I flew into Great Falls, Montana yesterday and had dinner with Pat, Erin, and Mallory.  During dinner Pat enthusiastically went over his itinerary with me.  I kept pointing out that we need to do more than 10 or 15 miles per day and he continued to dismiss my concerns.

After dinner we visited Giant Springs right next to the Missouri river. There was an incredible amount of pure clear water welling up from the ground and pouring into the river. This is a really amazing place!

The next morning Erin picked me up from my hotel room at 6:30 and we grabbed some breakfast before driving through some beautiful country to Rogers Pass.  Everything is so green.  Rolling grassy fields to the horizon where the Rockies rise to meet the sky.

Erin and her dog Nellie walked a couple miles in with us before turning back. We said a sad goodbye to Erin and continued on. Pat seems particularly upset and took off without waiting for me. I think he wanted to be alone for a bit.

The country is beautiful with huge open meadows near the top of the divide and forested slopes. It eventually started to rain and the lightening progressed from a dull rumble in the distance to hitting quite close all around me.  I kept looking for a place to weather it out, and eventually saw a perfect tree. I headed for it only to find Pat already there.  Lightening hit the ridge directly in front of us, maybe a half mile away. It passed after about 45 minutes so we continued on. Soon the sun returned again.

We talked with a friendly Australian named Nick for an hour.  He is section hiking the CDT and this is his last section. A bit later we met two more NOBO Australians – Corky and Hammer.  I think they were married.  Nice couple.  They have been jumping all around to avoid the snow, so we may see them again.  They actually road walked 90 miles to avoid the Wind River range.  How sad! The crazy snow this year is making a lot of decisions like this necessary. Pat asked them how many miles per day they did.  They told him 20 to 25 and they were still worried about the schedule.  Exactly what I’ve been saying.  Sigh.

The trail is beautiful with amazing views from the ridge lines which we follow. There are scattered patches of snow along the east side of the ridges. I suspect the constant westerly winds pile it up deeper on this side. We only managed 15 miles today because of the tough terrain, talking with the Australians, and being out of shape from taking 3 weeks off. Stupid trail legs. They take forever to get, and they are gone in an instant.

It was getting cloudy as we set up camp at 7:15.  Right after I got in my tent it started to rain.  It continued for about 45 minutes, sometimes absolutely pouring.  It finally stopped and it’s still light at 9:40.  The birds are singing away out there. 🙂