Anaconda to Chief Joseph Pass

Anaconda was a restful town. We stayed for two nights to recover from the road walk we had walking into town. The highlight of the town was definitely the large community slide (see pic). We slid down it over and over like little kids, it was fun. Anyway, from Anaconda we road walked along the highway in some, finally, hot weather. We had been blessed by sun in the forecast, which we must admit is nicer than being cold in high elevation thunder storms. The terrain in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness (see pic) was vastly different from what we had seen before Anaconda. The wilderness was full of 9000 foot passes and beautiful peaks and alpine lakes. It was an area only second to Glacier National Park, in beauty. Our second day out we decided we would bust out a 24 mile day which included 8000 feet of elevation gain over the four passes we climbed that day. Our goal was make it to Warren Lake (see pic), which was described in our guide book as a "gem". We made it and didn't even have the energy to make dinner, but it felt so good to make the miles. With the weather being so hot, the mosquitoes were as blood thirsty as ever. Brian and I had to wear long sleeve shirts and pants through the burned forests in 85 degree heat, it was fun! The terrain mellowed out as we made our way out of the Anaconda Pintler area to the Beaverhead/Deer Lodge Forests. We eventually made it to the Idaho border at Chief Joseph Pass. We were blessed to run into a wonderful couple named, Jim and Rexine (see pic). They took us back to their camp where they were the camp hosts for the summer. We got to soak in the amazing hot springs (see pic) next to the camp and come back to a wonderful home cooked meal. They were truly tail angels! From the Idaho border we departed to Bozeman, MT for one of two weddings. Next we are off to Homer, AK for another wedding. We will return to the trail at the same location on August 6th when we will resume our hike and head out to Bannock Pass in Idaho.