was very cheering!  And the trail tread was very nice (just dirt, no rocks) so we were sailing along, crossing creeks and thinking, “We’ll get some good miles today!”  Not long after we’d crossed a creek, and were hiking along admiring the pretty meadow and forest, we spotted a hiker coming toward us.  It was an older guy, and as he came up, he said, “You must be Fixit and 3rd Monty!  I’m Elusive, and I’ve been wanting to meet you!”  Well, we had heard a lot about him, too, from the other hikers, so we were very glad to see him.  But Elusive continued.  “I’ve got bad news, though.  This is NOT the CDT.”  Turned out he (and we) had missed a key turn, and he had hiked all the way out to a trailhead parking lot before he realized his mistake, and was now headed back.

Elusive got out his Garmin GPS and Fixit went to get out our cellphone with Guthook, and that’s when he made the awful discovery that the cellphone is gone.  It must have somehow fallen out of his pocket or been left behind somewhere yesterday when we were trying to find the Ley Red Route.  But Elusive had the Bear Creek Survey waypoints on his Garmin, and by using those, he was able to find the CDT again (after a bit of bushwhacking in the woods).  We were very glad to “track” along with him!

At 11:00, Elusive stopped to eat lunch by a pretty little creek, but we pushed on.  He caught up with us again when we stopped to eat, and talked with him a bit more.  Sounds like he’s had a very adventurous life–serving in the Peace Corps, plus living on a boat for 3 years.  He commented that there should be a special group called “Triple Crown at age 70 and Up” for guys who have thruhiked all 3 trails at a minimum age of 70.  He and Fixit would qualify, if Fixit does the AT someday.  He (Elusive) plans to do the PCT next year, which would be his Triple Crown.

While we were talking, it crossed my mind to ask him if he would mind serving as our guide till we can get to the turnoff to Pinedale, since we now have no Guthook and no phone.  At Pinedale, we could probably get replacements.  But I didn’t do it.  Stupid me. Very stupid.  Off went Elusive and a little while later we finished up lunch and headed out, too.  I was watching the trail like a hawk, determined NOT to lose it again, and everything was going great, till at the top of a little hill, in thick forest, the trail just stopped.  Fixit and I hunted and hunted, trying to find it.  No luck.  So we turned back (again!!) and walked until we were sure we were on the CDT.  Then Fixit left his pack with me and walked “forward” again, determined to check every possible “turnoff” we might have somehow missed.  I stayed with the packs and prayed like crazy for another hiker to come along, somebody with GPS, so we could follow them until the Pinedale turnoff.

Fixit came sadly back.  He had had no luck finding anything.  So there went an entire afternoon, wasted.  All we could do was camp right by the trail, determined to ask anyone who came along for help with navigating.  Once I was in my sleeping bag, I studied the maps very intensively, and thought about the landmarks we’d been able to see (very few; the forest is too thick here to see much) and picked out a possible crosscountry route we could try tomorrow. If I’m right, hopefully we will intersect the trail and find it again.  So it’s back to “Lord, You know where we are.  Please help us.”  We’re not in any danger–if we really did have to bail out, we could just head west and hit the highway again.  But we really want to find the trail.  And if I am right, tomorrow morning, we could reach a dirt road that would take us down to the highway, so we could roadwalk in to Pinedale, if we need to.  We will see.