Saturday July 20, 22.2mi/35.7km

Campsite at Road FS114 (94.4/4101ft) to Blacktail Creek (116.6/5984ft) (MT)

The day started off with a nice easy walk along a dirt road for an hour. I saw only one vehicle before I entered the woods, and then I was cruising on this soft trail.

A mile into the woods, I hit my first milestone marker!

And after a brief climb, I passed by the first of many lakes today. This is the only lake that didn’t have snow in it.

I climbed up another 1000ft/300m to the summit of Mt. Wam, which had a cool cabin on top. I think normally it can be reserved for sleeping, but it was undergoing minor construction so it was open to the public.

I took my lunch break inside and enjoyed the views. And the free wine!

The views coming down from the summit didn’t suck either.

In the distance, I could see Stahl Peak for many hours.

It had an impressive north face that dropped steeply down into a small lake!

After awhile, the trail turned away from Stahl Peak, and I got to visit more lakes!

This one had a snowdrift at the far end, so it was perfect for an afternoon swim.

The trail crossed under a very chossy cliff, which kept things interesting by occasionally dropping pebbles down on the trail. I hadn’t seen this much choss since death valley.

And around the corner, there were more lakes. Therriault lake was below, and Bluebird Lake was on the trail.

At the end of the day, the trail finally left this basin of lakes, and I crossed over a pass and descended towards Canada. There was some strange old mining equipment along the way.

Camping options were rather limited in this area, so I opted for a wide spot in the trail, which was nice and flat in this section, since it follows an old dirt road. Tomorrow is a town day!