Day 18

Into Lincoln today, so we were up early and eager at 6am. Overnight there had been some thunderstorms but it cleared up nicely for us. The miles were pretty tough and we were short on water for the first 2000 feet of elevation.

Eventually we dropped down nice switchbacks to Rogers Pass, where we started to try and hitch. The first car stopped, but they were hikers headed up the trail we had just come down. After about 30 minutes a girl in a Subaru with a bike on top stopped and took us 18 miles to Lincoln. She was pretty neat, lives off grid in a log cabin, and does triathlons in her spare time. Took us well out of her way too.

In town we ran into Piper and Kevin immediately. We chatted for a bit then got down to town chores, laundry and phone calls and food being the keys. I had a lot of gear orders to make too. It was all sorted by happy hour, so we went to the bar and started drinking.

By the end of happy hour, our bill for 4 people was $28 and 3 of us were drunk. Kevin and Chance hung around by themselves for another 3 hours drinking, while Piper and I were doing other chores. I came back to them in a deserted bar, holding the bartender hostage to their drunken ramblings. We were still in bed by 10pm. Big partiers we are 🙂

We are planning to be in Helena by Saturday morning and then stick around there til Monday. Possibly see the Harry Potter movie there too!

Daily Summary
Date: July 12, 2011
Day 18
Daily Distance: 7.9 miles
Trip Distance: 283 miles