Idaho | Montana:

We had been working...walking...for months to get to these two final states, and somehow, the moment of entering into ID/MT territory came all too quickly. At the same time, crossing into ID/MT gave me the chance to reflect on all that we had accomplished up to this point. Did we really walk all this way? Did we really still have 800 miles left to Canada? I didn't know what to think or feel. And honestly, I didn't really have time to think or feel. All I knew is, we had to keep walking. 

The last several hundred miles were upon us, and we still were rushing to beat winter. Just because we were in the final state didn't guarantee we were going to make it to Canada in time. Winter seemed to be far away, though, as SE Idaho had us feeling like we were back in the desert with the dirt, sagebrush, and hot days. But the days were getting shorter, the nights arrived earlier, and it most definitely seemed the air was getting cooler at night.  

​

The towns of Idaho and Montana brought us small-town feel with loving, welcoming locals. Most times, it seemed like we didn't even need to put our thumbs out to get a ride to and from the trail, and if we did, a local would pull over within 20 minutes of us standing on the roadside. Sometimes, we did have to pre-schedule a ride to  pick us up at the end of a segment, as the end of particular segments were 30-45 miles out from the nearest town. Thank goodness for those locals that were willing to come to pick us up for an encouraged small donation to cover their gas. The conversations and kindness these folks graced us with were worth it the small fee. 

​