I left Anaconda around 8:00 and enjoyed an awesome breakfast at Tillie’s on the way out of town. I met another thru hiker named Mayor there.  We passed each other several times throughout the day. The trail follows a quiet country gravel road for the first several miles. This was thoroughly enjoyable, with occasional rain sprinkles keeping the temperature down.

I was a little sad to leave Anaconda – it is one of my favorite town’s.  The food is great, the Marcus Daly hotel was awesome, and everyone is friendly.  The owner of the hotel (Fay) is from Lebanon (I think).  She mailed a package of stuff home for me because when I left the post office was closed.  A very nice lady.

The gravel road eventually joined the highway which was your typical boring and stressful road walk. I entertained myself by trying to keep Mayor in sight (he hauls) and by trying to find short sections of frontage roads that I could use to get away from the cars and trucks on the highway.

After several miles of this the trail finally left the highway and started up Twin Lakes Creek. This is on a dirt road with huge puddles from all the recent rain. I met Mav for the first time here, and the three of us stopped for a snack near a small bridge over a creek. Mav is a retired marine/army veteran (MAV, get it?) and really good company.

The trail past Twin Lakes was extremely wet, muddy, and thickly forested. It meanders along the slope and is full of water and mud more often than not, with numerous small creeks crossing it on the way down to the lake. We eventually began gaining elevation on the way up Storm Pass and left most of the mud and wetness behind.

The Pintlers are beautiful, and the trail ranged from excellent to terrible.  Mayor got off trail by 1/2 mile at one point and he’s done this section before!

I’m camped just below the outlet of Storm Lake with Mayor, Salty, and Jet Pack. Jet Pack is a nurse and very easy to talk to. She goes much faster than me though so I doubt I will see much of her.  Just up the hill is Cricket and her dog and Quiet Man. I did 24 miles today!