Lincoln, MT to Darby, MT

South of Lincoln the trail continued to be frustratingly ambiguous. More navigation issues, bushwacking & back tracking. We ended up taking our first zero day in Helena, MT. Safety had developed a blister over a blister that was healing. We got a quick hitch from Mike and his dog Molly who were playing ball at the pass. It was a good move, we needed the day off and the State Capitol was a good place to enjoy some good food, good local beer at the Blackfoot River Brewery and recover from doing big miles. The trail, since leaving Glacier and the Chinese Wall in The Bob has been just 'meh', to be honest. We came across a much needed water source 'Dana Spring' that was contaminated with dead squirrels and rats because previous users did not put the lid back on properly. This turned out not to be a big issue for us as it was late in the day and we were able to get some water early the next morning about 5 miles in. Made it into Anaconda, MT, decided to spend the night and wait out the really nasty thunderstorms that were forecast to roll through...and they did and we stayed safe & dry! Thanks to Freebird (PCT alumni class of 2012) for sending trail magic our way, chocolate chip cookies and zucchini bread waiting for us at the Anaconda PO. Early the next day we set out and discovered that the storm had been much worse in the mountains, piles of grape-sized hail remained in the shaded areas, confirming our good decision. The two of us had grown tired of the PUDs (pointless ups and downs) of the last week and were ready for change. The Anaconda Pintler Wilderness was a dramatic change of scenery; rugged peaks, beautiful high mountain meadows and lakes. A lot of tough big pass climbs but plenty of reward for the effort at least. Really the gem of this section, the best walking & scenery since Glacier NP. We finally ran into our first NOBO thru-hikers. Mountain Rat one day and the very next day Litter Box and Yukon. Litter Box and Yukon are start-up organic farmers in Nor-Cal so we immediately hit it off and had good conversation about farming. This is just the tip of the NOBOs coming through, I'm guessing in the next week or two we will be crossing paths with the pack. It's been nice to see some other thrus the last couple days. It's also been nice that lately, the trail has been a trail that can be followed! We have seen more wildlife, mostly Elk, which like to heard together. I did see a Coyote right in the trail. It was surprised to see me, yelped at me and ran off. We did see Mountain Goats at Pintler Pass, high above us on some jagged peaks. We never would have seen them if we hadn't heard the rocks they kicked down the steep cliff side. We got an easy 31 mile hitch down to Darby, MT. It really is the best trail town so far for us...hiker friendly, good eats, compact, easily navigated, cheap place to stay and a great grocery store for resupply. This morning we head out of Darby and will be leaving Montana for Idaho. A new state, but not for long, we come back into extreme SW Montana again before entering NW corner of Wyoming and Yellowstone NP! Big Animal count 33 Elk, 5 Mountain Goats