Day 7: Spring to Modoc Road (Lima, MT)

The ghost forest came alive with the music of birds. Rat-a-tat-a-tat. A woodpecker jackhammered on a nearby tree, providing a very effective alarm clock. Numerous other birds sang in the ghostly, burned trees.

Shivering on the cold, bumpy ground, I sat up and surveyed the tent. Leaving the relative warmth and comfort of a cozy down bag to put on wet clothes and soggy shoes is hard. 

Reaching a junction, I hurriedly covered up the sign and asked Sierra if she could tell, without looking at the signs, which way to go. "That way," she said confidently, correctly pointing to the CDT. "How do you know?" I asked. "Because it is overgrown and not very well maintained, so it must be the CDT." Exactly. 

So many wildflowers are blooming now. Cheerful golden sunflowers with faces turned to greet the morning sun, sweet-song white phlox, showy red and yellow columbine, delicate purple lupine, fuzzy white beargrass, wild strawberry blossoms, and many, many more. 

We finished our day with a long walk on a dirt road. As we neared Interstate 15, we saw that one of the local ranches had a bear box with a huge CDT logo right on their front fence!  Hitching around here is not a problem, as two different cars pulled over to ask if we needed anything even before we reached the Interstate!  We got a ride to the nearby town of Lima, Montana, where we will resupply before getting back on the trail tomorrow.