I’m at camp, The air started to get hazier towards evening, and I started to get nervous that yesterday’s thunder storms may have ignited some fires in the area…the valley to the south of where I’m camping is super socked in now, and I’m getting very faint whisps of smoke smell, but the valley to the north seems much more clear.

I walked up the hill to try and get service to see if I could find anything out, had just enough juice to leave a message for Teresa at the CDTC to see if there was anything to worry about, and was able to check the Montana Fire Incident website and saw yes, there are some fires, but I have no idea of how close they are or again if it’s something I have to worry about.

Forest fires are a huge source of anxiety for me, but talk about something that is out of my control…I only hope the smoke is traveling a long way and will not get close to the trail. Not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight…

The winds last night kept me up…but I had a late night visitor, I heard some grunting and something was climbing up the tree near my shelter….a weasel looking thing was hanging to the side of the trunk and I had no idea what it was! It didn’t seem scared of me, but didn’t seem threatening, so I lay back down. I met another new hiker later, G Funk, who said it sounded like it was a Pine Martin…I’ll have to look it up when I get reception.

I woke late (finally falling asleep in the early hours of the morning) and got back on the divide for the last few miles of this section of ridgewalking before the trail dipped down to a creek.

The next bit wound in an out of cow land…poop and misleading trails were everywhere, but I made it through to the next big climb where half way up I met Trail Blazer, a southbounder. We chatted for a few minutes, and I continued another 1,000′ up the climb. On the other side I stopped at a creek for lunch and met G Funk, a northbounder from Austria.

I was confused at first when he introduced himself because I was just hiking with G and Funk, and now here was G Funk…sometimes trail name overlaps happen!

The afternoon hike was beautiful, these open ridges and mountains were lovely to walk through, and I throughly enjoyed myself.

After a long open section, I rounded a corner to find Dan and G Funk talking to some guys in an ATV. They could not believe what we were doing, and marveled at the idea of walking so many miles. They gave us a Mt Dew which we all happily split.

Then more walking. Dan and G Funk are taking an alternate and I’m on the official trail, up on a saddle just north of Bannock Pass, and am trying not to be too freaked out by the smoke in the air. The wind isn’t too crazy tonight, and I don’t see flames anywhere, so hopefully it’s far off. I’ll climb back up in the morning to get reception and see if there is any news…

Still, it’s going to be a long night….