Anaconda, MT

We were dropped off early by Naomi since she was catching a ride home with friends. We said our goodbyes, then went up the trail. We were soon dodging out of the way of high school cross country runners (?). We made our way easily up the switchbacks, paralleling the SilverBow/Jefferson county lines. This was all new trail, and we took our first break on top of a flat rock overlooking Butte. We couldn't see the Lady of the Rockies, but we could see the giant mining pit. We quickly arrived at Pipestone Pass, and after a few miles realized we were low on water. We came upon a meadow on a hill with dirt roads. We thought there might be water at Tanner Creek, but it wasn't running. The trail swerved west and we found a feeder to Blacktail Creek. We witnessed RT down a liter of water in three seconds! We continued on until we reached a point on our maps for an aqueduct. I saw no aqueduct, but 0.1 mile west was an 18" pipe gushing water out at a gallon per second! We drank our fill, had lunch then moved on. We made our way to the Highland Trailhead, eventually coming to Burton Park, but stopped just short when we saw a great campsite among some dead trees. We were serenaded all night by cows!

We were refreshed and still serenaded by cows. We picked our way across the meadows, avoiding nasty water and cow poop. We hoped for water at Tucker Creek, but it was swampy. We continued down the dirt road to Fly Creek. We were disappointed to see more cows nearby, but we needed the water. We continued on Highland Road, where we saw 3 antelope, crossed I-15, headed north then west on an unnamed dirt road until we found the Rocky Ridge Trailhead. We had lunch and grabbed water from Divide Creek before climbing up dirt roads to the Divide. We turned west heading to Burnt Mt. The mozzies were relentless and the air was hot and stifling. We kept on the jeep trail for quite a ways until we hit a junction and some motorbikes stopped to chat. I noticed clouds had moved in, and we heard thunder in the distance. We got down to Jerry Creek, where we watered up and made our camp under some trees. We finished dinner and setting up the tent just as the skies opened up and downpoured.

Woke up knowing we would be in town! Went up towards Larkspur Spring, but skipped it and continued on a rough track through ranch land. We passed rusted metal in a meadow where a cabin must have been. We came across some arrows pointing us in the right direction, since the junction would have been easy to miss. We found a faint road which lead down to a much larger old logging road, which passed by some dilapidated cabins, and through new forest. As we came upon Hwy 274, a large meadow opened up giving us an amazing view of the Anaconda Range, with wildflowers in bloom and song birds flitting about. I asked if we could move here! We were able to get a ride to Anaconda in about 5 minutes to the junction with Hwy 1, where we were again immediately picked up and taken into town. DP and I thought we could get a room, but there was a softball tournament in town, and everything was booked. We saw we could camp at Washoe Park, but that was likely to be rowdy. So, we all had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, resupplied at Albertsons, where we ran into Team 3D and Lost, went to McDonalds to wait out the sudden squall that came through, and said goodbye to Mike and RT, who were getting a ride somewhere else from Mike's parents. We were still sitting out the rain when a nice couple (Tom and Linda) started chatting with us and offered us a ride back to the trail. Just as we headed out, another storm hit, and we were trying to follow a trail that wasn't marked at all. We passed the Mule Ranch then climbed up to some trees. here, we found an old road and followed that towards the official route, since we long lost it. We came upon a road, followed it through cow pastures and a couple of horses, found the good road that lead all the way to Seymour Lake. We found a place to camp at around 9:00, and set up the tent, ate dinner, then fell asleep during a thunder storm.