Continental Divide Trail: Helena - Butte
INTROThe Continental Divide Trail is a National Scenic Trail spanning approximately 3,100 miles from Mexico to Canada (or vice versa) through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, following the geological continental divide.
NOTE
I am hiking the Continental Divide Trail southbound from Canada to Mexico. This trail will complete my Triple Crown of hiking, which includes both the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.
Unlike the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail is somewhat of a choose your own adventure. Alternatives routes, and A variety of options allows this trail to be more fluid. I will do my best to explain the routes that I take in the detailed section.
Day 23- 29 took me from Helena - Butte, Montana.
This was an unexpectedly beautiful section. I opted for the full redline CDT around Butte rather than the more popular Anaconda cutoff. It had some smooth miles, steep bits, trail magic, great trail maintenance, dry stretches, and serious thunderstorms. As I exited the trail towards Butte from the south, I celebrated 500 miles!
OVERVIEWTOTAL DAYS7
FULL HIKING DAYS5
zeroes0
neroes0
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN21,252 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS21,662 ft
MILES COVERED136.3 miles
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Meeting northbound hikers along the way around Butte!
Taking the redline around Butte rather than the Anaconda cutoff
Animal encounters; moose, dragonflies, and skunks!
Relaxing and productive day in town
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The heatwave continued and dry water sources
Mosquitoes???
Sudden and intense thunderstorms that threaten safety when there is no other shelter
Wildfire smoke hanging in the air
In Depth
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SLEEP: Camp at Mile 373.7
MILES: 12.7
ELEVATION GAIN: 2507 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 1647 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Thunder
OVERVIEW: How many days of food does this bag have?
Leaving town after a full zero day is difficult. I had a robust hotel breakfast and began the sad task of packing up my resupply and organizing my life that was sprawled all over my hotel room into one consolidated backpack. My toiletries take over the bathroom, I have an electronics station for everything that needs charging, my quilt is drapes over a chair to air out, my clean clothes remain in an unfolded pile, etc.
It was once again blisteringly hot so instead of standing on a busy in town highway, I opted for an Uber back to the Pass. George and I began hiking around midday and ran into northbound section hikers that provided some good intel for the next section.
The day was slow, my pack was heavy laden with 6 days of food and ample water for a dry stretch. A lot of the hiking was through old burn zones that had been chopped into wood chips or mulch. This at least limited the blowdowns!
Eventually the day turned into a roadwalk where our planned campsite landed along. A group of folks was already there set up near this small pond but encouraged/welcomed us to camp around them. There were some good tent sites nearby so we each set up - while being offered potable water AND leftovers from their dinner! It was two sets of parents and two six year old boys. The boys had lots of questions for us, which I was happy to oblige. Love seeing kids outside!
I tucked into my tent somewhat early and dreaded having to pick up my heavy bag the following day.
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SLEEP: Camp at Mile 398.8
MILES: 25.6
ELEVATION GAIN: 4918 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 3990 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Bugs
OVERVIEW: A moose snorkel event?
Despite the lovely family that was so kind to George and I the night before, we had to leave. But as I woke up, I was greeted with a loose taking a bath in the pond. I watched for 15 minutes as the moose essentially scuba dived for grasses at the bottom of this pond. Eventually it moved on but that was one animal interaction I will never forget!
This day has the most elevation gain of anything I had done since Glacier National Park and was one of the longest. It began to get hot immediately so I knew I had to settle into the discomfort.
This day was nothing particularly special, though it had hiking through some large forests. Climbing was constant, bugs were out, water was always a concern. I listened to a history podcast series and finished my audiobook. It was a day of chugging along.
Once we arrived at the final water source of the day, we decided to set up our tents on a lumpy and slanted hill because I could walk no further. There were anticipated tree blowdowns ahead and I couldn’t bear the thought of that.
While eating dinner though, we had another amazing animal experience. A dragonfly was tearing up the mosquito population and was continually swooping around me. As they are one of nature’s most successful predators, it was great to see.
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SLEEP: Camp at Lowland Campground
MILES: 24.3
ELEVATION GAIN: 2733 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 4265 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Smoke
OVERVIEW: Trail Magic and a campground??
My body was sore immediately upon opening my eyes for the day. The day prior had been one of my biggest hiking/elevation combination days in quite some time so there was no wonder I felt it! Despite this, George and I had a long shot goal in mind - getting to a formal campground and enjoying amenities (potable water and a picnic table).
It was a beautiful but hazy morning with wildfire smoke somewhat hanging in the air. Limited tree blowdowns made this an even better morning. Soon, we ran into Cascade and Poseidon. Cascade was on the CDT to wrap up her triple crown as well and this was Poseidon’s first long term backpacking trip ever. What a way to start out! We hiked with them for awhile but continued on after they stopped to make a proper breakfast.
I soon ran into the Anaconda cutoff. This is an alternate route that trims roughly 90 miles off of the total amount of the CDT. I opted not to do this but rather continue on the “redline” of the official trail because I need miles for my 5000 mile 2026 goal! After a quick roadwalk, George and I stumbled upon a little trail magic that really brightened the spirits.
The rest of the day went by slowly. Little wind made the air still with wildfire smoke, it was difficult to feel the crispness of the mountain air. Finally, we reached the road turn off to the campsite. Off the trail we went and found the campground nearly empty. Only one older couple was there, who had been nomadic for nine years! We chatted with them in the evening and they had some wonderful stories.
Potable water and a proper table really improve the mood.
