It’s been overdue. A proper rest day without any chores. Fearless and I arrived in Helena and proceeded to attend to our check list of all things neglected. A proper shower, a bath – in that order, a dip in the very hot pool, laundry, post office, Walmart and really food! It takes two days just to get our chores done. So when Sunday came, it was a full on day of rest and relaxation. We watched Bayside online, my church service and connected with some family and friends. But what was the icing on the cake is Sally, aka Salamander surprised me with her presence. She had some unexpected time off, drove from Idaho and is hiking for the next ten days with us. And now there were three!

One special event, well actually two incredible things happened in Helena. First, we arrived Friday afternoon just in time for the Art Walk in Downtown Helena. We made a stop at “The Base Camp” which has been described as the best outdoor store on the entire CDT. Fearless was in desperate need of new shoes and I was bound to find something. Roy and Kyle took care of her, fitting, refitting, sizing and designing inserts before she left the store. This place is all about customer service, and I literally cried watching them make sure that Fearless was going to walk to Mexico in the best fitting shoes this side of the Rockies.

Another awesome and incredibly stroke of luck, the 22nd Annual “Symphony Under the Stars” was held at Carrol University in Helena. Over 15,000 people show up with blankets on the grass and listened to the Symphony play a tribute to Pop-Culture Music from Neil Diamond, Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown, you name it, they played it. With incredible vocal talent and a great mixture of stringed instruments, trombones , saxophones and percussionists, it was a treat. For the finale, they had a fireworks show and being both me and Fearless were hiking the Bob Wilderness, this was extra special for us. Needless to say we had a spectacular evening.

But it was time to get back on trail, and Erin, a friend that Fearless met in Glacier gave us a ride back to the trail. There’s been hundreds of fires in Canada’s and we are starting to get some of the residual smoke from there. But it started to cool and the slight breeze, sent us off in fashion. We hit the trail at 7am and off the three of us went.

We are up on a low ridge line with nice views of the valley below. Yet what truly struck us was the amount of work that has been done on the trail. We talked with a local, Mark who was walking his dog, and he told us that there was an enormous forest fire last year. The volunteers have been cutting trees, stacking dead wood in huge piles and wood chipping! Wood chipping miles of trees. I’ve never seen this done in the forest before. They must have mulched or used some machinery to spread out wood chips onto the forest floor. It’s remarkable what they have done to clear this forest and renew it, all at the same time.

Our hike was fairly flattish, little ups with little downs, but a great way to introduce Sally to the trail. We have been hiking together for twenty plus years. We’ve been all over the US from the Tetons, Unita Wilderness, Wonderland and Tahoe Rim Trail and even climbed Mt. Rainier together. Yep, pretty incredible lady, super athlete and best friend. We are back for more!

The toughest part about today’s hike was the fact that there was no water till we got to camp. Each of us carried close to three liters and we were all out of water by the time we arrived at the spring. FarOut has been pretty much spot-on in the water reports, so we were well informed of the dry day ahead. Once we found our water source, we scouted a spot to camp. Sally found us a secluded place off the trail and up onto a flatter plateau. It’s ideal and no one can see us from below. Unless we announce ourselves.

So this is day one with Sally and day one camping with Fearless. And a huge celebration for Fearless. It’s her one month anniversary of being on trail. If I had a cake or a bottle of champagne, we would’ve had a party. Instead we all ate our dehydrated meals and sang “Happy Anniversary.” So another day, another month of trail dancing and looking forward to this trio bonding and enjoying early morning sunrises together.

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” Psalms‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV