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.

Sunday July 13, 26.0mi/41.8kmGraves Peak saddle (687.4/7220ft) to Unnamed Alpine Lake (661.4/6070ft) (ID/MT)I had a great little camp spot and when I woke up this morning there were no mosquitoes, surprising, but I’ll take it. Walking along the ridge in the morning light was a great start to the day.Looking down at St Joe Lake:These Bitterroot Mountains are a huge range. I have been hiking through them for days, and can still see endless mountain ridges in the distance.In mid-morning I crossed over Hoodoo Pass, and I was surprised to see a wide gravel road almost like a highway. And I was more surprised to see over a dozen cars in the trailhead parking lot. The guidebook says this would be a difficult hitch to a town in Montana, 25 miles away, but it seems like it might be rather easy, and a great place to break up a long section. There was a short climb after the pass, where I talked to two ladies for a while about the ICT / HST, they had so many fun questions, and at one point even offered me a ride to the town. That might have been fun but I’m not backtracking 2 miles, and also I already have all the food I need for this 175 mile section. Pretty soon I was back up on the ridgeline, and looking down at alpine lakes all afternoon.That was Heart Lake, though I think it should be called Kidney Lake, due to its shape.Yup, definitely kidney lake. Around this time the bugs started to become pretty bad, I hadn’t seen so many different types of flies all swarming at once. They only bothered me when I was stopped or trying to take a break, when I was hiking/moving there was almost nothing. Weird. I came around a switchback corner, and heard some hooves. Usually this means deer or maybe an elk, I was incredibly surprised to see this big fluffy white goat standing there staring at me.It did not move. Like, not even 1 inch. So I carefully walked in a circle around him. Further down the ridge I came to Dalton Lake, which seems like this should be called Heart Lake.Just lots of beautiful ridge walking on the Stateline Trail again today.I never figured out the pattern with the bugs, I tried taking breaks in Sunny spots, shady spots, forested, grassy, nothing seemed to help. The first minute or two after I stopped was fine and then somehow they would all discover my presence and just hang out with me. Ugh. This part of the ridge had a little more wind and kept most of the bugs away but not all of them.More alpine lakes:One of the two Siamese lakes:The last part of the ridge walking was a little easier, as the trail decided to go around the bumps instead of over them.There had been some recent trail maintenance done in this section so it was a nice cruise down to Fish Lake. Fish Lake must be a popular camping area as there were about a half-dozen campsites, all numbered with posts. I stopped at one to sit on the bench and take a break, and noticed that some idiot had left their campfire still smoking a little bit. So I poured a bunch of water on it.It was a nice little break spot, I filled my water bottles in the lake, ate a bunch of snacks and waited to make sure the campfire was really dead.Fish Lake:It was only 5pm so I decided to push on another couple hours to camp at another lake. The Stateline trail climbed up to a saddle, where it split with another trail. That was the “original ICT”, but the guidebook recommended an alternate that stays on the Stateline Trail so that’s what I did. The old trail markers were neat to see.After climbing to a second saddle, I descended through an ancient burned forest, down to an unnamed alpine lake.There was a beautiful little camp spot near the outlet of the lake, perfect. By now the flies had disappeared, only to be replaced by mosquitoes. But surprisingly, the mosquitoes weren’t too bad given that I was camped next to a swampy lake.

Saturday July 12, 29.3mi/47.2km

Ridge above Square Lake (718.0/6240ft) to Graves Peak saddle (687.4/7220ft) (ID/MT) + 0.5 to Illinois Peak, -1.8 skip Joe Lake

Today was more hiking on the Stateline Trail, which transitioned from a road to a singletrack trail halfway through the day. It was pretty dry up on the ridgeline so I was happy to see a little roadside spring.

It was just nice easy walking all morning, and I had an occasional view when there was a burned area or clear-cut.

Occasionally I would cross a dirt road coming up from the valley, which meant some signage for the drivers. Apparently I’m still in Idaho Panhandle National Forest…. The same forest I started in up at the Canadian border.

