Lincoln–Helena.

Day 18, July 4 Zeroed today with Mikhail in Seeley Lake. I took 2 naps, did minimal walking, and ate a lot. Mikhail’s parents are on a road trip through Montana and happened to be within driving distance, so they came and had coffee with us, which was fantastic. It was great to see them again. I felt pretty tired all day–it was extremely hot in town, and I think my body was finally catching up on the strain of the past few big-mile days. It was an unbelievable bonus to have Mikhail drive all the way to me for my zero. We didn’t do too much for the 4th, just relaxed next to the lake in the evening. A perfect rest day. Day 19, July 5 Enjoyed the morning in Seeley Lake with Mikhail. We drove to Lincoln and picked up the other 4 and we got back to Rogers Pass about 2 pm. It was surprisingly, unbelievably cold, with low threatening clouds looming over the mountains. We started hiking up, and it got colder and wetter as we entered the clouds. It was hard to believe that it could be so cold, after how hot it had been the day before. We hiked pretty fast for 13 miles until Fletcher Pass, set up camp, then I had to walk about .8 miles down a road for water. It was almost 10 o’clock when I got back and started dinner. It was a surprisingly difficult afternoon and evening, but there were many hikers around at the campsite, which was nice. Chaps and Tails and their dog Skeeter camped with us as well. Day 20, July 6 Woke up late and got moving late, about 9 am, due to the late night the night before. Didn’t move too efficiently all day– hiked about 18 miles and set up camp about 7:30 pm. We have a really nice little campsite on a hill overlooking a meadow, and there are 7 of us camped here. The hope is for 25 + miles tomorrow– we’ll see. Water has been scarce in this section; we only had one source today during the day. Supposedly the next source is in 11 miles at Dana Spring; someone posted a picture on Facebook of it with three dead squirrels floating in the tank. Not really looking forward to that one. Day 21, July 7 Woke at 5 am today and started hiking at 6:30. I am coming down with what feels like a chest cold, which makes hiking feel pretty hard. The morning was all directly on the Divide–beautiful and hard, like all things that are worth it in life. Montana spread out at my feet as I climbed and descended, climbed and descended. I got to Dana Spring, filled up, and then ED and I took an alternate for the afternoon through pretty meadows and fields. It was fun to navigate and have to think about where we were going using the map and GPS. We somehow missed Scalliwag and Veggie and camped with Chaps, Tails, and Skeeter the border collie. 14 hour day. Helena tomorrow.