Thursday July 17, 8.1mi/13.0km
No-see-um Meadows (589.3/5890ft) to Gateway Campground (581.2/2105 ft) (ID)
I left camp at 6:30 and packed up my backpack which seemed to have only a few more miles of life left in it.
The Sherman Creek Trail was over 7 miles all downhill to the Lochsa River, and it was barely brushy at all.
It actually stayed pretty high above the river and frequently had good views to the South, of the mountains I would be hiking tomorrow.
There was one little meadow that was completely overgrown and in the morning dew felt like a cold wet car wash.
Mostly the trail went through an enjoyable, mature Forest.
I got one last glimpse of the upcoming mountains, before I made the final descent to the trailhead parking area.
I crossed highway 12, made it to the Wilderness Gateway campground, and immediately started trying to hitch a ride into Missoula, over 90 miles away.
After only 20 minutes the sixth car stopped to pick me up, Rob & Angie were on their way to a music festival up in whitefish MT. They were super nice and generous people, and I had great conversation with them the entire 2 hours I was in the car. At one point it came up in conversation that I was only stopping at Lochsa Lodge to pick up a resupply box, and then immediately continuing to Missoula. They very generously offered to pull into the lodge while I got my package, and then we all continued on, even stopping for lunch at a charming little bar, the Jack saloon.
After 8 days of backpacking food, the burger and beer really hit the spot. They dropped me off directly at the REI where I immediately went shopping for a backpack. Not finding one in my size, I got an Uber to downtown Missoula to the other camping store. I didn’t find the pack there either. But I did find ice cream next door.
Walking through downtown Missoula and Higgins Street is always entertaining and there’s lots of good people watching and interesting artwork.
At this point I was getting low on options to get a replacement backpack today, I even scoured the local Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist ads. I got a phone call from the very helpful guy at REI saying he didn’t find a men’s small backpack, but he found something of equivalent size, so I went back to REI and bought a bright yellow backpack. By now it was getting late in the day and my plan to hitch back to the Wilderness the same day was not going to happen, so I got a local motel. It was brand new remodeled, but in an old-timey way.
Inside my food resupply box my parents had included a birthday card, that was very nice. The little things.
It was time to eat again, so I went a couple blocks away to Gary’s Local Burgers which had $6 burgers and actual good Coke, the kind from Mexico with real sugar.
And then I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple extra things like more wet wipes, new water bottles, and I found a 50% off birthday cake. Nice little motel celebration.
I did a bunch of phone chores and then watched some Stephen Colbert, it’s a shame that they will be canceling one of the best comedians for some pretty shadowy reasons. Tomorrow is back to trail!