Helena, MT to Butte, MT

Photos - click here

DAY 1
We had spent too many days in Helena, and were glad to get back to the trail.
Dave had finally broken his fever, and we were raring to go. We were also fortunate enough to be generously offered a ride back to the trail from Cathy, an employee at the hotel where we were staying. She was a wonderful and gentle spirit and we were grateful to have met her. The hiking was very nice for the entire day, oscillating back and forth between trail and forest service roads, wooded areas, and open fields. I even managed to spot a coyote during the day. It abruptly crossed the road about 30 feet in front of me, stopped and stared at me. It was a very calm and beautiful moment. I had a feeling it wouldn't last, but I slowly tried to get my camera to take a picture. Before I had a chance, the coyote disappeared, just as quickly as it had appeared.

The first part of the day the hike took us about 6 miles to McDonald Pass- a pass with a main road across it, and a high vista (where the CDT continued) that could only be accessed by hiking through a herd of cows. Humph. Now, there are two kinds of cows- the kind that run when they see a person, and the kind that just stand there. These were the kind that just stood there with their glazed-over eyes, wondering what this standing-upright animal was that was invading their herd. Since there were bulls in the herd, I grudgingly bushwhacked around them to give them space, silently cursing them for being so stupid. Sorry, I just have a thing about cows. Once on the trail and in the woods again, I zoned out and hiked on, rustling up another cow in the process. Since I didn't see it until I was about 10 feet away from it and it crashed through the woods away from me at that same moment, I was rather startled- but then I just laughed. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

The remainder of the day we mostly followed old forest service roads with a considerable number of turns and junctions. Unfortunately, the route had been changed since the guidebook was written, and there were a few junctions that were depicted incorrectly on the maps. It made for a slower, more frustrating day than anticipated, but it also felt good to be able to rely on my skills to decipher these errors, and to know that I was accurate in my choices. At this point in the day I was ahead of Dave and David, and continued hiking onward, despite the confusing intersections. I was drawing arrows at the junctions and left a note for them, telling them that I was no longer trusting the route, but was working solely on topographical and compass information. It turned out to be the right choice, and I managed to overcome the guidebook and map errors just fine. I stopped at around 8pm and two hours later Dave and David arrived- it was good to be reunited again. We shared our stories about the day. Even though we spent the day separated from each other, we were really in sync with our perceptions of the trail, the errors, and how to manage all of it. They had the same mix-ups as I did, and what was easy for me was also easy for them. That was pretty cool. I got extra water for them while waiting in camp, which Dave readily took. Though he and David had just gotten water, Dave didn't really trust the source, so he dumped out his old water and replaced it with the treated water I had waiting for them. David didn't have the same misgivings and stayed with the water he had. They ate a cold dinner and we all crashed.

DAY 2
Unfortunately, this day started at midnight instead of 6am. I woke to David throwing up outside the tent. Dave was also awake asking David if he was ok, and his only response was continued sickness. We weren't sure what the problem was, but it was serious and it didn't stop there. David was up getting sick at least 3 or 4 more times between midnight and 5am. At that point the "other" problem began and there were at least five more incidents by 9am where David was combating vomiting, diarrhea, or both. We ruled out the possibility of appendicitis, and let David sleep in and rest before getting him off the trail to see a doctor, rather than rushing him in immediately.

It had already been a hard night for David, and we expected the day to continue to be challenging. But true to form, he didn't complain once that night, nor for the remainder of the day. Though Dave and I took a good portion of his gear, David would still have to carry some items of his own, and it would be at least 1 mile to a forest road with possible traffic, and another 14 miles to a community- if we didn't see someone sooner. While David was resting Dave went on a walk to see what he could see. He came back and reported seeing a large mine and a grader, smoothing out the road off in the distance. We strategized some more, and then we heard the grader coming near us. Dave started talking to me, but in mid-sentence turned to see that I was gone- running down from where we camped to intersect with the grader at the road before he passed. Fortunately I caught him in time and explained our problem. There clearly wasn't room to get a ride from him, but he offered to stop any vehicles he might see to ask if they would be willing to give us a ride.

Lo and behold, the grader did pass one vehicle. The father and son duo searched us out, abandoning their own plans for the day, so that we could get David to a doctor in Helena. After meeting and strategizing with us, the son, Jeff Watters, dropped his father and his gear off with their other vehicle and then came back for us while we were packing up and preparing for town. Thank goodness- David didn't have to walk himself into town! The ride was about an hour long down various forest service roads, and we had great conversations with Jeff about health- both spiritual and physical.

