A second night sleeping in a bed! Wow! I feel refreshed. I wake up early and pack all my gear.

Jim gives us a ride back up to the pass.

Thank you so much!!!

It feels good to be back out on the trail.

My legs feel good and my shoulder doesn’t hurt.

(I knifed out the lens protection on my iPhone case so now my pictures won’t be blurry anymore! Yay! I’ll just need to be careful when it rains and refrain from putting my phone underwater)

I can see a watch tower in the distance.

Before I know it I’m right under it.

There’s a really nice family staying in the tower for two nights. I talk with the youngest about a video game called Minecraft. Thru hiking does kinda remind me a bit of Minecraft

They go back up into the watch tower to finish a game of Wing Span. What a cool family trip! I head out and realize I had missed a water spring 2 miles back… oops! It’s 13 ish miles to the next water source.

Thankfully I over prepared and brought two liters so I should be okay.

I turn on my phone and get a message from The Professor, he can’t find the water spring I missed listed on the farout app! Oh no. It must be dry! He’s going off trail farther to a stream on the map.

A truck passes by me. Maybe they would have extra water if he’s in a pinch?

I hike on. The ridge line plunges back into the trees.

I come to a field of cows and there’s Professer! How the heck did he get in front of me? I guess the search for water gave him a short cut.

We break for lunch. Professor is super nice and had gotten extra water for me. Gosh, thanks! I eat a dry lunch anyways.

The trail crisscrosses with a lot of dirt roads and other trails. I’m constantly checking my maps.

Professor takes a break and I push on. There’s good enough cell service I’m able to face time with Doug while I hike!

I come to a ridge line and it’s super windy. I have to hold on to my hat while I cross over back into the shelter of the trees.

I break out the SanDisc and listen to the local radio. I find the MTPR (Montana public radio). There’s a woman reading aloud some kids books, Frog and Toad. Between each short story she plays a frog or toad themed song, it’s a hoot!

My favorite is this one about Frog Trouble.

There’s a lot of cool looking moss in this section.

And a lot of scary trees fallen across the trail. I try to not walk under them in the wind, just incase they decide to keep falling.

Before I know it I’m at the next water source, a cattle trough. There’s clean water trickling into the tub from a pipe. It’s really convenient and easy to gather.

I decide to break here and make dinner. The next water isn’t for another 17 miles. Professor catches up and joins me.

Then 3 more hikers join. They let us know the next water is dry, it’s actually a 20 mile water carry. Yikes.

Water is heavy. 1 liter is about 2 pounds. I like to have 1 liter for every 5 miles. A 20 mile water carry means I’d have to carry 8 pounds of water. Hmmm

We sit and strategize over dinner. There are a few springs down some dirt roads off trail that might be some good options.

We pick one 5 miles away. I still camel up just incase.

We find some sheltered tent spots under some trees and hang our food.

I’m really proud of how close I was able to get my tent to the tree! There’s not a lot of flat space.

I hope the dirt road spring off trail works out tomorrow. Fingers crossed.