Twig Adventures

July 7th, 2019 Mm 339 to MacDonald Pass mm 361 Distance in miles: 22 0600-1430 Our cow pasture was great, one of my best nights of sleep. The cow alarm goes off early though, and I am awake by 4:30 am. An early start towards town isn’t a bad thing. Except that we immediately miss an alternate route that would have shaved at least an hour. I’m not only looking for short cuts but since we’re road walking most of the day anyway, what difference does it make if we take the most direct road? Instead, we go on a circuitous and confusing networks of dirt roads, having to check our GPS at every intersection. At one point we are[…]

July 6th, 2019 Flesher Pass Trailhead mm 306 to mm 339 Distance in miles: 33 0600-2000 I don’t mean Idaho potatoes, but Montana ones. There is a term in the hiking community: PUD’s…pointless ups and downs, which is kind of negative. Most hikers like to go to the top of a mountain but thru-hikers get grumpy when they have to do it over and over again all day. We like long, graded traverses that go through mountains, a lot like you find on the PCT. We are a spoiled bunch. So instead of complaining of PUD’s today, we started talking of potatoes. Relentless thinks that these rolling mountains of central Montana look like russet potatoes from afar. And we climbed[…]

July 5th, 2019 Rogers Pass, HWY to Lincoln, mm 292.2 to Flesher Pass Trailhead mm 306 Distance in miles: 14 1300-1800 I slept good all night, only waking once to go to the bathroom. There were no more fireworks but I could still hear people shouting in the distance. I slept in until 6 am and then got cracking on chores. There was no laundry I could find anywhere so I did some in the sink. Seven days of stink and counting for most of my clothes, oh well. Since the town was so booked up and we couldn’t get much done, we had decided to leave by noon. Helena was only another 2.5 days away, where we could hopefully[…]

July 4th, 2019 Dearborn River mm 263.4 to Rogers Pass, HWY to Lincoln, mm 292.2 Distance in miles: 28.7 0550-1800 Happy red, white, and blue! A year ago I was flying into Seattle, WA, watching the fireworks above from the airplane and getting ready to start the PCT. This year I’m nearly 300 miles into the CDT, never mind my NM section hike, and listening to booms all night in Lincoln, MT. We had to earn our town stop today. It was once again a long distance but also a ton of steep climbs. We reached the part of the trail that begins to favor the actual divide. Ridge-walking is awesome and beautiful but it comes at a price. Today[…]

July 3rd, 2019 Benchmark mm 234.2 to Dearborn River mm 263.4 Distance in miles: 29.5 0630-1800 It was a tough day of some more hard rain but finished in bright sunshine. The weather is crazy here. Overnight I slept so hard, only waking once or twice to fret about all the rain. I sweated inside my quilt and wake up feeling cold and clammy, thinking I am somehow getting wet. But no, my tent is mostly dry. It’s so dark, it’s hard to tell. I pass out again until morning. As usual, everything is damp from condensation. It’s hard to get moving but at least the rain has stopped in the morning. We start out together and for a brief[…]

July 2nd, 2019 My Lake mm 206.4 to Benchmark mm 234.2 Distance in miles: 31 0640-2000 No one is moving early in the morning but me. My companions usually wake to the sounds I make packing but no one stirs. We had a hard day the day before and we are all very tired still. I just work quietly on my blog and listen to Relentless snore. I really don’t mind their sounds. We have circled the wagons again, so to speak, pitching our camo cuben fiber shelters in a circle. We did this the night before too and I find the odd combination funny. We have Salty’s ultralight tarp, my single tent, and Relentless’s double tent…all matching, what were[…]

July 1st, 2019 Strawberry Creek mm 158.7 to My Lake mm 206.4 Distance in miles: 31.5 0610-1930 Oh what a day, way better than the previous day. Light came early on the little island where we were camping and soon we were on the march again. I am much slower at getting ready in the morning, even though I am always the first to wake up, so I was lagging behind. We ran into a NOBO, Tic Tac, early on. Then a couple that were camped near a ranger station. We signed the registry there, the first I had seen since going south. There were heaps of people signed in just 2 days ahead of us…like 19. A bubble as[…]

June 30th, 2019 South Fork Two Medicine River mm 125.5 to Strawberry Creek mm 158.7 Distance in miles: 29 0620-1800 There wasn’t a whole lot to say about today. It was a long walk through mostly burned forests. The trail started off wide with lots of horse and mule prints. We shortly arrived at what was titled a guard station, which was actually a forest service cabin with 2 rangers getting set to do trail work. They had loaded up a mule and horse, while 3 more equines waited in the corral. We discussed the virtues of mules and horses while I petted the mule’s ears. I am so fascinated by their big ears. The ranger spoke of how the[…]

June 29th, 2019 East Glacier mm 99.5 to South Fork Two Medicine River mm 125.5 Distance in miles: 26 I sleep in until almost 6 am! Then Relentless made us all his signature omelet with the leftover veggies from the night before. It was so good. We took it easy and finally hit the trail by 9 a.m. I was in no rush but we had a pretty long 120 plus mile section ahead of us, mostly through the Bob Marshall wilderness. It’s said to be rough, especially compared to the cruisey trails in GNP. I was carrying a lot food, some to last me all 7 days to Lincoln and the rest for 5 days to Benchmark, a resort[…]

June 28th, 2019 Two Medicine Campground mm 89.2 to East Glacier mm 99.5 Distance in miles: 10.3 Our final day in the park included a nice climb over a smaller pass and an easy glide into town for a nero. We got an early start but took it kind of relaxed. The pass was very exposed and cold but good for spotting animals. On the way up we walked right past a mountain goat and then a herd of 30+ bighorn sheep on the way down. We also got cell phone reception for the first time, so my focus shifted towards town early. The park is one the most spectacular places I have hiked and I hope to go back[…]