Date: 10/14/20
Daily Miles: 15
Total Miles: 1986
When the alarm went off at 5:00am, it still felt like the middle of the night. But it was nice and cool as we packed up and headed down the sandy “road.”
The moon has been just a tiny sliver lately, so we both had our headlamps on. Luckily the trail was pretty easy to follow for the first two miles as we just followed forest service roads.
After the first several miles, we crossed a gate and then the trail became very faint. At times there was no discernible trail, and at other times it was pretty obvious. There were white signs posted regularly to give hikers a guide for where to walk. The signs were even reflective, but only for the hikers going north. For us, we were seeing the sign from the back, which made it pretty hard to see in the dark. Once it got light out, the signs were super easy to follow which made it a breeze to hike.
It was really helpful to have started walking as early as we did, since it stayed pretty cool until the final hour or two of walking. It was a lot easier to manage with a small amount of water with the cooler temps.
Our final three miles were on state highway roads. It was quick walking, and luckily it wasn’t too long so our feet didn’t hurt by the time we got into town. We drank down our final bit of water as we got into town.
It seems surreal that we are at the final town stop of this trip. After just over four months on the trail, it is starting to hit us that we are almost done for the year (of course, there will be a Part 2 to this trail when we get back to finish Montana).




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