4 miles short of Bannock pass to Leadore

We had made arrangements with the owner of the Leadore inn to pick us up at the pass at 10 am. It was going to be a very hard hitch otherwise. Highway 29 is the only unpaved highway in Idaho and the traffic is about one car every two hours. We were at the pass for an hour and half early and saw one car heading down to Leadore, it was a forest service truck and they can't pick up hikers.

Leadore is a cute little town of about 100 people with one inn with 4 rooms, one restaurant and bar, one gas station, a post office and a really nice library. The innkeeper was great and very happy to have hikers. The lady that ran the restaurant was crazy fun and made good food. It was a great town for hikers since the entire thing was a quarter mile long.

Lemhi pass to 4 miles from Bannock pass

So we slept in the privy last night. There was no camping allowed at the spring source of the Missouri and we didn't feel like hiking the mile or two it'd take to get to a decent camp spot. The privy was very clean and smelt like it'd been recently washed. This was the third time I've slept in one and they've all been good experiences.
I forgot to mention but my pack broke yesterday. The main stay in the center of the pack snapped right in two. It had been feeling weird for a few days before that. I don't know why it broke mt pack was relatively light compared to some of the loads I've put in it in the desert. I jerry rigged a temporary fix by splinting the two pieces back together using duck tape and a tent stake. It actually feels better now than it did last week. We actually broke the rest of the frame while putting the stay back in the pack but another stake and more duck tape fixed it right up. I got ahold of ULA and they are going to send me replacement pieces to Lima.
The hike was gorgeous again and relativity easy since we stayed up on the divide for most of it. We dropped down at the end to head toward Bannock pass which is our access point to the town of Leadore.

Jahnke lake to lemhi pass

Another great day. Beads and I spent almost the entire day up high on the divide. The views were spectacular, the hiking easy, and the weather was prefect. We ended up hiking to lemhi pass, which was a historic place for the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was here that they came to the end of the Missouri and the start of the Columbia rivers. I filled up water from the spring that is the headwaters of the Missouri while straddling it. Very cool considering how big that river gets. I didn't go down to the Columbia headwaters since it was much farther away.

Lake with no name to jahnke lake

Another great day on the trail. No more rain today lots of great views. Papi fell behind but we are all planning on getting into leadore together. Here are more pictures.

North fork sheep creek to lake with no name

Way behind on the blog so lots of pics and few words.

Darby to north fork sheep creek

Got out of Darby by 830. Grim, MeHap, Apache, Nomnom, and Guy all stayed in town for another day. I'm not sure when we'll see them again. They are faster than us but we have an aggressive schedule to finish by mid September.
As usual the hike was amazing. The views just don't stop out here. What we forgot to do in town was check the weather report. That's why we got caught in a cold nasty storm. I was hiking full speed and managed my body temperature that way. But when I'd stop to make sure Beads was OK I'd loose that heat fast. Eventually we got to an intersection, we regroup at intersections to make sure everyone is alright and knows where to go. That's another reason I like hiking with these two. After waiting about 15 minutes and papi didn't show up we got worried. Beads hadn't seen him for 30 minutes before the intersection so we didn't know if he was alright or hypothermic. I was starting to get really cold at this point wearing only my rain jacket, t-shirt, and soaking wet pants. We decided to give him 5 more minutes then I'd go back to look, partly to warm up partly to make sure he was OK. He did show up, he had stopped and put on all his layers except sleeping cloths since he couldn't get warm enough by hiking. About 30 minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out. That was perfect timing since we could slow down and eat the huckleberries growing down by the creek.

Gibbons pass to Darby

Beads and I got up early and were hiking by 615. Turns out we finally made it to Idaho, according to Papi we have also hiked more than half the trail. Time to celebrate.
The hitch into Darby was supposed to be really hard. We figured with 7 of us sitting on the side of the road it would be even harder so we left early to improve our chances. I guess we were lucky cause the second car picked us up. She dropped beads off in sula, a little resort on the way to Darby, and took me too Darby.
After resupplying and eating breakfast I had the afternoon to waste. I had had a great apple cider in Missoula from Montana Ciderworks which was based in Darby. I went to the local liquor store and the lady there helped me get in touch with the cidery. Turns out it was a one person operation and I told her I was a hiker  looking for a tour. Boy did that ever work, she is also a hiker in the process of section hiking the PCT and was currently packing to leave tomorrow to go hike the Sierra section. I told her never mind about the tour since she was obviously way to busy to give us one, but she said we are absolutely getting a tour and she was even heading up to sula so she could grab beads. So Beads, Papi and I got a personal tour of the cidery. I had no idea that valley used to be a major apple producing area. Beads had all kinds of questions for our host, Lee, since she did some home cider making. Beads made it sound so easy, get cider, add champagne yeast, wait 5 days, while Lee told us stories about how much time and effort it takes to turn out a consistent product. Whatever she does it works, she let us try 5 different ciders and they were all fantastic. Turns out I prefer the new world cider to the traditional British style. Basically the traditional style uses red apples has a earthy horsey smell to it. While the new world uses apples found in America like macintosh, which was my favorite.
We got back to town and Papi really wanted to go spend the night at the hot springs. We hitched a ride there and spent the rest of the day soaking in hot springs. All in all it was a great day.

