[Day 106] High Divide Outfitter

As per my town exit procedure, I slept in this morning and wasn’t hiking until 9am. Will I have another reasonable morning start? I figure when I get imminently close to the border there will be greater urgency to awake.

I finished up my road walk along Forest Service Road 571 back up to trail, cutting some four miles off via the route. This should make up for the miles added from the Forest Service fire mitigation reroute into and out of Helena (at least, that’s my excuse for the shortcut).

On-trail water sources are scarce between Helena and Lincoln, and even a bit north of Highway 200 past Lincoln. I made it to Dana Spring a little less than 10 miles into my day. This would be one of two water sources within walking mileage today. I took brunch and ignorantly packed out two liters. A couple cows joined just as I was leaving.

The rest of the day was dry, rolling forested mountains with occasional exposed, pastures on the ridges. I have about 100 miles to the Bob Marshall Wilderness boundary. I might consider this a purgatory section of trail. By this, I mean the trail is likely pretty, yet unspectacular, but it serves as a connection to a more renowned part of trail ahead. There’s been a few sections that fit this definition for myself: the portion of trail from Ghost Ranch to the start of the San Juan’s, the Pie Town area between the end of the Gila River at Snow Lake and the start of the El Malpaís, the section between Grand Lake and Steamboat Springs. It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy or find beauty in these sections of trail — I certainly did —, but there was something ahead on my mind.

I walked until I got to the Granite Butte Fire Tower, which is retired and rented to the public. I took dinner atop the mountain. I merely drank half a liter over the past 15 miles since Dana Spring.

I pushed on into the sunset to my next water source — Dave’s High Divide Outfitter. Dave, a long-bearded and -haired Montana hermit, runs a gear store out of a cabin a few yards off trail at Stemple Pass. It’s filled to the brim with one of the greatest gear selections I have seen. How do you make money running a gear store in the middle of the remote Montana wilderness? I guess by selling at a premium to hungry, gear-needy hikers like myself. I spent $80 on a new foam sleeping mat and resupply items to bypass Lincoln and head for Augusta. I think I was cheap for this spot — he was listing off all the hikers he sold big ticket items to this season.

I ate a desert of some barbecue potato chips, a couple candy bars, and a couple root beers before I pitched my tent outside the cabin.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)