Posted by 24.4 miles
There would be quite a few miles through private property today with little opportunity to camp until I reached National Forest lands again. To enable pushing as far as I could today I was out the door just on sunup, hitting the highway and heading north from Ennis. This stretch towards Butte would take around 4 days.
I had 6 miles to hike along the highway before reaching a rural road turn off. It was relatively flat and with 4 days of food in my pack, pack weight was quite manageable.
‘Montanan’s’ drive like crazy people on the highways, at very fast speeds. This has to do with the fact that in 1995 the state government removed all daytime speed limits, allowing drivers to travel at speeds deemed “reasonable and prudent.” This was overturned in a 1999 court ruling but I don’t think it has quite sunk in.
To remain safe hiking on highways I always walk on the left side of the road towards oncoming traffic, allowing plenty of time to see vehicles approaching and move well off the shoulder. The highway shoulder was wide enough with half a metre of bitumen from the white line to the grass but I always feel safer moving right off the bitumen entirely, especially with trucks approaching.
I soon hit the turn off from the highway with an additional 10 miles to hike through a maze of rural dirt roads, past small ranch holdings and cattle country. It was dry with few water sources to collect from. Even when passing the odd creek many were fenced right up to the road suggestion private property and I always had doubts about potential farm run off into the water. I had sufficient water carried out from town for now. At least it was flat.
Smoke haze continued to cover the nearby hills and had been hanging around for several days. Locals tell me much of it originates from fires around Spokane in Washington state and Penticton in British Columbia, Canada. Today the smoke was chokingly thick, obscuring the hill and hiding what I know are spectacular views.
A few vehicles passed as I walked, all moving well out the way. Near one large ranch the same ranch hands passed me multiple times over several miles on quad bikes. They were probably thinking ‘what the hell is this guy doing’. They were friendly enough, waving each time, knowing big smiles passing on the fourth round.
I hit the National Forest land boundary around midday and stopped for a quick lunch, last nights left over pizza carried out from town.
The entire afternoon was spent hiking forest roads down low in the trees with few views, sharing the roads with various ATV’s. A few stopped and asked if I needed anything like water before charging off again.
The only off road section today was a short half mile bushwhacking up and over a small hill to link two tracks together. The south side was open sagebrush country and easy to walk. The north side was horrible, a tangled mess of tree blow downs in pine regrowth. The forest was thick and dark making it hard to find a path through. At times I would be off the ground for 50m stretches balancing from log to log. With only a quarter of a mile of this I soon found myself back on forest roads and continued on.
A sign at the next road junction said all I needed to know “Primitive Road”. The next few miles headed steeply down along a washed out track surface with large trenches and massive rocks through a series of switchbacks. It was difficult enough to hike, shoes slipping several times on the loose rock. I have no idea how vehicles get through this. I suspect it is reserved for ATV’s more than 4WD trucks.
Late in the afternoon I found myself at Willow Creek, crossing on a bridge which was great – dry feet! Stopping in the shade, I drank deeply from this icy cold source and topped up my water bottles. From here I would continue to follow the road adjacent to the creek for two more miles to a campsite with a pit toilet. I found multiple establishments campsites along the road and right on the side of the creek. Expecting to see a heap of people out and about I saw not a soul.
Hitting my campsite I had the entire place to myself.
Only one photo today.
Mick Beckers 