Days 39-44: Leadore, ID to Lima, MT

HD: We were concerned about this section based on comments from other thru-hikers headed northbound. The folks walking north from Mexico are just starting to cross paths with us; most of them started in April.  

The trees were fewer and there were many exposed ridgelines in this section. It was definitely “Big Sky” hiking along the border, with some steep PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs). Generally, I liked this section – except that smoke and haze from forest fires in eastern Oregon limited those big sky views. 

Due to the steep terrain and lack of cover, decent campsites were more limited. We arrived to a flat patch of trees and grass on the first night out of Leadore, and by the end of the evening there were a total of 7 tents disbursed neatly in our little grove of trees. All was well as “hiker midnight” – around 8pm with two hours of light still remaining – means bedtime for everyone.

The “town” of Lima is tiny – even for small town Montana standards. We did get to watch some

live Olympics coverage, though, and we soaked/ pre-washed our socks in the sink and then the bathtub before putting them in the washing machine. The embedded dirt just kept flowing out of them.

Steakhouse dinner on my first day as a retiree was great. Freedom!! Finally. 

Our next stretch into Yellowstone National Park is fast and furious. We’ll walk east through the Beaverhead Mountains along the Idaho/Montana border (for the last time) towards Targhee Pass before entering the west side of the park. MC won the Yellowstone campsite lottery back in the spring, so we’ve known our itinerary through the park for several months now. It was always a concern that we would be late for our planned arrival to Yellowstone (as there are many variables over the past 6 weeks, and I am perpetually late), but alas, it appears that we will arrive on time. A double zero at the Old Faithful Inn with my family awaits us after this 100 mile stretch.

MC: The section from Leadore, ID to Lima, MT was a section that carried a cloud of apprehension to it; everything we had heard about it was that it was incredibly steep and exposed. It lived up to expectations. After multiple 5,000ft+ elevation ascent days, we were exhausted. The terrain was beautiful, but unfortunately it was diminished by the smoke that filled the air due to the fires in Northern California and Eastern Oregon. We have been lucky so far in this trip regarding fires in that we have not been directly affected by any closures, but the fires mentioned above did cause some slight breathing difficulty on the first day out of Leadore. 

I dealt with a little bit of self consciousness on this section regarding the speed in which I hike. Our little trail family has some very fast hikers, and a part of me doesn’t understand how they are going so fast, that was until two of them at separate times asked me why I hike on the fore front of my foot. I don’t have a lot of flexibility in my ankles, which prevents me from being able to squat effectively. This ultimately results in the inability to keep my foot flat on the ground while hiking the uphills, which means I’m using an excessive amount of energy in the front portion of my toes and calfs in order to move uphill. Most hikers are able to channel most of their energy through their larger muscles like the glutes and quads, but I am unable to activate those muscles as easily, resulting in a slower ascent. Oh well, we are all in the same place at the same time, but it is annoying.

HD and I have trail names now. I’m referred to as “Mitten” and HD is “Salt Lick”. Let’s explain how we got these names:

I wanted mittens to hike with in the cold but ended up deciding on water proof neoprene gloves; however, HD and I did a day hike when we were in East Glacier that went from there to Two Medicine Campground and ended up being about 12 miles, and had a minor snow chute at the top of the pass that we needed to cross. The snow chute was on a portion of the trail that was made up of a lot of scree, which is thin shards of rocks that you walk on. As I was walking across the snow chute/scree my feet went out from under me and I slid about 15 yards down the snow chute and eventually stopped myself when I got into the scree. This resulted in my neoprene gloves tearing, and me deciding that I was going to finally get some mittens to hike in instead. It sounds scary but I was sliding at a whole 1 mile per hour, but my hand did swell a bit near the pinky and ring finger, and still hurts a little to this day.