Mav, Gaucho and I left our camp on the ridge about 3 miles south of Goldstone pass.  I got an early start, determined to at least see Gaucho pack up his tent but I was still too late!  I was on trail at 6:00 and made it all the way to Lemhi Pass by noon.  This part of the trail has no water for 20 miles, but you can really cruise so it didn’t take too long to finish it. Some of it was through some severely burned areas. The rising sun was bright orange and was both beautiful and a little creepy as it rose through the burnt trees.

I had lunch with Gaucho, Mav, and Bamboo at Sacajawea memorial. This is a small picnic area with a couple of benches near Lemhi pass. There is a small spring here that is one of the headwaters of the Missouri River.  I stood with a foot on either side of the mighty Missouri River!  😁

After lunch we started up a horribly steep road just south of Lemhi Pass. The road climbed for several thousand vertical feet.  It was so steep we could barely keep traction and slipped several times on the gravel. I’m amazed that the 4WD vehicles can climb this.

We are now camped on the ridge at 9400 feet.  It is beautiful up here. We are on the Continental Divide which is also the border between Idaho and Montana. As far as I can see there is nothing but one mountain range after another.  The ridge itself is mostly flower filled pastures with a thin border of trees at the edges of the ridge.  Gaucho, Mav and I are camped in a beautiful extension of a big pasture up into the trees. We did 26.4 miles today!