CDT mile 2198.7, miles hiked 35
Tatu-Jo crosses Storm Pass on our way to Anaconda
“Hey Allgood you waking up or what?” Is what Tatu-Jo yelled at me it was 4:45 and I had slept right through the alarm. I jumped up, lit my stove for coffee and got packing. Soon enough my pack was on my back and we were walking in the pitch dark. As we turned a corner we saw eyes glowing, I was behind Tatu-Jo and he said, “it’s a bear” but it was just a deer and he started laughing.
As the sun came up we climbed to the top of Rainbow Mountain, it was a sunny day but an ice-cold wind was blowing, in fact, it blew all night and we were sure the fires would be getting big because of them, however I think the wind shifted and blew some of the fires out by shifting the fire back onto itself. After crossing the top we started back down the other side, today was a serious day we had many miles to hike so we snacked as we walked.
Look closely and you’ll see the trail in the upper left-hand corner
At about 8AM we came walking down the trail and saw Stumbling Beef and his brother Two Roll. We stopped and chatted for a bit, they were going the butte route so we will probably see them again up the trail. Tatu-Jo and I climbed up to the next pass, it was a steep one but quick and then we turned to climb up to Storm Pass and the Anaconda cutoff to town.
The cutoff trail was cool it descended the pass on a stick trail and we found ourselves in a big glacial cirque. The trail made a big hotshot around storm lake so we bushwhacked through the forest to cut it off and even though we had to navigate off trail we saved some miles. We had to bushwhack a few miles when the trail disappeared but eventually, it dumped us onto a dirt road.
An old cabin that could use some TLC
We passed an old cabin along the way and then we came upon the coolest thing I have seen, a wood flume. Now this flume was like none other I have seen, it was built to carry snow run off to a reservoir and it was made from old growth Doug Fir. The flume was built in the 1950’s and operated until 2011. It would transport 40,000 gallons a minute and was over 3 1/2 miles long a modern marvel you might say.
We came to the highway and started walking the pavement to town. It was still a long way to go but we move good on pavement and just suck it up. About half way to town a nice old lady stopped in the middle of the highway and asked if we were CDT hikers, we told her where we were from and she said, “oh wish I had something for you” we said just saying hello was enough and away she went.
flume info
the last remaining section of the flume
We stopped on the side of the road for a break and had a snack as we started to leave the same little old lady pulled up and said here is some Montana hospitality and handed each of us a shopping bag. In it was homemade burritos, cut watermelon, salsa and homemade cold Orange Julius. Man what an amazing act of kindness and trail magic we were floored by it. After eating our treat we carried on to town.
When we hit town we stopped at the gas station for a soda, and asked where to eat. They recommended DQ I like that but when we got there it was outside seating and it was windy and cold. We kept walking to our hotel, and across the street saw a casino and restaurant. The restaurant was closed but the casino had sandwiches and hot dogs if you gambled. The girl said we didn’t need to gamble and gave each of us a few sandwiches and hot dogs before we went to our hotel.
Anaconda Montana
The hotel was the Celtic House Inn, and it is located upstairs from the Harp Irish bar. Now on the AT a similar place exist called the Doyle and this old brick bar and hotel reminded us of it. We went in and checked in with the bartender we talked about our hike and young girl at the bar inquired if we had hiked the AT, yes we have. She asked if we had stayed at the Doyle and we told her how we were commenting on how this place was just like it, lo and behold she grew up in Duncannon, PA.
Her name was Taylor and she is a very nice young lady. When we lamented the lack of places to eat within walking distance she offered to drive us to dinner. We stashed our packs in the room and off we went for real grub. We enjoyed eating at the Haufbrauh where she waits tables when not teaching yoga and enjoyed BBQ and beers a great way to end our day.
