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,

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