Sunday July 6, 21.1mi/34.0km

Dry Creek Canyon (833.3/2990ft) to Ulm Peak (812.2/6320ft) (ID)

I was awake at 6:30, and we had planned to leave at 7:30, but I think we’re a chatty bunch and we ended up leaving after 8am. After a 30-minute drive back to Clark Fork, I made a quick stop in the convenience store to get a milkshake.

I was also surprised to see Montucky beer, but I guess we’re pretty close to Montana so it makes sense. It was too early for beer though.

The other two hikers on the hot springs trail, Krista and Eric, had been weeks ahead of me. But since I had flipped up to the Canadian border to hike the trail southbound, I was bound to cross paths with them at some point. And that was today, in the little town of Clark Fork ID.

It was a super fun little reunion over breakfast, we exchanged some quick trail beta, they’re only a few days away from finishing Idaho. I was itching to make some miles today so we said our goodbyes and got a final photo.

It’s kind of amazing that for a trail that almost no one seems to hike, we were able to gather together 100% of the hikers on the Hot Springs Trail together at the same time this year (all three of us!). Matt was very kind and generous with his time and dropped me off back at the spot I had left off from yesterday, about 10 miles out of town. The rest of today was an easy roadwalking day.

Up at the higher elevations, I saw groups of people pulled over standing around in the bushes, and I noticed the huckleberries were getting ripe.

I definitely ate fresh berries and walked most of the afternoon, it was a delicious section of trail. It looked like the Indian paintbrush was out in full bloom as well.

As I got further down the dirt road, I could tell it was less traveled and got narrower and rougher but was still quite pleasant to hike.

The views from this ridgeline weren’t quite as spectacular as a couple days ago, but it was neat to see the endless ridges of mountains in the distance.

I arrived at the Idaho/Montana State line, which the trail will be following for the next few days.

It was a very relaxing afternoon as I followed the relatively flat road along the ridge, constantly weaving between the two states. Camp spots were becoming a little more scarce, but I finally found one at 7 pm.

Just as I had finished setting up camp, a couple rides by on an ATV, and their very friendly golden retriever.

We chatted for a while about what each of us are doing out here, they’re actually pretty fun to talk to and have plans to travel the length of Idaho as well, but on dirtbikes instead of on foot. They offer me some water which is a nice top-off of my dwindling supply, as this ridge is quite dry. It gets quite chilly up here at 6,000 ft, and it feels nice to crawl into my warm tent.