Lima, MT to Dubois, WY

1 Black Bear, 1 Moose & 12 Elk

Darby, MT to Lima, MT

Town stops have been more important than they ever were on the AT or PCT. I can't remember needing to reset and work out the frustration like I do on the CDT. My love hate relationship with the CDT in Montana continued this stretch and has lasted roughly 700 miles...that's pretty much the entire state! Is it the endless PUDs, exposure, hunt for water, search for the 'trail', bushwacks, x-country terrain or am I burned out from thru-hiking three summers in a row now? I don't know, I just have to push on. In any case, Montana is almost DONE! Looking forward to Wyoming; Yellowstone, The Winds and the Great Basin. There has been some really nice walking in this stretch. High mountain lakes and a lot of walking on the Divide. Walking on the Divide is usually really spectacular, in a lightening storm its anything but. Where we were lucky in avoiding these storms early on in the hike this last section had too many close calls. Two days in a row (twice in one day too) we were caught on very exposed high terrain (8k-9k feet) on the Divide with no where to go. Not a lot of rain with these slow moving storms but plenty of wind, thunder and lightning! Both days we had to get to a lower spot off trail, classic type 2 fun: not fun to do but fun to talk about...since we survived it. I guess we should be grateful we weren't in Colorado at 14k ft! We have hit the "bubble" of NOBO's and its been fun chattin and seeing old faces from the AT and PCT. I think I've counted about 45 NOBO thru's. Below are pics of Raisin, Estero, Castle & Portrait and High Life; all who I have met on either the AT or PCT. We got through the bubble in this section and I don't anticipate seeing many more, we should maybe start catching some of the SOBO's by the end of Wyoming. The trail in this section runs along the Divide a lot, swinging back & forth between Montana and Idaho. Two much needed town layovers in Leadore, Idaho and now Lima Montana. We had to take a forced zero (our second of the trip) in Leadore, ID because we arrived late Saturday afternoon and the Post Office wasn't gonna be open until Monday...we had resupply food drops to pick up. It was a great time in Leadore, there were several NOBOs in town and we all got to hang out at the local bar/restaurant for some fun times and maybe too many adult beverages were had. We've been following a lot of history on this trip, primarily some of the Lewis & Clark routes. Below is a picture of me straddling, with one foot on each bank, the headwaters of the Missouri River at Sacagawea camp where Lewis & Clark stayed on their return trip. We did see our first heards of Antelope. They are very skittish, shy and supremely fast. We got lucky coming over a ridge with a surprise attack (to both Antelope and us) and jumped a big heard of around 30, I was able to get a pic of them running full speed somehow. A random Moose and many more Elk, some massive Bull Elk in the mix. The CDT does have unmatched variety of wildlife. 1 Moose, 53 Antelope, 35 Elk,