Teri returned me to Benchmark at 10:00.  We had a huge bull moose jump out of the bushes and into the road in front of us as we arrived in Benchmark.  There seems to be a lot of moose around here. We also saw several deer.  Teri says it’s because they all come out after a rain, and it certainly rained last night.  The trail is a muddy mess.

I continue to be plagued by a lack of energy.  All I want to do is lay down and sleep.  So that’s exactly what I did.  I found an open grassy knoll above a bridge over the Sun River with no mosquitoes and zonked. Shortly before falling asleep I saw a train of 10 or so pack horses cross the bridge below. I don’t think they saw me laying in the tall grass.  I felt better when I woke, but I still felt like I was dragging most of the day.

Late in the afternoon I was in a deep forest and encountered a moose. We looked at each other for a minute or so, then she wandered off. It is very dark and wet in the forest here.

I met Two forks – a super nice guy full of energy and good advice. I also met T Pain, Chicken Fat and Max – an older Willie Nelson type with long braided hair.  I met Cricket and her little dog.  She stopped as I was cleaning my feet in my tent.  She was very nice and I would have liked to talk with her more but the mosquitoes were attacking both of us and she wanted to get some more miles in.

My tent is near the intersection of the trail and a creek in an area called Grizzly Gulch.  It’s getting dark and raining.  I hear some snorting and “Heyaa!” and pounding hooves.  I look out my tent in time to see 3 horsemen roaring down the trail in a full gallop on huge horses with rain slickers and chaps and all.  They yelled “Howdy!” as they roared past my tent and plunged through the creek.  Those guys are bad-ass.  I am impressed.