CDT Trail Towns: Idaho and Lima, MT
I am frequently asked about town stops on the Continental Divide Trail. There are so many options that hikers in the planning stages typically want to get as much input in regards to trail towns as possible. To this end, I’ve created my take on CDT trail towns. This is in no way meant to replace Yogi’s CDT Handbook (and in the text I reference things she has said in her book and maps she provides). Yogi is a friend, I used and loved her handbook so visit her website and see if her Handbook is for you. Without further ado…CDT trail towns presented in a south bound order.
My next stop was Leadore, ID: I loved Leadore. I ate at the Velvet Elk (used to be Deb’s Sagebrush Café) and stayed at the City Park for something like $5 plus 3 for the shower. It was fine. It’s a short walk from town, north, toward Salmon. The resupply here is pretty bad. You can pick up a few things (snacks for while you are in town) and you might be able to make it work but send yourself some resupply or be prepared to hitch to Salmon.
If you meet Roberta the Librarian, tell her I said hello…such a great person! I didn’t go to Yogi’s “sorta store”. That’s really the name of it and it creeped me out in ‘06 when I drove by so I didn’t even bother walking up there to check it out. Here is a hint if you want to do laundry, on the North East side of town you’ll see the “Homestead Motel” and the “Homestead Apartments”. The Motel is slightly north of the Apartments. In front of the Apartments, there is a small building…it’s a laundry place. Not sure if you are supposed to use it or not but we did (no signs posted that I saw).
Lima, MT: I had a good time in Lima. We had a good crowd, WILDCAT and I got the last room available. If you carry a cell phone and you want a room, call the Motel from the Ridge you’ll be walking for the entire day before you get to the road. Also, you might, might, might be able to get cell reception on the road walk to the interstate. If you get thru (Mike) will pick you up. If you can’t get him, you can walk the mile or two (not sure what it is) up to Monida, use the Pay phone and Mike will get you. Peat’s grill place was good, Jan’s was good. I had a nice time in Lima.
Ok, I took an alternate route here. I walked to Monida and then road walked to the Red Rock’s Wildlife Preserve. I heard the section from Lima to Sawtelle/Mack’s Inn or to West Yellowstone was a real bummer so we decided to go to a bird sanctuary (Red Rock Lake I think). It was great. We got great trail magic at the preserve, cokes, beer, and pizza from a guy who worked there and were told about a campsite that’s free and had great drinking water. Only draw back were the mosquitoes…they were pretty bad…good water though. The ranger at the preserve even told us we didn’t have to purify it (have you ever met a ranger that said that?). Finishing that road walk, we stopped at a mobile home/R.V. park and got sodas and ice cream. I would guess that this was about 7 or so miles north of Sawtelle Resort.
Sawtelle Resort, ID: I stayed at the Resort (it was my birthday and we did 28 miles on my 29th b-day). We ate at the Island Park Village restaurant (the others were closed by the time we got situated). I resupplied at the Robin’s Roost (I think, it’s only 38 miles or so to Yellowstone). I think I did laundry and went in the hot tub at the resort.
Mack’s Inn, ID: I walked here the next morning (leisurely after check out) and went to the café, went to the PO, did my business there, went back to the café, ate (they were a bit slow so I ran to the PO in between ordering and eating), packaged some stuff, walked back to the PO and left town. It was a short day but nice. Depending on your schedule you should call Yellowstone, you may need to obtain permission (they issue you a permit but you don’t have to pick it up) to camp at one of the sites in the park but trail north of Old Faithful and the back country office. You also might not need to do this. When scheduling, keep in mind that there is no camping at Old Faithful and getting a room is tough and expensive. Plan to hike at least a few miles to a campsite once you get to Old Faithful.
