Twig Adventures

July 15th, 2019 HWY 43 mm 625 to Big Hole Pass mm 641.5 Distance in miles: 17.5 1330-1900 Darby would get a pretty average to low rating in my book if it weren’t for the RV park and grocery. Not much is open on Monday so we get breakfast at the grocery deli…cheap and pretty good breakfast sandwiches! I have so much online business to do in the morning. My Altra Superior 4s have already developed blow-outs in both shoes, same location. The upper is actually separating from the sole. I do an emergency repair with superglue but doubt it will hold long. I order new shoes, socks, and sun gloves for the next town, Leadore. My parents are also[…]

July 14th, 2019 Mm 606.7 to mm 623 then 30 mile hitch to Darby. Distance in miles: 17 0615-1200 Town day, again. And only a short hike in…a half day. The trail is pretty gentle on us, nice and loamy, mostly downhill. We hike through small trees but with a very clear, clean understory. The beargrass flowers and lupine are inspiring, a spectacle of white and purple with some yellow flowers I don’t know mixed in. The fragrance after all the rain is sweet and subtle…I want to bottle it and call it some fancy french name. Veargrees.We come across another grouse family. I almost step on one of the chicks in the trail but it is old enough to[…]

July 13th, 2019 Johnson Lake mm 575.4 to mm 606.7 Distance in miles: 31.3 0615-1900 I sleep so good overnight and feel ready for another big day. I plan the day around water, since there is one last creek at 30 miles and then nothing until we get to town the next day. I hope to make it to that creek for the night but there’s still a lot of climbing, around 7000′ according to the app. Nothing looks terribly steep at least. We make it up to the first pass, Pintler Pass. Then down and then up again to a ridge. I’m already complaining about the heat and the mossies. For the first time, I actually borrow some of[…]

July 12th, 2019 Storm Lake mm 3.2 of Anaconda route to Johnson Lake mm 575.4 Distance in miles: 28 0620-1800 Everything is so damp when I wake up, as I knew it would be right next to the lake. Doesn’t matter, the sky is clear and we’re going on our 3rd day with no rain! We’ll be able to dry things later. First we must climb up to a pass, one of 5! for the day. When we enter the high alpine meadow, we are treated to a view of our itinerary for the day. Up over a pass then down through a lush valley of old growth forest with streams every half mile. Repeat. There are high rocky peaks[…]

July 11th, 2019 Mm 28 of Anaconda route to mm 3.2 Distance in miles: 21 1100-1830 I catch up on some business in the morning and we’re off on the next section into the Pintler mountains. First we must walk about 12 miles on or parallel to the highway. Most use this as an excuse to hitch but we decide to at least give it a shot. If it turns out to be anything as scary as the day before, then we’ll get a ride. The walk starts out with a nice sidewalk along the highway and cars going 35 mph or less. It’s so nice that we miss a turnoff onto a side-road that would have saved us a[…]

July 10th, 2019 Mm 406.3 to Anaconda, mm 28 of Anaconda route. Distance in miles: 30 0615-1600 We are doing the Anaconda cutoff, which is basically a route that shaves a huge dogleg of the CDT around Butte. Nearly every CDT hiker that I know is doing the same. I had wanted to do the longer, official CDT route but I also wanted to see our traveling Trail Angel friend Solo. I last saw her in Silver City. She lives in her van and has been posted up around Anaconda doing trail magic for a few weeks. I also just want to get to Colorado before it’s too late in the season, so dropping about 100 miles of road and[…]

July 9th, 2019 Mm 377 to mm 406.3 Distance in miles: 29.3 0615-1900 Today was just so-so and not a lot to describe. I had a great night listening to the pitter patter of rain on my tent for hours. It tailed off as it was getting light but started drizzling again just as I was packing up. My stuff inside stayed dry but the tent was a sodden mess. We scampered down from our stealth spot and road walked some more. We immediately turned on the wrong junction and walked a quarter of a mile off trail. Back-up and try this again. Just as we came to single-track and our first climb, it started to rain more steadily, especially[…]

July 8th, 2019 MacDonald Pass mm 361 to mm 377 Distance in miles: 16 1300-1900 Omelets are on order once again in the morning, courtesy or Relentless. He also makes french press coffee. I need to get out of town, I am becoming so spoiled. Georgia doesn’t have to go to work until later in the morning so she graciously drives us to the grocery and then to the outdoor gear store. It’s a nice store, filled with fun stuff. We see some other thru-hikers there and Relentless is able to exchange his darn tough socks. Mine have yet to get a hole after 800 some miles, pretty good! Georgia has to leave for work afterwards (she is a magistrate[…]

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[…]