30 km. Hwy 16 Trailhead north of Jasper to creek past Centre Pass
The best thing that happened today was an easy hitch to the trailhead. Norman picked us up right away and once we told him we were hiking the GDT he knew exactly where we wanted to go. Huge thanks. We started hiking at 7:30. At first the trail was an old railroad bed.
All day we were gradually climbing. It didn’t look steep but with 4 days of food in my pack I could constantly feel gravity working against me. We were often on a side slope with inconsistent footing and lots of mud patches. Someone (probably equestrians) have cut most of the downed trees. That was a big help. But the overgrown brush made for difficult and slow walking. We were actually lucky. It was not raining and hasn’t for awhile. The brush was dry and the mud was probably as good as it gets. The few times we could see out the smoke didn’t look too bad.
Lots of chips is the key to happy hiking.
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Once we finally got to treeline the smoke was worse. We could smell it and see particles of ash. I didn’t take many photos because of it.
Wasps!
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We are camped in an open spot. The views would be grand if not for the smoke.
3 more days and we will be done.
nancyhikes 
I am so inspired Nancy, I live right here and look longingly into the places you have gone.
Chips are a secret to happy hiking! I take them too and always reach for them…the fattier the better!!!
Like I’ve said before, “I like chips”. On trail or off!
That last photo of the sun shining through the smoke is very eerie, almost other wordly. Mmmmmm chips!
Only 3 more days? Seems like it has gone fast. Will sure miss your posts and beautiful pictures. Your smoky picture looks like our area right now. The fires are some distance away but the smoke is drifting into our area on the breeze. Good luck on your last 3 days.