Day 114: Lima, Montana

Miles Hiked: 11.6

Total Milage: 1940.6

This morning I woke up at 4:45 am in hopes of making it to the highway in time to catch the shuttle at 9:30am. When I woke up I was so sore. I spent over 20 minutes stretching out before leaving to hike which definitely set me behind schedule but I didn’t care because it was important. I started hiking up the extremely steep trail as fast as I could in hopes of still making it. By the time I got to the top of the climb, I realized that hiking 4mph for 3 hours wasn’t realistic for me today. I was going too slow. I was still glad that I had some motivation to bust out the climb as fast as I did though! Once I got to the top I was walking along a fence line on the Montana Idaho border with awesome views of the surrounding mountains with a hint of the sunrise left. Eventually I hit a gravel road where there was a sign saying that the trail will be on the road for 15 more miles and a trail register. I signed in and read it to see where everyone on the trail was. The only named I recognized was hummingbird one day in front of us. I think the rest were SOBOs that I had already met. The rest of the way to town was mostly downhill on the road but my feet and legs were so tired so I just took my time.

When we were very close to the highway, we ran into 3 SOBOs who told us we missed the shuttle by 15 minutes. It was a bummer but I honestly didn’t care. Taking care of myself is a little more important than getting to town fast. We stopped an chatted with them before continuing to the highway to try and hitch hike. Right before we got there we passed a bear box with some snacks and goodies for hikers! I was happy to have some popcorn and a coke while I waited about 40 minutes for a hitch. The speed limit on the side of inner state 15 is 80mph so it was remarkable that someone pulled over for us. 30 minutes later I was in town checking into the RV park and picking up my packages which went very smoothly for once. I set up my tent out back and then 12 pack and I ran to the only restaurant that is open in town and closes in 2hours. At Jan’s cafe I had a small salad, chocolate milk, and some chili cheese fries. I also ordered some chicken fingers to go.

Right as we left the cafe around 1:45, a big storm started to roll in. We both ran for our tents to make sure everything was put away and not to get wet. I put things on the charger, started laundry, and got a shower before going through the food that pop rocks sent me. I didn’t feel like thinking about getting back on trail at all today. It ended up raining and storming almost all day! I was so glad we were not on trail this evening. What a perfect day to be in town. I got to meet a lot of people bike packing the Great Divide Mountain bike route. In fact there were more bikers in town than hikers. At the end of the day the sun set was incredible and I got a couple pictures of it.