PNC Days 54-56 – It’s cold in Montana

Last year on the CDT we felt Montana’s cold in September. This year we arrived in Montana much earlier, but it really does seem like as soon as we exited Idaho the morning temperatures dropped to near-freezing. It sure is beautiful though! Over these three days we walked through Kalispel & Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis ancestral lands.

Day 54 – PNT Mile 1088.5 – Climbing

It was very cold this morning. We started the day wearing jackets and Renee wore her gloves. I should have worn mine — my hands were cold! Last year we learned that fall in Montana often involves a weather “inversion”, which we understand to be when the cold air and clouds settle down low below the mountains, and the mountain tops stay warm. We were at low elevation last night, so maybe that’s why it was so cold. The walking today was challenging. We climbed over 8,000 feet (>2500 meters), which we’ve only done a few times on this trip. It tuckered us out, and we’ll feel it in our legs tomorrow, but we survived. We are in the Purcell Mountains. These are less rocky and more tree-covered than our last range, the Selkirks. They feel like giant hills because they are so green. We can tell the snow only recently melted because the mosquitos are very bad right now. Hopefully we’ll have a warmer night than last night because we are camped up high — come on inversion! For dinner we had taco pasta. Yum! -T

Day 55 – PNT Mile 1114.9 – Eureka, MT

Today we headed down out of the mountains towards Eureka, our next resupply stop. We had about 27 miles of hiking to get to town, but the trail was fairly easy. We had a long stretch on roads and a rails-to-trails bike path along the Kootenai River/Lake and into Eureka. We got to town around 4:30 pm and stopped at a restaurant before heading to the grocery store. Then we went to an RV park for showers, laundry, and camping. We had our packages forwarded to the RV park because the post office was closed on the weekends. While we were doing laundry, we met another PNT hiker, Purple, who is headed opposite direction we are. It was great chatting with him! This is a lonely trail! -R

Day 56 – PNT Mile 1132.3 – We can see Glacier National Park!

We enjoyed an apple pull-apart for breakfast that we got from the grocery store last night. Pure sugar! We also loaded up with tons of free coffee at the RV park in Eureka where we camped while we did internet chores using their Wi-Fi that included posting a video and backing up our photos. Then we had a quick second-breakfast from Subway as we headed out onto the trail. We climbed almost all day, but it was on an old mining road that’s since-been converted into a trail so it was very gradual and pleasant. Part way up the trail did a switchback that actually touched Canada! We won’t officially enter Canada for several more days, so it was fun to be standing right on the border (don’t ask if I did or didn’t sneakily walk to the Canadian side for a picture). Instead of a fence or wall, this part of the US/Canada border is marked by a seemingly-endless strip of cut-down trees about 20-40 feet wide. It’s odd to see such a perfectly-straight line stretching on over the mountains for miles and miles. At the top of the climb we found a great camp sight with beautiful views into the distance. We see the rocky peaks of Glacier National Park, but we also see smoke in the air above a valley not too far away from a forest fire (the “Weasel” fire) burning ahead. Tomorrow a small part of the trail is closed so we’ll have to detour around it. Tonight there has been a fair amount of wind blowing from the fire towards us, so let’s hope it doesn’t grow any bigger and cause a bigger trail closure! For dinner we had chili with a bunch of treats Renee’s mom sent us: candy, Fritos, and shots of blackberry whiskey. Yum! Thanks Beth! -T