Monday July 14, 27.6mi/44.4km

Unnamed Alpine Lake (661.4/6070ft) to Kelly Creek Trailhead (633.8/3170ft) (ID/MT)

I had a quiet night at my little Alpine Lake, which looked even better in the sunrise than it did in the evening.

There were some mosquitoes hanging out but I quickly left them behind after only a half mile of uphill hiking, when I came over a small pass and into a new valley.

I hiked this neat ridgeline for a little bit, with views down into two valleys at once.

The section of the Stateline Trail seemed to be less used and was a little brushy.

Pretty soon I could see down into Kid lake.

I thought about swimming in Kid Lake but it was still too cold this early in the morning.

After many days on the Stateline Trail, I would finally be leaving it. At Kid Lake, I turned onto the Kelly Creek Trail, leaving the Idaho/ Montana border and entering the depths of Idaho.

I started the long gradual descent down into the Kelly Creek Valley, where I would be remaining for the rest of the day. It always fascinates me when trees grow like this, I have no idea why and it was funny to see so many at once.

The Kelly Creek Trail seems to be well constructed and had a nice trail tread, though much of the time it was a little buried in the short brush that was trying to take over.

I’ve been up high on a ridgeline for so long, I forgot that crossing tributaries was a thing.

I managed to keep my feet dry, although after a few more such crossings I gave up trying. After only a few miles, I could hear the creek next to me getting louder and louder as it gained more tributaries. By lunch time I had made it down a few thousand feet, and arrived at an outfitters camp. It was the only spot where the trail was wide and not brushy, so I had lunch on a little bridge.

There wasn’t anyone on site at their outfitters camp, but I explored the area and found a clever way to keep their beverages cold, a metal box in a cold creek!

Soon after I left that spot I came to a very large wooden bridge, probably constructed by the Outfitters to get their horses and mules across these little tributaries.

The rest of the day I followed Kelly Creek downstream, as it slowly gained size.

The trail steadily improved too, as more people used it lower in the valley where it was closer to the trailhead.

After a couple of hours, I came to another Outfitters camp where I ran into two guys taking a break on their camp chairs. Chuck and Jackie were up here for the week on a fishing trip, and had driven all the way from the Boise area. They were really entertaining to talk to, and even though I know very little about fishing, we had much in common. They knew about the Idaho Centennial Trail, and were more familiar with the sections further south near Atlanta Hot Springs, closer to where they live. I lost track of the time but eventually continued on, enjoying all these nice little bridges.

The valley went into shade pretty early, which was nice as it instantly cooled down.

The trail stayed a little above Kelly Creek most of the time, with nice views of a pretty large river.

I had planned to stop after 22 miles, but couldn’t find any spots in the thick riparian brush. So I kept hiking to the trailhead where I knew there would be a large flat clearing. It was a long day but I made it there by 7:30. It feels very damp, I hope I don’t get too much condensation in the tent tonight.