SUMMARY:  We needed about 2 more miles to get us out of the “CDT closed” zone, so we knocked them out, first thing. Whew! We did not want to get in trouble! But the rest of the day—well, now I know why the SOBOs we met complained about “the terrible PUDs between Darby and Lima.” That’s what we did all day—PUDs on the Divide. Unbelievably steep to the point of ridiculous!

You have to learn to laugh about them or you would go crazy. Nice views though—heavily forested mountains now, not rocky peaks. We got a ride down to Sula with a geologist on his way home from a rock-mapping backpacking trip. Sula Resort is great—we really like it here!

DETAILS:  Yesterday, even though we had a slow start because of the steep rocky trail, when we started “racing the fire” we finished enough miles to total 24 for the day.  That meant today we have only 20 miles till we get to Chief Joseph Pass and the hitch into Sula.

To save time, we ate breakfast in our tent while it was still a bit dark, then we hit the trail, going as fast as we could.  We wanted OUT of the “trail closed” zone!  Wow did we cheer when we passed the sign marking the end of it!  Whew!

The rest of the day we were mostly dealing with borderline unbelievable PUDs.  Back before we reached Lima, every SOBO we met was bitterly complaining about “those awful PUDs between Darby and Lima!!!”  I thought they were being a bit whiney.  Now I know what they meant.  One after another, we did PUD after PUD.  They were horrendously steep and often long.  On the PCT, none of this would happen–the trailbuilders would have contoured or switchbacked on these hills.

So the only thing we could do was to laugh about it!   “Oh look, wheeeeeee!  Another PUD!  Let’s go!”   If we didn’t do that, I think we’d go nuts.  Some of the PUDs were in forest, and some of them had nice views.  Meanwhile, BEHIND us now (hooray!) the airplane was back, circling above the fire.  Some of the PUDs were in a large burned zone from some previous fire–it was so sad to see whole mountainsides with nothing but black skeletons of trees.

But one nice thing today was that the trail was less rocky and more just dirt pathway.  Yesterday my feet got so sore from all the rocks that I almost caved in and took Motrin at bedtime.  But I resisted the temptation–Motrin takes care of sore feet but it’s bad for the rest of you!  The dirt pathway made the PUDs a lot more do-able, and by 4:30 pm we had finished our 20 miles and reached Chief Joseph Pass.  We walked down from there to the highway and started trying to hitch a ride.

But it was a tough hitch.  I could not believe how many spiffy “yuppie-looking” cars/people went roaring by.  “How can this be?” we wondered.  “We’re in Montana now.”   But finally, a slightly scruffy car stopped.  It was a geologist, on his way home from a ROCK-mapping backpack trip.   He drove us on down, down, down and dropped us off at the Sula Country Store/Resort.  It was 5:30 pm and the store was closing at 6:00, so we had to hurry to rent a cabin and find something for dinner at the store.  (The restaurant is only open for breakfast & lunch).

It was a nice warm, somewhat cloudy evening.  We sat at the picnic table by our little cabin and ate a very odd but tasty dinner before heading off to take showers and do laundry.  Then it was time to collapse on a BED.  We are tired!