A spring to Gibbons pass

We survived the night. The trees made some interesting noises but they all stayed standing.
It was another amazing day on the divide. I've said it before but actually being up on the divide is spectacular. It also limits the water availability. There is plenty of water but it's almost never on the divide so we either have to go down off the divide or carry extra water. Today was one of those days. There was a 10+ mile carry and a 15. In the desert I'd laugh at those distances but up here I've only carried more than 1 liter twice.
Since there was only the two water sources everyone bunched up there. We had a great time eating and discussing the different podcasts everyone was listening to. The hike itself had everything; lakes, big mountain climbs, flower covered valleys, crooked creeks, shady forests, ice cold springs, and incredible views from the divide.

Warren lake to a spring

What a beautiful day. We entered the Pintler wilderness today. I think this is my favorite yet. The Bob and scapegoat weren't bad but all the pack animals had made the trail unpleasant. Up here we are on the divide again and the trails are perfect. We have these amazing views and hardly have to look down at our feet. The climbs are difficult which makes the views even more incredible since we worked so hard to see them.

Beads, Grim and I took a cross country shortcut that saved us two miles. But it was followed by an uphill do the others caught up by lunch time. I really like the freedom of this trail, on the AT you were outcast if you didn't follow the white blazes and the PCT it was inconceivable to hike anything except the trail. Out here it's expected to go explore, take cross country shortcuts. I'm really enjoying it.

We spent most of the day just below the divide. Towards the end we were on it but the forests had burned, which gave us great views but was hot. Water was scarce since we were up on the divide but never more than 10 miles apart. We ended up camping at a spring surrounded by dead trees. I hate camping under them but there was nowhere else to camp.

Twin lakes to Warren lake

Anaconda to twin lakes

We got a late start. Connie and her sister offered to drive us around and give us the insiders tour of the town. There was supposed to be rain today so it was a very tempting offer. I was determined to hike but everyone else was very wishy-washy. I said if it didn't start raining by 1130 I was hiking, otherwise I'd take another zero. It didn't rain and when I hiked out so did everyone else. We all would have loved to stay but New Mexico is still very far away and winter is coming. The hike was uneventful with us road walking for 12 miles then some old jeep trail that vanished occasionally the next 5 miles. We camped at a beautiful lake and made a fire. We didn't get rained on once.

4th of July

What a great day. I should start by saying again how fantastic the manager, Connie, of the tradewinds motel is. She offered to take us up to a secret spot to watch the fireworks tonight.

There was supposed to be a parade at 10 am on main street. Anyone could enter it by showing up at the side street before it started. I tried to convince the others that we should join to promote the CDT in Anaconda but nobody wanted to carry their packs on a zero day. We got to main street by 10 but it was completely empty. There was only one pair of guys in front of an old folks home setting up a tent. The only place open was a bar. So into the bar we went at 10 am to "read the paper." They did actually have the local paper and the parade was at 2 pm, the 10 am parade was 12 miles away at a lake. The locals in the bar were very friendly and bought us all a round of beers, then 3 more rounds followed shortly there after. Like I said, very friendly locals. We set off 4 beers later for dairy queen, which was the only place open on this side of town for lunch. The parade was getting ready to start when we got back to main street. It was completely different from the morning. The entire street was lined with people, there was nowhere with shade that wasn't 4 people deep. The parade was cute with locals showing off their nice cars, tractors, or advertising their businesses. Of course the local firemen were well represented and extremely loud.

