Mileage: 22.4km (including 2 bonus km from camp back to the GDT)

Toothless woke at 5:30am and we had a long day ahead, so we tried to pack up and get an early start.

We made quick work of our 2km detour back to the official trail, but the sun was already starting to get high in the sky when we hit the roadwalk section. We were quite perplexed about why the park didn’t add a hiker trail alongside the brand-new road. Going out early meant at least there wasn’t much traffic, and the majority were quite courteous – the tour bus driver even slowed down to check we were GDT hikers and didn’t need a ride.

Then began our long climb up to Lineham Ridge. There were SO MANY bugs. I seriously cannot overstate how bad the bugs were, I’ve never seen bugs this intense. Thankfully they didn’t seem to notice Toothless existed and ignored him, just attacking me and Kyle.

The ascent was long and slow, but thankfully we had pretty perfect conditions (other than the bugs) once we got above treeline. It was overcast, but no rain on the way up and then the sun came out again for the descent.

We made it down to “treeline” in good time and stopped for lunch at a little grassy patch. Unfortunately “treeline” meant a burned forest, so the rest of the day was quite hot.

One more smaller ascent up to a saddle before our camp and we finally made it out of the burn and into an actually treed area!

Camp was at Lone Lake with all the lovely facilities the National Parks have to offer including a fun table made from stacked rocks that Toothless enjoyed exploring during dinnertime before we tucked into bed.