I left Eureka feeling pretty good. I was walking well, managed to relax and calorie load in town, and was now heading out. I was confident I had figured out padding for my boots that would lessen the pain. Even though Mary offered to let me shower in the hotel room she was sharing with another hiker, I declined and set out in the 100 degree heat.

I walked through the long spread out town, stopping to buy a cone at a truck advertising homemade ice cream. I was glad to get off the paved road when the trail began a long walk on a bike path along the Tobacco River. It was a lovely walk but as I have discovered in the past, flat walking is hard on the feet. It wasn’t long before I was sitting on the side of the trail with my boots off, once again trying to figure out how to help them.

When I had left Eureka I was hoping to reach a campground 6.6 miles away. As I crawled up that bike path, taking long breaks along the river, I let go of my goal and decided to stop wherever I needed to. A few times the path completely disappeared and I had to backtrack. I passed a number of lovely campsites where people in rv’s were taking advantage of the free camping on public land.

Eventually the trail completely disappeared in a swamp. I chatted with some people who were fishing there. They were all drinking ice cold drinks from a cooler in the back of their truck. I was disappointed when they declined to offer me one, even after I had mentioned how hot and thirsty I was.

Rather than backtracking I decided to push through the swamp to where I could see people camped on the other side. I was in grass well over my head and my feet were in sucking mud, but I did not have it in me to backtrack when I could see a stopping place for the night.

When I hit dry land, I asked the folks camped there if they would mind if I set up my little tent nearby. Ironically, I felt disappointed when they said they did not mind. I realized then how much I was wanting someone to see how hard I was working and to take care of me. I wanted to be invited over and offered cold drinks and a good meal and share company with someone. I thought of all the trail angels who had helped me on my previous hikes and had a realization that this would not be the case on the PNT. I sensed I was in this on my own, so I dug deep to prepare dinner and put up my tent.

In the morning I felt a bit better. I was proud that I had learned on a deeper level to take care of myself rather than feeling the helplessness of the parts who wanted to be seen and taken care of by someone on the outside.

Still the pain in my feet and the long, extremely hot, paved road walk made hiking less than enjoyable no matter how hard I tried.

I took a break by the Lake Koocanusa Bridge, which is the highest and longest bridge in Montanna. Then I began the very long slog up Mount Webb. Normally I can hike up a steep grade at the rate of a mile and a half per hour. But on Webb, which had a climb of about 3300 feet in four and a half miles I was barely making a mile per hour, in part because I kept stopping due to the pain in my feet as well as the extreme heat. I was almost to the top when Mary went cruising by me. Once again I had to struggle with my internal demons who felt I was a useless hiker who had to work harder than anyone else out here. It did not help that when I emerged onto the first summit I got stung by a number of bees. On top of that I was out of water. I was hungry enough that I had to put some food in me before continuing on those final three miles. Yet I was so thirsty that I only wanted food with liquid, which are not plentiful in my pack. I found a few small cubes of jelly and two packets of lemon juice, along with one of pickle relish. I gulped these down while nursing my bee stings. Finally I shouldered my pack and pushed myself on, eager to get to water and a stopping place for the night.

The following day I managed to hike almost 17 miles with another long climb up Mt Henry which is just over 7000 feet high. The four and one half mile 3500 foot descent was a killer and I eventually took one aspirin to lessen the pain in my feet. It was near nine PM when I finally reached water and a suitable spot to pitch a tent. I was surprised to find Mary there asleep in her tent. A hiker named Gramps was also there and was heading down to get water. I was so grateful when he agreed to fill my water bag as well.

After eating a late dinner, I fell into my tent, looking forward to reaching Yaak and a different pair of boots the next day. While I was trying to stay in the moment, I had high hopes that these other boots, which were identical to the ones I had hiked the Arizona Trail in, would be kinder to my feet.