This bird was cool, it was just strutting around the road, I think it was guarding some young chicks or something.

A preview to one of my upcoming climbs, I even saw a little bit of snow up there.

The road mostly contoured around 6,500 ft elevation, and the wildflowers were in full bloom here.

By late morning the road had ended and I continued on a nice single track trail.

Which climbed up and up onto a ridgeline over 7,000 ft.

From way up there I had views down to some nearby Alpine lakes on the Montana side. I think those are the Cliff Lakes.

Aside from the bugs being kind of bad, the day was generally quiet and enjoyable on a nice ridgetop trail.

Lots of little Alpine lakes today, they were only for viewing, most of them had no trails or were not easily accessible. These are the Bonanza Lakes.

It definitely wasn’t hot up here at over 7,000 ft, but it did feel nice to be out of the strong sunlight.

I came to Cascade Pass, which seemed to be a popular crossroad and trailhead, there were half a dozen cars parked there. And more signs.

Looking down to Missoula Lake, I wish one of these lakes was closer to the trail so I could go for a swim. I crossed the road and continued on the Stateline Trail, which apparently is a National Recreation Trail.

Looking below to the Oregon lakes:

I had been steadily but slowly climbing since I left Cascade pass, and now I could see my high point ahead of me, Illinois Peak.

The wildflowers, and the monarch butterflies, were really quite the spectacle today.

Somehow a trail goes up that mountain.

Then a half hour later I stood at the top of Illinois Peak, the back side of the mountain was actually gently sloped and had a nice trail to the top. I took a little break on the summit and enjoyed the strong breeze which kept the bugs away. As I was signing the summit register, I noticed the name on the pen.

Pretty nice views from the 7600 ft Summit.

As the sun dipped lower in the sky it started getting a little chilly, I continued another mile down the main trail and set up camp in a protected saddle.

I’m camped pretty close to the trail but there’s no way anybody is coming down this trail other than ICT hikers, and there are only like a dozen of us in any given year.

Friday July 11, 30.6mi/49.3km

Ridge above St Regis River (748.0/5730ft) to Ridge above Square Lake (718.0/6240ft) (ID/MT) +0.6mi to water

I was on the Stateline Trail all day today, which started off as a singletrack trail and then transitioned to a dirt road for the rest of the day. It was easy hiking, the scenery was nice, and I wasn’t really present in the moment for any of it.

I got news on my inReach at 7am, that Denali had gone to doggy heaven. She was my dog a long time ago, and then my parents adopted her 10 years ago. She had a good long life, and yet 16 years wasn’t enough time for all the head pets she wanted. At least now she’s above the clouds, where it will never rain on her… she absolutely couldn’t stand rain.

I used up all my mental energy from this morning’s news and then accidentally hiking 30+ miles today…so here’s my photos from today.

Thursday July 10, 8.5mi/13.7km

Mullan (756.5/3270ft) to Ridge above St Regis River (748.0/5730ft) (ID/MT)

It was hot in that low elevation Valley, but with the fans on all night I slept comfortably. In the morning I packed up my food into my bear canister, with some food also going into a box to be mailed into the Frank Church wilderness.

I left the Airbnb before the checkout time, since I wanted to get to the post office before they closed for lunch at 11am.

I mailed a small box of food to the Indian Creek Guard station, and despite me verifying the address from three different sources, the PO still couldn’t find it in their computer. But I know it’s right, so it should get there. Afterwards I went a couple blocks to a little bakery, and was doubly excited when they had sourdough toast with peanut butter and honey.

I got on the bus and went back to Mullan, which took almost an hour. I noticed the library was open so I decided to do some quick updates to my journal and my maps, and also top up my phone charge while I was there. After that was the road walk out of town, fortunately it was cool and cloudy today.

