What an introduction to the trail for Sally. We have a good plan to hike 5 mile increments and split the day up. It actually works well. Second breakfast by 9, lunch by 1230 and snack in the afternoon. It takes lots of food to fuel this threesome! But it seems to be serving us well.

We had our typical ups and downs, a few more ups today. A few things were standouts. Before our second breakfast we went through a mile or two of huge stretches of rocks. They were piled up next to the trail which someone did for us long, long ago. There were old pine trees that became part of the rock piles and it truly was a work of art.

The other big standout for the first ten miles was the fact that the trail was groomed and cleared of fallen trees. There were recent signs of trees being cut and moved off the trail. And then, to our surprise, we met the crew who has been working so hard. They are from St. Louis AmeriCores. They are a five-person crew that are assigned to clearing the CDT section from Helena to Butte. They plan to spend one month here and have done an incredible amount of work! We thanked them immensely for all they have done to clear our trail.

We had lunch just north of the section they have cleared. After lunch, we started seeing all the work that they still have to do. Fallen trees from last winter. Talk about Job Security! There’s no drones or AI that will be able to do what these capable young people have accomplished.

We had one more rest stop at the top of Thunderbolt Mountain. And then we beat feet to our nice camp spot in the meadow near a piped spring. No one around, just me, Fearless and Sally. Such a great day of hiking with much more to come.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.” Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