Lima, MT to Leodore, ID (9/2-9/6): 102 Miles
Buckle up! It’s a long one!
Labor Day weekend had us reminiscing on all the things we wish we could be doing, but in reality, we only had the option of hiking north. We started back up on some dirt roads, where we came across a hill filled with hundreds of sheep. The sheep dogs barked at us as we approached, with a rancher on his horse way above us on the mountain. The scene helped us take our minds off the heavy, hesitant feelings of leaving town.
Continuous PUDS (aka Pointless Ups and Downs 🙃) with the heat made us feel tired, dehydrated and weak. The beautiful views of the valleys kept us feeling motivated, along with needing to average 21 miles each day. We would get down low with sagebrush scraping up against our legs, climb up for views, then back down. Put this on repeat x100.
Hiking fast to get to Deadman Lake for lunch, we scurried down switchbacks, soaked in the shade through the patches of mountain side pines, scooted past cows and climbed over barbed wire fences. We arrived, dropped our packs and went straight to the lake. The water shocked our bodies as we first dipped our toes in, then after some indecivness on whether to go all in or not, Ross soaked shoulders and below for 2 minutes while I dove in head first and came right back out. FREEZING water that cooled us down quick.
This same day, we continued on to our goal for the evening: Harkness Lake area. The sun was still beating down on us with every step - not a cloud in the sky. We looked up to the divide and noticed a huge cloud, though….but it was smoke. The wind was in our favor, going from west to east, while we walked away from it. We wondered if we had just seen a wildfire in its beginning hours.
The night was met with a clear sky, bringing out the twinkling stars. And even the next morning, we had a colorful sunrise. But as we started to hike, smoke refilled the air, making our distant views hazy. We hiked on knowing we’d get service at the top of a nearby peak.
The higher we climbed, the more hazy and smokey it got. We were nervous that we were caught in a fire. To add to the already nervous feelings, I looked up to the divide and saw a mountain lion! Just 50 yards from me! It didn’t see me, thankfully. It’s tail must’ve been 3 ft. along 😳
We got service, checked the MT Fire report, and sure enough, a fire had started the day prior. Additionally, the smoke we were amongst was from Trail Ridge and Moose Fires. Moose Fire is currently the largest in the country at 100,000+ acres.
More and more hunters appeared from the woods, and it was reassuring when we crossed paths. It was nice knowing we weren’t the only humans out in the smokey wilderness. We exchanged information, stories and parted with “stay safe”.
We hiked to Bannock Pass on our last day of this section with not as much smoke as the day before. Seeing Randy, our ride into town, pull up in his blue + white Ford truck was a relief - an escape into town for the night from the reality of the wild.
This section didn’t give us any rain!!! But smoke instead 😅
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