Day 22, July 8 ED and I hiked the 7 miles to McDonald Pass pretty quickly in the morning, except for a small unplanned detour when we both individually followed a game path and got off trail. Well, now we’ve widened that game trail to ensure all future thruhikers make the same mistake. Sorry, future SOBOs. We got to the pass and we’re having a tough time getting a ride, so I made a sign with the end of my groundsheet that read “nice hikers to Helena.” We got a ride five minutes later. Got to town and Veggie and Scalliwag had already gotten a motel, bought laundry detergent, and bought shampoo and conditioner for all of us to shower. I told them I would make sure to camp early and get up late on all future town days so they could take care of all the chores. Made pizza for everyone, and we all talked into the night about whether to take the Butte or Anaconda route out of Helena. The Butte route is 80 miles longer and maybe more scenic, while the Anaconda route is shorter with more road walking. We were split half and half , so it looked like Veggie and I were the only ones doing the Anaconda route. I am concerned about moving fast enough to avoid snow in Colorado. Overall a successful town day; not looking forward to losing our nice group of 6. Day 23, July 9 Well, Scalliwag surprised us in the 11th hour today by last minute deciding to take the Anaconda route to keep our group together. We were thrilled! Veggie and I had lunch and then hitch hiked out of town with a very nice man named Alejandro, who was the CFO for a child advocacy nonprofit in Missoula. We got to the trailhead and met another man named Tom, who was from Brooklyn and moved to Helena 40ish years ago. Boy, was he a talker. He told us many interesting stories. We finally extricated ourselves and hiked about 9 miles to a creek and trail junction. The others had more town chores and didn’t catch up to us by nightfall. Veggie says I don’t snore, but she knows when I am asleep in my tent because she can “hear the snot rattling around when I’m trying to breathe.” We have developed a comfortable partnership, I feel. Day 24, July 10 Got a bit of a late start today, at 8:30.
The whole group caught up us by midday. It was cloudy all day, and then big thunderstorm clouds started rolling in. We started hiking faster in the evening; saw two northbounders, who turned out to be Mama Bear and Monkey! They hiked the PCT in 2012, and Monkey was attempting to become the youngest thruhiker ever, at 9 years old. They are hiking the state of Montana this summer. It was great to see them. The rain finally hit and we made camp earlier than planned at 7:30. It feels great to be warm in the tent with the rain falling outside. Trail was a lot of forest and dirt roads today–not that interesting. Still have my cold; on the upside, my feet are finally hardening up.
Day 25, July 11 We woke up and it was still raining. It’s a bummer to have to pack up in the rain–it’s difficult to keep everything dry. We were all a little glum and got off to a slow start for the day. The weather got better later in the day–we went by what was labelled “Leadville” on the map, which turned out to be some old dilapidated cabins, kind of interesting. We walked into the evening. The trail opened up into a huge meadow and we had beautiful views of the valley and mountains. We camped at Four Corners and had a campfire, which was comforting. Chaps and Tails have fallen behind because of Tails’ cold. In other news, I was listening to a TED talk about how chimpanzees exhibit ethical behaviors like reciprocity–if one grooms another in the morning, that chimp is more likely to share his food with the groomer later in the day. Veggie scraped my sunburned nose skin off with her fingernail– I told her about the chimps, and she wanted to know if I was planning to share my food with her. I told her the chimps have a better moral sense than me, and forget it.
Day 26, July 12 We walked 26 miles today into Anaconda. It was all road walking. It was hot, but beautiful views of the valley all day. We stayed at the cheapest motel in town, which promised a hot tub; when we asked about it we got a 10 minute speech about Obama, the end result of which was that the guy didn’t run the hot tub anymore. (Thanks, Obama.). All in all a nice town stay.
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