On 7/9 I did 18.6 miles to Twin Lakes. On 7/10 I did 26.2 miles to the West Fork of Fishtrap Creek. On 7/11 I did 33.8 miles to ridgeline overlooking Bender Point. On 7/12 I did 21.8 miles to Chief Joseph Pass.
Listen to “Little Dawn” by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. It's a fun band to listen to as I'm attacking the climbs as I'm catching a little dawn and a little dusk everyday.
For the past 200 miles I have been cruising by myself. It turns out Fluffy's IT band issue is really a torn meniscus and he never got back on trail after East Glacier. Joe Dirte went into Helena and I pushed through to make miles and then picked up the pace so it's been a fun change to be rolling by myself.
I took an alternate around Butte and went through the town of Anaconda. I thought this was a logistically smart decision because it would make my resupply easier since I would be walking through a town and could just pick up my package at the PO and move out. I didn't study the maps well enough, and in order to do the alternate required a 52 mile road walk with no camping along the way so once you start the walk you have to make it to Anaconda to sleep. It was a 37 mile day along a dirt road which then turned into a busy highway. On the plus side I had signal so I made a lot of phone calls as the cars were whizzing by. I got to the border of Anaconda and planned to head to the city park to sleep but I was so tired I just went to the first motel I found, grabbed a 6 pack and crashed. It was easily the most tired I have ever been on a trail. I normally like to explore the towns I go through a long the way, but I was too beat and on a timeline so I got up early the next morning and headed for the PO. Once I grabbed my package I just happened to see a brewery next to the PO that was open and I felt like I had to sample the local brews before I pushed out.
Side note 1: The beer in Montana is terrible. I have been so disappointed with every local beer I have found. Some of it is undrinkable, even after hiking all day it tastes bad. The brewery in Anaconda was an exception as they made some solid beers but the rest of MT needs to figure out how to brew a decent beer.
Side Note 2: Anaconda has the most expensive hill in America because of the Superfund site created when the Smelter around the town closed. (Lets not get into the politics of why the federal government has to clean up after a private enterprise). All that physically remains of the smelter is its smoke stack which is 585 feet tall and 75 feet in diameter. The stack is the worlds largest free standing masonary structure (its taller than the Washington Monument). MT has a super weird relationship with mining. They are proud of their heritage and its roll in the industrial revolution and the amount of wealth it generated for some of its citizens (it should also be noted the one of the places the labor movement started was in MT because of the terrible working conditions). The mining also created so many environmental ticking time bombs, some of which dont even have solutions. Anyways, it's really interesting history. I'm told the city water is fine to drink but I prefer to drink the mountain stream waters away from towns.
After leaving Anaconda I had the second half of my road walk and then hit an area called the Pintlers. I had never heard of them but they were such a suprise. They are like the Trinity Alps in CA in regards to how beautiful they are but no one ever talks about them. Every day I either slept by a mountain lake or high up on a ridgeline overlooking the Anaconda Ridgelines. I would definitely come back to the Pintlers and just spend a week exploring its trails. The only down side of the printers is the elevation change. It's not really a down side as I love going up and down the ridges but when you are trying to make miles it's hard to do in this type of terrain. I probably had about 12,000 feet of elevation gain/lost per day. I felt like I was back on the AT. They were early starts and late finishes to hit my mileage goals through these mountains but every step was beautiful and next time I come through here I'll be moving at a normal pace.
I was feeling really tired and beatdown as I was making my way to Chief Joseph Pass. As I went up a switchback I saw two people coming down toward me. They had tin cans hanging off their packs filled with a few stones to make noise for bears. This made me laugh out loud as I had never seen tin cans hanging off a pack like a cartoon character. As the 2 hikers got closer one yelled out in celebration and came up and kissed me. It was my French friends who I hadn't seen since Pie Town. We stayed up late sharing travel stories in Pie Town over beer and wine. I also gave them a bunch of hummus and beans in Pie Town that apparently they treasured and said it was some of the best food they ever had and would reminisce about it as they were hiking (hikers have super low standards). We talked on trail for a half a hour catching up and discussing how we got around the snow (they hitch hiked 1000 miles and had a blast doing it). I wish we were in town and could of caught up longer over some beer and wine again. They are doing a bunch of flipping and flopping so hopefully I run into them again as they have a lot of positive energy and are as solid as they come. I was definitely in a jublient mood as I pushed on toward the pass.
First campsite in the Pintlers
Going over Storm Pass
Awesome water sources everywhere
This is the trail and yes I am still crossing some snow in Mid July
My French Friends with Fred
Sunset in a burn area.