SUMMARY:  The Divide Mountains here in Montana-ho (we call it that because we are right on the dividing line between Montana and Idaho) are like no mountains we have ever seen before. They are huge and magnificent. They remind me of ancient sleeping (but powerful) giants, covered with a gold velvet cloth, heavily embroidered in sage green.

And we are literally walking right on top of the Divide, which means lots of big ups and downs. The views in every direction are glorious. We began our hike today just before noon, after being dropped off on the shoulder if I-15, so we had less than 24 hours in Lima. Tonight we are camped on the Divide, with a very colorful sunset.

DETAILS:   We lazed in till 7:30 am (nice, after usually being up at 5:30!) but I needed it because last night I stayed up till 10:15 pm doing our laundry, which REALLY needed to be done!   Our clothes were total filth!  They hadn’t been washed (except for a few sock rinses) for two weeks.  Gross!!  We had a great breakfast, once the restaurant opened, and then I went across the street to a c-store to get more food for our packs.  I was concerned a bit, because every SOBO we have met so far has been grumping and moaning and groaning about the “awful PUDS” between Lima and Leadore.  It’s only 103 miles, and we figured on doing it in 4 easy days, but now I am reconsidering and got enough food to last us generously for 5 days.  When I loaded our food bags, they were heavy.  But we will chew into that!

Mike, the wonderful motel owner, drove us back and dropped us off on the shoulder of the Interstate, where he had picked us up, so we jumped the fence again and headed out on the frontage road.  We walked around 2 1/2 miles, to where our route finally turned away from I-15, and stopped for lunch.   It could have been a very hot day, but there were plenty of clouds to keep us cool.   We followed the second road, as it crossed a big valley and headed up a canyon, then finally there was the CDT, where the trail  wasted no time in going up the first PUD of what did turn out to be many more!

The rest of the day was like riding a rollercoaster, up and down, following a fence line for many miles.  We met two more SOBO’s–Baldur and Half Mile!   We last saw Half Mile in Grants, way back in New Mexico!  He is hiking alone, now–his wife has headed home.  He said that the PUDS get less extreme after awhile.  I thought to myself “Wait till you get to those insane killer steep hills south of I-15!  Talk about extreme!”

I have to say that the scenery up here is magnificent.  The mountains are different from any I have seen before.  There are hardly any trees, and the mountains just look massive and powerful.  The best way I can describe it is to say that I felt as if I were looking at sleeping giants, covered with a velvet cloth of gold (the shimmering, goldbrown grass) that is embroidered in sage green (the sage bushes, which are like traceries on the mountainsides).  Fixit and I stopped at the top of every PUD to catch our breath and just take it all in.  It is so beautiful and so powerful.

Our only concern as of this evening is WATER.  We both left Lima carrying 4 liters, which is a big load for us–we normally don’t take more than 3 each.  It’s been so warm and the hills so steep that we’ve drunk up a lot already, and have 5 miles to go till the next water (hopefully) at a creek.  We are camped way up high on a saddle between two hills, and the sunset is gorgeous–huge clouds all colored red and gold and orange.  We are really starting to feel the pull of Canada–we so want to get there BEFORE the snow does!