[cdt-l] Brian's CDT Hike

[cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net (Ginny & Jim Owen)]

Roy asked:

>1.  Where does one get a Glacier National Park entry permit?  If there is 
>an
>on-line option, I could apply for him.  Otherwise, I presume he must try to
>get one when he arrives there.  If so, where?


No on-line option - it can be done by mail if you have definite dates, or in 
person, but one week beforehand is probably too late for that.  Either way 
he may have a problem getting reservations as this is prime season and the 
campsites are limited.  In person he can go to the ranger station at Two 
Medicine, St. Mary's or West Glacier.  There is no permit station at East 
Glacier.

Permit fees are $4.00 per person -- per night.  A slow trip can get 
expensive but I don't think he'll have to worry about that.


>2.  Is there a post office at Mack's Inn, Idaho?  I have a zipcode 83433, 
>but >the  USPS web site has no listing for a p.o. there.  Nearest 
>"official" p.o.>is at Island Park, 5 miles SW.  Perhaps there is a contract 
>mail station at>Mack's Inn.  Can anyone confirm that General Delivery mail 
>to Mack's Inn will >work for delivery of a resupply package?

Yes - there is a post office. According to Yahoo, the address is
4118 S Big Springs Rd, Macks Inn, ID 83433. You can also mail to the resort. 
  Call them ahead of time though to confirm.  It is VERY small.  The PO was 
about a block from the campground.  Tell him not to count on ANY supplies at 
the store aside from coke and candy.  It turned out to be a decent stop, 
since they had a PO, campground, motel, laundromat, small diner, and Dinner 
Theater with AYCE meals.  We were told we could have gone to a grocery up 
the road that would have been better than the gas station.

>3.  Brian would like to know if he can get by without an ice axe on the CDT
>this time of year.  We hear that snow has been light this year, as it has
>been on the Pacific Crest Trail.  He used his ice axe on the PCT only 
>through
>the early season Sierra.
>
>Thanks for your help!  -- Roy

He should be fine. We were mostly past the snow by mid-July, and that was a 
high snow year.

Ginny and Jim
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