That billboard looked weirdly out of place behind all the trees, but then I figured out this must have been the main highway through the valley before they built Interstate 90 in the late 1970s. And I could hear that Interstate nearby, and I crossed over it a mile later. It looked pretty empty.

Once I was south of the interstate, the road turned to dirt.

After a mile it ended at the Willow Creek Trailhead where I saw just a few vehicles, weirdly one of them was the Shoshone county Sheriff. Now I was back on trail and happy to be making uphill progress and in the nice cool weather. I really had pretty good luck with the weather today, the one day I have a huge 3,000-ft climb and it’s cool and cloudy.

I was almost to the lake when I saw a couple people hiking downhill towards me, without backpacks and wearing uniforms. Once I got closer I realized they were two county sheriffs, they said they were looking from somebody that wrecked their car “up at the lake”, which sounded ridiculous given that you can’t drive anywhere near these lakes, it’s just narrow hiking trails. They said not to worry and the person isn’t dangerous, but if I see a car or a lost person to call 911 and they’ll come sort it out. Interesting. I pondered that for quite a while and then when I passed a waterfall it pushed those thoughts out of my brain.

Within a few minutes I was at lower Stevens Lake, which looked pretty sweet. Lots of campsites, no mosquitoes, and swimmable water.

But the afternoon was getting late and I wanted to cover some miles, so I went past it towards Upper Stevens Lake.

And from the upper lake, I took a series of faint herd trails to hike/ scramble up to the ridge, 600 ft above the lake.

This routing is an alternate recommended by the guidebook, I’m not sure I agree. It was quite steep, and very different in character from the rest of the trail so far. Looking at Stevens Peak, my destination at the top of the climb.

Once I was on the ridgeline it was quite rocky, though there was a nice herd path. The last bit just before the summit was definitely steep, and while I have fun with these little rocky scrambles, I think most hikers would be happier taking the original route, which is a more gradual ascent on dirt roads.

The view from the summit was pretty epic. Looking West toward the other ridge, where the original routing is located.

Stevens Peak is 6800 ft, which is the tallest in the Northern Bitterroots. It’s always nice to look down on the area I just hiked up, feels like an accomplishment. The Stevens Lakes:

From there I dropped off the summit and followed a ridgeline for the rest of the day. Since I was on the highest terrain in the area, I had tons of good views, including this cool spot of sunlight.

I knew I would be following this ridgeline for a couple more days, and once I noticed it was almost 8pm I decided to stop and camp. Of course there weren’t any convenient spots nearby so I just camped in the middle of the wide trail.

I didn’t cover many miles today but it was a big 3,000-ft climb to get back up onto the ridge.

Wednesday July 9, 10.4mi/16.7km

Upper Glidden Lake (766.9/5910ft) to Mullan (756.5/3270ft) (ID)

I was visited in the night by an elk or a moose, I heard a large hoofed animal walking by, and then in the morning saw some big branches broken off nearby. The mosquitoes were still having their annual gathering so I packed up faster than usual and hiked uphill away from the lake.

The trail was very nice, but it was a little confusing that it didn’t appear on any of the several different maps that I had. After a mile of climbing I was back up on a ridgeline, and could see down to upper Glidden Lake.

And once I crossed over a small pass I could see the valley I would be descending into, including Interstate 90 and a small ski resort in the distance.

The endless rows of mountains here are just amazing to see.

Continuing my big 3,000 ft descent on a very nice trail.

I had a couple of enjoyable hours gradually descending down to the Little North Fork valley.

I emerged from the forest at a fish hatchery ! That was surprising, usually trails emerge at trailheads. The last couple of miles were along a paved road, but at least it went by a little town park where I could sit and take a break in the shade.

As I got closer to town, I passed by a huge operation for a mining company, and then a large State DOT maintenance facility with lots of beeping trucks. Finally I was in Mullan.

It was 10:30am, nothing was open yet and my bus didn’t come until 12:30. I killed some time wandering the little town, and when it was 11:00 I went to the only restaurant open in town, the Outlaw Bar and Grill.