After the parade we all headed back to the motel for a much needed nap. I finally got around to doing my town chores while we waited for 930 when we'd be getting a ride with Connie. Eventually 930 rolled around and we all piled into the back of her old pickup truck and got driven to an old cemetery overlooking the town. The view was perfect since the fireworks were going to be set off on the mountain opposite is with the town between. The show was really good for such a small town. All in all it was another great 4th of July experience on trail.

Eddie Murphy's house to Anaconda

Another hot day expected another early start. We had a mile of nice hiking through a wildlife superfund site being used to try remove some of the pollution in the Clark river. After that the rest of the way was an asphalt roadwalk to town. We made it halfway to town before taking a break. There was a nice little pull out in the road with trees in it. I went to take a pee and saw two dead deer so I suggested we move on a little. Much to our surprise the entire canyon behind the pullout was filled with dead animals. They had obviously been there for a while but it was still disturbing. The rest of the hike into town was uneventful but hot.

The town of Anaconda was great. I'd hate to live here but it was fun for a two day visit. The manager of the Tradewinds motel we were staying at was amazing. Our room wasn't ready so she let us stash our packs in the breakfast room while we explored town.

We didn't make it far since there was an old bowling alley just down the road. After grabbing lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon bowling with the entire bowling alley to ourselves. There was nobody attending the alley and the waitress showed Papi how to use the radio. It was a blast. After that we went back to our motel to clean up.

We headed out to grab dinner but again didn't make it far. Right across the street was a nice steakhouse. Turns out the hotel manager helps out there baking the desserts. The meal was fantastic and was not made with local products, since they'd probably be contaminated with arsenic and other fun stuff.

Leadville to Eddie Murphy's house

Another hot day expected so another early start. After making such good time yesterday we decided to do another 28 mile day and camp at a bar that let's you stay in their back yard. The first 10 miles was nice trail through wooded forest. That's when we hit the Anaconda cut off. The cutoff is an alternative that saves 80 miles of hiking along the divide through Butte. The trail through Butte is brand new and supposedly nice with great views but does a long loop to the south east before heading straight back west. The cutoff follows some roads and heads south west and rejoins the divide after the town of Anaconda. The deciding factor for me was the 4th of July. Our schedule had us in town on the 4th. I had a great time celebrating the 4th on the AT in a small town and wanted to do that again. I'm sure Butte's celebration would be great but it wouldn't have that small town feel.

The hike was along some nice forest service road for the first 17 miles before following asphalt into town. At the asphalt was where the car was supposed to be. The initial 10 miles was great. We were going downhill next to a creek with trees everywhere. The remaining 6 miles was not. The creek dried up and the trees were replaced by alfalfa farms. We got there at the worst time of day. It was over 90 and beads was out of water since we thought we'd grab some from where the nice creek crossed the road. Somehow in the mile between our last crossing and that point it completely dried up. I had only a liter and a left for that 6 mile stretch. There was no place for us to hide from the heat until we had done 5 miles and drunk all the water. We took a nice break under some trees and let the heat break. There was a river crossing in a mile and half so we pushed on. After a half mile we see a whole bunch of other hikers sitting in someone's front yard that flag us down. The tell us the bar is closed but the guy who owns the house, Eddie Murphy(not the comedian), said we could stay there for the night and use his water.

7 miles south of Helena to Leadville, MT

Another hot day expected but getting cooler. We got hiking by 6 and had some nice easy rolling hills and forested trail to wander through. The trail was about half trail half old jeep track restricted to the CDT. That made for some easy hiking.

At one point we hit an intersection where a new trail had been designated. It was 2 miles longer but more closely followed the divide. Beads and I decided to take the old trail while the others took the new stuff. There was a note on Ley's maps saying that some of the trail indication signs had been messed with by some locals. If that was true it was fixed. There was only one intersection that we thought the signs might have been deceptive since it had us going north and we had to go south east. My map app, Gaia, showed a trail to our south but nothing to the north. So we went south. That was the wrong choice. The spot my app showed a trail was just standard forest and the next bit looked the same. We took a compass baring and bush whacked up the ridge we had been paralleling to where the trail was. The rest of the trail was nice and uneventful.

We waited 45 minutes at the junction where or old route rejoined the new trail to get our group back together. The others didn't show up. We think they must have stopped and waited for us. They must not have heard us when we said we were taking the old route. Beads and I decided to just keep hiking and let them catch up at town. There was another shortcut we took that shaved off 2 more miles. Again it was a nice hike. We did a little bush whacking to save a mile of walking down one side of a valley only to walk back up the other. We eventually camped just short of an old abandoned mining town, more like a homestead since I only saw 3 houses.