INTO LIMA

CDT Day 94: 7.4 miles/12 km

CDT SOBO Mile 842.6 – 850.0

Friday July 19, 2019

I was awake at 3.30am this morning. Just me and the hooting of an owl somewhere nearby. Did I mention that I was super excited to be heading into town today?. This will be our last resupply stop in Montana. Hammer woke as I was finishing my coffee. By 4.30am we were packed and on the road.

To reach Highway 15, was just a bit over 7 miles hiking on a dirt road. It was nice to walk in the predawn darkness, chatting and watching the day come alive. We upset the cows morning activities. They mooed to get their young near them and stampeded to get put of our way. I’m still not entirely comfortable around big herds of cows.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the long haul trucks were hitting the road as we approached the interstate. We made the trail junction with Highway 15 at around 7.30am. We had almost 2 hours to wait for our lift to town. It was reasonably comfortable sitting near the highway underpass, in the sun listening to birds chirping and traffic was not so busy on the highway. One of the advantages of being by a highway is phone service. While waiting I managed to updated the blog while Hammer listened to a podcast. A huge truck hauling cattle went past us. It cleared the underpass by inches. It’s the little things that kept us amused.

Just after 9.30 our lift to town arrived, Mike, from the Mountainview Inn and his super friendly dog Bella. Four hikers got out, including Dohn whom we met yesterday and Soda who left with us from Leodor. The other two hikers were finishing last years hike and were northbound. Always a treat to meet hikers as excited to be heading back on trail as we were to go into town.

Mike dropped us off at the motel and after checking in we were straight off to breakfast across the road. Lima is a very small town and is located right by the I-15 off-ramp. With bellies full it was back to our room to shower and do laundry, repack our resupply, have a beer and rest.