Their pork chop burger was pretty good, and I’m surprised at how many places here have tater tots. After an early lunch I got on the bus and went down to Kellogg, which is a bigger town with a grocery store. I was staying at a little Airbnb room, and was pleasantly surprised to see all these stickers on the front door.

I had my own little part of the house, a bedroom, bathroom and TV room. The laundry room and kitchen are shared, the host was very nice and mostly gone all day at work nearby. I walked into town and did some quick resupply shopping and spent a couple hours planning out the next few legs of the trip. I’ll have one town stop in a week and then after that there won’t be any phone signal for a couple weeks…so I have to download everything and figure it out now. There wasn’t much of anything on TV, it seems like it’s mostly reruns during the summer, even Colbert’s late show. I went to bed a little later than usual, with a bunch of fans turned on high, there’s no AC here and it’s pretty warm down in the low elevations.

Tuesday July 8, 17.7mi/28.5km

Dixie Pass (784.6/5520ft) to Upper Glidden Lake (766.9/5910ft) (ID/MT)

It was a pretty relaxing day since I’m a little ahead on miles and had a few lakes to visit and possibly swim in. The day started off pretty easy on an old dirt road for an hour, and then some very nice single track trail.

Overall it was pretty densely forested, but I had frequent views every time there was a talus field to cross.

Looking to the West:

It seemed like in every direction I looked there were just endless rows of mountains continuing in the distance. Pretty cool. And I continued to be pleasantly surprised by the good quality trails in this section.

I’m pretty sure that will change further south, but for now I’m enjoying the nice trails. I came to a pretty busy trailhead, and since I hadn’t looked at my maps closely, I was surprised to see a paved road cutting through the area.

Blossom Lake is pretty popular, though it seemed strange that it would have two separate trailheads. Segregation for horses?

I passed two large groups that were hiking out as I was heading into the lake, and I kind of figured that the lake would be empty, since the five cars in the parking lot would be matched up with those 10 people. But when I arrived, there was still a large group there, nine women were having their annual weekend at the lake. I picked a quieter spot further along the shoreline.

It was indeed a nice spot to have lunch as well.

I went for a swim right after lunch, definitely not waiting 30 minutes, pretty sure that’s just an urban myth. The large group nearby had a friendly yellow lab who kept swimming over to deliver a large stick he had found in the lake. Apparently it was the dog’s first day ever seeing a lake, and it was probably the best day of his life. I left the busy lake and headed uphill another 30 minutes to the next lake, Pear Lake.

I attempted to swim at this one, but quickly aborted once I realized there were too many hungry mosquitoes. The previous lake had a bit more wind which I think was enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay. So I continued on and just enjoyed the views of Pear Lake as I climbed above it.

Once I got to the top of the ridge I could see ahead to the next valley, and upper Glidden Lake, where I would be camping tonight.

The amazingly well maintained trail continued all day, I’m savoring it now while it lasts.

Upper Glidden Lake was fairly large, and seemed to have enough wind to keep away the bugs so I could go swimming.

This water was much colder, so the swim was very brief. Which worked out well anyway, because it seems everyday at 7pm the mosquitoes come out in force. Usually when the bugs are really bad I would make dinner in my tent, but I can’t use that strategy in grizzly country. So I made dinner down by the lake, wearing all my rain gear as bug protection. Ugh. Tomorrow should be a short day as I only have 10 miles to town.

Monday July 7, 27.6mi/44.4km

Ulm Peak (812.2/6320ft) to Dixie Pass (784.6/5520ft) (ID/MT)

I slept in a little bit, but as soon as the sun came over the ridge, it got really hot inside the tent. At 7:30 I continued down the rocky road, soaking in the morning views.

After only a little bit of climbing, the road was blocked by snow.

It was easy to go around but a little surprising there’s still snow here at 6,000 ft. At the top of the climb, the road ended at some sort of radio communications tower.

