Day 109: Over the Gallatin Crest Trail and into Bozeman

Mileage: 18.5 miles (2006.7-2025.2)

I left around 7am from Ramshorn Lake, with a lot of up at beginning of the day, ending up on top of a beautiful crest. I talked to Laura and while I was looking out a Golden Eagle soared right by me at eye level only 20 feet away. It was a huge and beautiful bird, dark brown with an almost golden nape and shoulders. I'd never seen the golden hue of the bird so clearly.

I headed up and down the crest with a nice wind cooling my sweat as I went. There were awesome views of the gentle Gallatin Crest, which I would follow for the next ten miles or so. It was great mellow walking, admiring the sharp metamorphic rock on the Eastern side of the divide.

I ran into a guy who'd just seen a Wolf settle into some trees. He had a spotting scope which could see critters from more than two miles away. He thought there might be a den so we went and checked it out together.

He was from Bozeman and hunted Elk in the area so was just checking it out to see what was going on earlier in the season. He was a cool dude but we didn't find the wolf. The terrain was hillier than we thought so the wolf probably had wandered out the back while we approached. His bed in the grass was still warm.

I headed back to my pack and down the trail up Eaglehead Peak at just under 10,000'. There were cool views of the crest northward and back to south where I came from all the way to Yellowstone. I began my descent that would end at the highway at 6,000' first on a trail and then the last six miles on a dirt road. Even the road had scenic views of the dense spruce-fir forest. I saw a few helicopters moving gravel and then on highway a nice lady gave me a bottle of water, nectarine, and a sandwich. She was headed towards Big Sky, but soon after a kid stopped and picked me up. His name was Danny and he was a student at Montana St. Also, he was a climber and pointed out some cool spires people climb above the Gallatin River.

He got me a free burrito and dropped me off at my motel. I did laundry and watched TV and fell asleep early.