Day 118 – 8/18/13 – 32.4 mi (2163.8)

I just felt like moving today. Visions of milkshakes danced in my head. I don’t know why, I’ve never actually had a milkshake on this trail. So after morning break, I just kinda took off. The trail had dropped a lot of elevation first thing in the morning, only to regain it all. Thankfully, a youth corps group had just finished a new section of switchbacks for the ascent. They said I was the 8th person to walk on their new trail. It was really nice!

I was kinda flying. I had done 16 miles by lunch even with the slow start. So at that point I decided I was getting to the highway, another 16.5 miles, tonight, even if I just camped there instead of going into town. The first dozen or so miles after lunch were terrible, going through hot burn zones and following jeep roads true to the divide. This is a polite way of saying it goes very steeply, and pointlessly, up and down over every mountain.

I still kept up my pace and ended up at the highway at 7:10pm. Just in time to hitch! The trail comes out on a highway that intersects another highway a mile down the road. This other highway goes directly to the our destination town, Darby, MT, and has more traffic, making it a better place to hitch. So I walked that mile too. We’ve been following the Idaho-Montana border since we left Wyoming, but leaving this pass we’ll be fully in Montana and progressing north to Canada!

I decided I would give it until 8pm to get a ride before giving up and camping in the trailhead parking lot for the night. Just as I was about to give up, I got my ride!

When I got into town, a long 30 miles away, I saw Ninja and Sweetfish walking down the street. I hopped out of my ride and we immediately went for dinner. I got the milkshake I’d been craving all day, and we all ordered a disgusting amount of food. But as a disgrace to all thru hikers, I was full by the time my food came and ended up having to doggie bag all of it.

We got an awesome little cabin, with 3 bedrooms and a full kitchen for a great rate since the normal size cabins were all full. This will be a great place to relax for our double zero!