Fri, 16 Aug - Chief Joseph Pass and the town of Darby MT

Rolling hills with some short steep ups and downs Thursday as I followed trails and dirt roads down to Chief Joseph Pass.  Saw a sign saying the trail I just was hiking on was closed due to fire.  Later I realized it must have been an old sign from last year.  Lots of smoke in the sky from the current fires.

From the pass I hiked a mile down the road to Lost Trail Pass and after 90minutes got a hitch into the wonderful town of Darby Montana.  Super hiker friendly Travelers Rest gave me a great rate on my own personal log cabin with kitchen, bath, and two beds.  Decided to spend two nights in this great spot.  The Montana Cafe across the street, run by a nice family who had all their kids working, was fantastic too.  A nice town and I spent Friday at the library, ranger station and museum as well as doing my town chores.  Bought a half gallon of ice cream but since it didn't fit in my little freezer I ended up eating the whole box at once.  Lol

Friday afternoon the sky was grey with smoke and the sun turned reddish pink before being blocked by the smoke from fires nearby.  Thankfully the CDT is still open.

Sycamore and Huck Fin came into town and are in the cabin next door.  Huck and I finished off my wine and half of his this evening.  Turns out Sycamore has giardia or something similar and went into Salmon a couple days ago for the doc.  Also heard that Highlife is sick too.  I patched my pad again.  It's not pretty but hopefully I fixed the slow leak this time.  Back to the trail after breakfast in the morning, or maybe lunch....