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SLEEP: Camp at Mile 448.9
MILES: 24.5
ELEVATION GAIN: 3675 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 2652 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Rain
OVERVIEW: No No No Skunks!
Getting packed up while having a table was a treat. We quickly set off on our roadwalk to rejoin the CDT. Once we were back on the official route, it turned out there were many more road miles in our future. A mix of hard compacted gravel turned into pavement, which gave me Camino flashbacks.
I crossed under Highway 15, which is a major highway heading into Butte. This was difficult because I would eventually be taking the 15 into Butte… but from the south side. A quick snack break under the bridge was a treat because of the copious amount of swallows nesting!
The rest of the day was spent winding up climbs through giant boulders. There was a decent amount of water throughout the day so I had dinner next to a stream because there was none where I had decided to camp.
I got to camp and the flat tent sites were in between more boulders which felt cozy. As we were in our tents finally relaxing for the day, I heard critters running around. I assumed it was just squirrels but it was in fact 2 young skunks running around. As George had never seen them before, he exclaimed and was loud/moving around. I loudly whisper yelled to him to be quiet!
Could you imagine if we both got sprayed through the tent mesh? That would be a trip ender or at least a significant delay.
The weather broke and rained overnight a bit. Please break up the heat!
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SLEEP: Camp at Mile 471.4
MILES: 22.4
ELEVATION GAIN: 3514 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 4502 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Rain
OVERVIEW: Northbound hikers give great information.
Despite the rain, the humidity was heavy. The day was already warm before it got started which was not how I liked to hike.
The morning continued through the giant boulders around Butte. I could quite literally see the location where I planned to stay in a few days which was insult to injury in this heatwave. This section was high, dry, and sandy. Most of the climbs were steep and then completely moderate. It was hard to gain much momentum.
George and I ran into Hitchmaster, a northbound thru hiker, that gave us a lot of good intel for the upcoming sections. We would continue to see northbound hikers more and more frequently soon. Hitchmaster was surprised to see us as many folks just take the Anacondo cutoff to save 90 miles. It felt like a no brainer to go around Butte!
Eventually I crossed Highway 90, which is one of the biggest highways in the country. Thankfully there was a water cache on the south side of the highway because it was a dry stretch. With a big climb looming, George and I took a long lunch to wait out the high noon sun. There were some lovely trail runners that were fascinated with thru hiking and had a lot of questions - they were so lovely to talk to!
Once we eventually started moving again, a serious thunderstorm began to roll through. The lightning got so close and the thunder cracks were so loud, George and I tucked under a tree before getting to the top of the climb. This last about 45 minutes and momentarily broke the heat.
Just before the final road crossing of the day, as we were sitting to eat dinner, another northbound hiker came through - Tazer! Her and I chatted for a long while and it was lovely to see a strong woman in the outdoors, especially solo! She had many more miles to do for the evening while I was nearly done for the day. She told me about an area to camp coming up and we said goodbye!
I quickly found my tent spot and got set up. I’m thankful that I did because it began downpouring once again so after I was in bed. Please break up the heat!
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SLEEP: Camp at Mile 493.1
MILES: 22
ELEVATION GAIN: 3784 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 3267 ft
WEATHER: Hot, Rain, Thunderstorm
OVERVIEW: Not today, Lightning!
A night of rain was good for the ground and the humidity. Thankfully everything of mine was dry and I mostly just had enjoyed the sound of rain on my tent.
There were a few good sights this day, but overall it was pretty tucked in the forest. With no major climbs, just consistent ups and downs, I was able to make some decent miles.
This was also a dry water section (noticing a trend?) but at roughly mile 9 for the day, there was a memorable water source. A pipe that was FLOWING. You could hear it from far away and had been warned about not losing your filter bag. I decided to have an early lunch by the major water source of the day.
There was an alternate on the former CDT line through a beautiful meadow rather than up and down more climbs, so I opted for that. There were some steep roads towards the end but it was quick!
After finally arriving at my destination for the night, I had dinner immediately. It was a beautiful spot on top of a hill where we watched sunset go down behind the ridge.
As I was falling asleep, I started to see flashes of light. Cracks of thunder began soon thereafter. Luckily I had a bit of cell phone service and was able to see that a large storm was rolling in. I ended up waking up George and we moved our tents closer to a few trees. At least we were tucked in and no longer the tallest thing on the hill. The storm continued for an hour and was one of the scariest nights I’ve experienced.
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SLEEP: Hotel in Butte, Montana
MILES: 4.8
ELEVATION GAIN: 121 ft
ELEVATION LOSS: 1339 ft
WEATHER: Hot
OVERVIEW: Thankful to wash off the heatwave sweat
After a disturbed nights rest from the thunderstorm, I was groggy waking up. But oh so ready to be in town!
It was a short day, completely on roads, to get to the highway crossing. Many cow herds were along this road as I had been hearing all night long! Because of the highway, it was not good hitching so I ordered myself and George an Uber to get into town.
We got dropped off at a great breakfast place, Hanging 5, and were happy with the hiker sized portions. Because my hotel check in wasn’t until 3:00pm, I was able to complete my resupply and post office visit (with new shoes!) before then. I ran into Tazer, from two days prior, and Sunshine, another northbounder in the post office. It was great to connect with other hikers, if only for a bit. Once in the hotel, I settled in for the evening - only leaving to go out for Mexican food. Laundry was in the hotel which made it all the more convenient.
It was a lovely and productive day!
GALLERY