We finally reached Helena and Jeff took us straight to the clinic that Dave had just visited a few days prior. Their diagnosis was severe food poisoning and, as a result, dehydration. We were definitely taking this day off for David to rest, though he would be forced to maintain a liquid diet for the entire day. With how he was feeling, there weren't any objections.

When we got to the hotel we saw Nomad- we hadn't seen him since Glacier, so it was nice to touch base and catch up on trail stories. With him was "Gandolf", another hiker we had yet to meet. True to his name, he was older with the longest, most impressive white beard I have ever seen. After touching base with Nomad and Gandolf we parted paths. Dave, David and I then began our major task for the day- to rest.

DAY 3
Rest from yesterday turned into more rest today as we took another day off for David to recuperate. It was later this evening that David decided, for many reasons, that it was time to go home.

DAY 4
Dave and I took today off so we could see David off and make certain we were near a phone to make certain he had arrived home ok. David arrived just fine, and upon arrival in Washington, visited a second doctor. As it turned out, David had lost too much weight on the trail, and was holding only 7% body fat. He would continue to fight his illness for many more days after returning home, and it wouldn’t be until Lima, MT, that Dave and I would discover that David actually suffered a severe case of salmonella on the trail. Later in the day we met a construction worker at the hotel who was interested in making a little money by shuttling us back to the trail. Normally we would just hitchhike without it being an issue. However, since we evacuated from the middle of the forest when David was sick, we needed to find someone willing to drive down about an hour or more of forest service roads to a point in the middle of nowhere, where no one would normally be interested in going. Thank goodness we found someone!

DAY 5
Our ride dogged us. We were up and ready at 5am and the jerk never showed. Since we didn’t have another ride arranged by checkout time, we ended up getting the room for another night. Found another guy willing to shuttle us from the outdoor store. I’m not holding my breath….

DAYS 6-8
I could have held my breath and been just fine!! Our ride showed up (yea!! Getting out of here- finally!), and he was a much more agreeable fellow than the man we had met the day before. We talked at some length during the ride about the land management issues of the area and the historical nature of the area. As the photos show, there were many mines in the area- “prospects” they were called. If you looked on the map, you would see the green of the national forest lands littered with smatterings of white to designate private properties and prospects within the boundaries of the forest. Walking past these areas was like walking through the past- simply fascinating. We blazed on to Butte, spending our time contemplating David’s absence and trying to stay up on our miles so as to not lose any more time than we already had. We were blessed with new wildlife on the trip- beavers and skunk. The skunk was pretty amazing as it crossed our paths. And while it flagged its tail high at one point, we were lucky enough to escape being skunked!!

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From: http://www.butteinfo.org/butte/history.html

BUTTE
Like many mining camps, Butte came into existence because of gold. Yet by 1870 placer mining, the easiest method of gold extraction, was petering out. While most miners drifted away to other promising mineral strikes, a few far-sighted individuals labored on in Butte, trying to solve the puzzle of freeing gold, silver, copper, manganese, zinc and lead from a tightly locked matrix of quartz. Through the 1870s, silver mining kept Butte alive. At the end of the decade three critical elements came together: Butte miners struck the richest deposit of copper ever found; advanced smelting technology made it profitable to extract the copper and other metals; and railroads reached Butte to cut the cost of transportation to eastern manufacturers.

At the same time the electricity and telecommunications industries were getting under way. For instruments and equipment, as well as millions of miles of delivery wire and cable, copper was the material of choice. Butte quickly boomed into a mini New York with lavish theatres, posh hotels, and fine restaurants.

Wealthy copper barons wrestled for power, labor unions rose up, and the mines – more than 200 at one time – hummed 24 hours a day. The one-time mining camp became a metropolitan center of industry, culture and mass transportation in the West. By 1920 the population, a melting pot of Irish, Finns, Italians, Cornish, Welsh, Serbs, Chinese and others, grew to more than 100,000 people. Butte was visited by dignitaries such as presidents Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, and famous entertainers like Charlie Chaplin and Ethel Barrymore.

Evidence of Butte’s history is apparent, from the head frames marking old mine shafts, to elaborate 19th century churches, to the last of the old stamp mills. Much of this heritage is well preserved and readily accessible. This is why so many history buffs find Butte almost as difficult to leave, as it is fun to visit.