CDT Day 133: Cow & Wildlife Country

Daily Miles: 27.0, Total Miles: 2,354.1

The smoky haze is increasing as I get closer to Helena. I heard from my son that the air quality there is not good.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a mama and baby moose feeding at Cottonwood Lake. Mama got spooked as I got closer and they both splashed away.

Late in the afternoon, I was hiking through a thick stand of small lodgepoles with poor visibility on either side. Suddenly, a large black bear walked out on the trail 75 ft in front of me. He stopped, turned and stared at me. Get a pic? No, I had surprised this one and I didn’t know if there was a cub around, so I raised my poles over my head to look bigger and growled as loudly as I could. The bear took off like a rocket and went crashing through the woods.

A few miles later I also surprised several elk on the trail.

Because of an unexpected dry spring, not enough water for a proper dinner tonight so made do with an energy bar, butterscotch pudding and prunes.

Haven’t seen any hikers on the two days out of Anaconda.