Day 117: Biggest miles on the trail

Mileage: 41.2 miles (2192.1-2233.3)

I woke up early after sleeping under the stars. I was tired, but whiled away the early morning by messing around on my phone. With my head down, I heard a loud clattering down the trail. I looked up and I saw a huge brown figure running down the trail. It was a big bear, maybe my first grizzly, but it tumbled down the trail so fast I never got a good look. He had a light brown collar around his neck, but that's the only notable marking I saw.

He left no prints on the arid ground so I'll never know if he was the biggest black bear I've ever seen, or my first Grizzly. Trying not to think about it too much I pushed on past Leadville, an old mining area, on newly built trail that skirted around the old camp.

I got down to twisted dirt roads for miles and miles. I skirted down and around mountains and wound down to the streams and valleys below. The gentle grassy divide gave way to forests of spruce and pine. I soaked my feet in the cold streams three times that day, each temporarily soothing my aches and cooling my hot spots.

I only had one thing on my mind: make it to Helena. I'd miscalculated the mileage from Whitehall to there, so instead of 90 miles I had 100+ to make it all the way there. That basically meant I'd need to do  my biggest day of the trail, over forty miles to make it. I texted Commando midday asking if he'd pick me up at the pass, as I was afraid it'd be dark and nearly impossible to hitch if I didn't get one. 

Luckily, Commado was happy to do it and just told me to shoot him a text when I got there. I pushed on and on, without really any breaks besides to soak my feet. I got closer and closer, creating over the final hill before the pass, which would lead me to the highway and Helena. My feet were killing me but I tried to ignore it. I'd told Kasey 7:30pm and I aimed to be on time. I walked out onto the highway at 7:28, waited for a few minutes and Commando have me a big hug. We joined some other hikers for Chinese Buffet, and then split a room at Motel 6. It was good to be with other hikers again.