It seemed like a perfect spot for a snack. From there I continued on the Stateline Trail, which was surprisingly easy to follow.

I only lost the trail once, when it became faint amongst the rocks on the alpine traverse. But it was easy hiking so I didn’t really care.

For most of yesterday and all of today, I’ve been hiking along the Idaho -Montana border. I had forgotten that they mark it with these little metal posts.

Those posts were all along the CDT as well, I remember. Once the rocky section ended, I easily found the trail again.

The stumps on this trail are so friendly!

I had been hiking in a little burn section, it was nice to get back into the shade of a green forest.

Even up here at almost 6,000 feet it was kind of warm, probably 70°F. After a short descent to Porcupine Pass, I was on a dirt road again for a while.

I like the variety of this route, it keeps switching between trail and road and I think that’s more interesting. I hadn’t seen liquid water since yesterday, so I was very happy to find this little roadside spring in the willow bushes.

The willows seemed to be very happy in their environment here, growing right up to the edge of the road.

After descending to Taylor saddle, I had to climb 900 ft all the way back up to the ridgeline, which meant this was another great spot for some snacks, and to cool off in the breeze.

It was a little creepy that somebody had decided to put a grave here, and kind of selfish too since this is public land. People are weird.

After summoning little Bloom Peak, I had a steep descent down to a road.

It started off fine but the final descent was steep on some loose gravel, one of my least favorite trail surfaces. For the rest of the afternoon I was mostly on trail, which hit these intermittent talus spots.

I actually don’t mind this type of talus, since the trail is so well built. They have stabilized the talus and put some flat rocks down so it’s easier to walk on. Aside from the talus, it was mostly pretty nice trail.

A couple times it disappeared under some lingering snowbanks. That was surprising.

As I crossed the final talus fields, I was excited to re-enter the forest. This forest was exceptionally green.

I was excited to get to camp, but unfortunately as soon as I got to the saddle where I had planned to camp, the green forest transitioned to a severely burned one. Darn. So I had to hike another mile and a half to the next saddle, which was near a dirt road. My day was a little longer than I had planned but I was still at camp by 7:30, and had a nice evening watching the sunset while I made dinner.

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.

Saturday July 5, 1.5mi/2.4km

Dry Creek Canyon (834.8/2630ft) to Dry Creek Canyon (833.3/2990ft) (ID)

Matt and Justine had planned to come and pick me up at 6:30, as I packed up my wet tent after the good rainstorm last night, I noticed a big dry square where it had been. Funny!

They were a little delayed in arriving, and since I was already packed up, I decided to hike to stay warm, as it was still a little rainy and cold. I love seeing the fog in these little forested valleys, reminds me of the Oregon coast.

I covered about a mile, before I heard a vehicle driving up the road, and I knew it was them since nobody else drives this road. We stopped at the bakery in Clark Fork, which had so many amazing looking things.

Usually I would get a cinnamon roll but the Huckleberry danishes looked irresistible. It was a solid half hour drive to Sandpoint, and they gave me a tour of their house, I kept getting distracted by all the cool little pieces of artwork hidden throughout.

And the dog, Red was simply adorable.

We had a fun time discussing all sorts of various topics, mostly involving hiking in different trails, and I could stare at maps for hours.

I have the guidebook for the ICT on my phone, but it’s just easier to read a print book, so I did a little bit of planning too. The day flew by just chatting, and before I knew it it was mid-afternoon, so I went downtown to check out all the little shops and the Main Street.

Sandpoint even has a legit outdoor store!

And it had several ice cream shops, I found the one with all the clever slogans like “Bad to the Cone” and funny ice cream themed artwork.

Justine’s store was fun to visit, I especially loved the sign out front with all the Idaho factoids.

The three of us picked up some takeout Thai food and then went back to the house and had dinner, it was the perfect level of spiciness and I’m sure I won’t be getting Thai food again for a very long time. After more delightful conversation I was ready for bed, it was only 9pm but that’s basically hiker midnight.