Day 24: Just get to the road!

Heather and I woke up a litte earlier so we could get to the road early and get to town. HikeBox and Heartbreaker were a little behind us leaving. Crosby had got a ride into Butte yesterday to rest his feet.

After about an hour of hiking, we finally got to the junction we were aiming for yesterday. It must have been around 12-14 miles...not 8.5...

From this junction, we were supposed to have 8 miles down to I-90. We had since given up on going all the way to highway 2 which is 9 miles further than I-90.

After another hour of hiking, we came up on another trail junction. When we got there, a trail sign said we had 9 more miles to I-90!!! So once again, this 8 mile section was more like 12 miles! ugh. It was also that same new trail that snaked through the terrain excessively.

We finally made it down to the road. Heather and I actually got a ride pretty quickly by a nice couple who came out to see the divide. They took us all the way to our hotel.

It was too early to check in to our hotel, so we walked into the bike shop that was connected tot he hotel. The walls were covered with pro cycling memorabilia. It was an awesome shop. The owner started talking to us because he knew we were CDT hikers. He usually caters to the Tour Divide bike riders to ride through the area while doing the CDT bike route. It is different than the hiking route but intersections in a several spots.

I commented on the jerseys on the wall and he said "Yeah, that's all my brother's stuff, Levi Leipheimer." Levi was a pro for a long time and I knew all about him. It was pretty awesome to be in his brother's shop. There were jerseys from a lot of different races.

We talked for about an hour with him about the trail and cycling. He was very nice. He even commented that we were the most talkative people he's ever met that were doing the CDT or Tour Divide. He said most of the Tour Divide riders are very quiet.

We checked into our hotel and met up with Crosby, Hikerbox and Heartbreaker. All of us headed to the Montana Folk Festival that is going on in Butte this weekend. It was super fun! Butte used to have a huge working copper mine, and the main stage was on top of a mile long mine shaft with a big structure over it. It was awesome. They also had a lot of fair food and beer. We all had a fun time.