By Mary Anderson

• The steepest climbs and descents of the trail.
• Lots of butterflies and grasshoppers.
• Hiking in over 90 degree days.
• Drinking more in one day than I ever have, including multiple sports drinks, and still being thirsty.
• Hiking with a painful hip/groin.
• Feeling really alone.
• Meeting some wonderful people.
• Honored and touched to have people go so out of their way for me.
• Jumping in the agricultural sprinklers when the water hit the road.
• Hiking slower than I ever have.
• Taking nearos and zeros without worrying.
• Finding yet another new flower.
• Feeling trust taken to a new level, especially when I don’t know where the trail goes, or where water or resupply spots will be.
• Seeing some striking mountains, even if through the haze of smoke.
• Being thrilled to see a touch of blue sky.
• Using a cattle fence as a traction device for my sacrum.
• Eating about a thousand calories in snacks at 4 p.m. after barely walking any miles.
• Following the snacks at 6:30 p.m. with a 640-calorie dinner and still being hungry.
• Being in a lightning/hail storm that started yet another Montana fire.
• Having to get new shorts because mine literally fell apart.
• Being grateful for friends back home to help me figure my way out here.
• Really recognizing the ways technology is making this hike easier.
• Feeling how that takes away from my sense of accomplishment.
• Discovering that the cowboys I met were related to trail angel Shannon, whom I met a week later.
• Feeling I have lost the sense of who I am and being mostly okay with that.