To Anaconda. Day 3 in this section: first road walk

I’m starting this day at mile 393. I’m wending it 13 miles in on the blue line to Anaconda. I hiked 26 miles today. 

I got up early after surviving the night with most of my things wet or damp. I was not cold, just uncomfortable. I wanted to get an early start to try and find a good place to dry everything in the sun. I found the perfect spot after several hours. I had a flowery meadow to sit in and an old fallen dead tree to use as a drying rack. 

After about 45 minutes Mango showed up and said it was the perfect drying spot. Soon everyone was drying things out. 

Once my stuff was dry I got back on trail. I called Tony and chatted with him while I climbed over blowdowns. 

The trail soon wandered through cattle grazing land and cross-crossed dirt roads. Then it entered forest with a lot of blowdowns. Most of them had been cleared but as I was carefully winding my way around one of them I hit my head on one I did not see. It knocked me down. I sat there holding my head and I started to cry. I felt so defeated. 

I got up and continued on. Eventually in the hot sun I reached the junction with the Anaconda cut-off, a shortcut alternate route. The others were sitting under a tree. I sat with them and enjoyed the conversation. 

They started saying things like they could do like they did on the PCT and wait 4 hours in the shade and continue later into the night. I decided I would rather just keep going and see what there was to see. 

The cut-off followed a dirt road.  It was pretty. There were meadows, each with their own color combination of wild flowers. Eventually the road followed a small creek that seemed to originate with a pond that had numerous cattle pooping in it. 

There was a comment in the app that said to make sure to get water before you leave the forest. I interpreted it to mean that this was the last chance. I decided I would make my dinner here and start my breakfast cold soaking and then I would fill up 2 liters and the 700ml bottle I had and that would be good. 

The road descended in the hot sun with light sprinkles falling now and then. I used my umbrella for shade. The road followed the creek. I could have gotten water for miles. It was only when you actually emerged from the forest that there was no more water. 

I powered down due west into the hot sun. I tried not to drink. This cow shit water wasn’t going to be enough in this heat. The lower the sun got the hotter it seemed to get. 

I past a junction and heard shouting and saw Wallaby. He said he wanted to wait for the others at the junction. I agreed to wait and we swatted mosquitoes in the shade for about an hour. There was a trail angel house 2.5 miles away. I finally said that I could have been there by now so I was going to go for it. 

From about 7pm to 8pm I hiked the dirt road to the trail angel house. There was a yard and some hikers camped in it. There was a hose with cold water. I filled my two and a half liter container and drank half of it. I set up my tent while swatting mosquitoes and watching a thunderstorm brew over the mountains. I was grateful for a safe place to stay. 

Only Wallaby made it to the trail angel house. The others must have found good shade to stop at. I have 10 miles of road walking to get to a MacDonald’s. 

To Anaconda. Day 2 in this section: viewless forest, ponds, and two thunderstorms

I’m starting this day at mile 370. I’m ending it at mile 393. 

It was a late start at 7:45. I should just get up early and do my own thing. 

The trail followed a dirt road for only a little while then became a proper trail. The forest was viewless most of the time. At one point there was a trailhead sign sort of in the middle of nowhere with a map of the Buffalo mountain loop, info about the CDT and a picture of some proud people who must have worked on these trails. They looked so proud but their trail is covered in blowdowns. 

The climbs still felt hard but I do feel stronger. 

I kept hoping to take a break at a creek but the creeks kept turning up dry. So at a pond I got another liter of froggy water to get me to the next creek. I saw Mowgli and some Canadians resting near the pond so I stopped to take a break and it instantly started raining so I pushed on into the now sunshine. Finally at long last I found a flowing creek where I could sit for a while. I sat in the sun while being rained on. A long climb was ahead but in 4.5 miles there would be a lake to rest at. 

I finally found a nice creek to take a break at. After I packed up to continue, Mowgli came up from behind and said he had waited 4 hours for his brother and he was tired of waiting. He wanted to make some big miles. He was going off on his own and we’d see in Anaconda. 

When I reached the lake it was a little disappointing. It was marshy. I didn’t think the others would want to be there for any length of time. I sat to wait a little but decided it would be better to press on.

I hadn’t seen the others all day. I started leapfrogging some Canadians and Germans. They seemed sort of unfriendly. I figured I might be on my own today so I decided to hike until 7pm or whatever seemed good. 

 

Late in the afternoon Wallaby caught up to me. And then almost instantly the day’s second thunderstorm opened up. The amount of rain that fell was insane. I did not stay dry in a rain jacket, rain skirt and umbrella. I was wet head to toe.

The two of us hiked together and looked for a good campsite. We found one after it stopped raining next to a meadow. The mosquitoes were fierce. Soon Mango, FastCash and Lotus arrived. As I unpacked my things it became apparent almost everything I had inside my pack got wet. I think I need a garbage bag to line my pack. 

I had a delicious dinner of a puffball mushroom I found, sautéed in butter, with mashed potatoes, cheese and turkey sausage. 

I do not like being so wet. We got two dry days without rain. That’s it. Now all my clothes are wet. 

Made it to Helena!

I’ve hiked around 300 miles. I’m in Helena. I’m hiking with Mowgli, Lotus and King Wallaby. Here are the highlights from hiking from Highway 2 outside Glacier National Park, through the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Scapegoat Wilderness and whatever else there was to get here. It has been super hard but also wonderful.