Rookie mistake and a wild time in Stevensville

Looking at the Bitterroot Mountains across the Bitterroot Valley from the Sapphire Mountain Range.

I made a real rookie error on my hike from Georgetown Lake to Hamilton,  MT. I planned out a trail that'd take me around the snowy Pintler Mountains.

Backcountry campsite at Medicine Lake with heavy-duty stove and table. It must have been quite the effort to get the stove back there.

After I started out, I crossed paths with a Forest Service guy driving on a logging road. I asked him about my planned route and he said he would not advise going that way. The trail wasn't maintained and it would be very slow going. He recommended a different complex set of trails, giving me the Forest Service trail numbers. I  continued on, but after getting deep into the forest, I couldn't find the correct trail number on my mapping app.  

Only a rookie would go hiking without having the trail all planned out. I couldn't find trials that matched up with the app. After fighting some very difficult cross-country hiking, traveling up and down over steep, snowy ridges, I found my way to a logging road. I was exhausted and discouraged.

Beargrass in bloom

Then two guys in a 4WD pickup came along and offered me a ride. I  was more than happy to get back to town where I could recover from my rookie error in a motel room. When we got to Stevensville,  I offered to fill up their gas tank and buy a round of beers. They declined the gas, but took me up on the beer. I  stopped after two beers, but they kept going. ( I was no longer buying.)

I sat on a bench outside the bar and drunk patrons would take turns sitting next to me smoking and telling me their boring sob stories. 10 p.m., 11 p.m., midnight, 1 a.m. and finally closing time.

All motel rooms were sold out,  so I talked them into dropping me off on the outskirts of Missoula, 30 miles away.  Oh no,  all motel rooms in Missoula were also sold because of the Missoula Marathon. My sister had her daughter and family staying with her for the Marathon and I didn't want to disturb them.

I walked to an all-night Denny's and ordered dinner. My last chance of avoiding an all-nighter was calling a friend from high school and asking to crash at his place. Bingo!  Bill picked me up at 4 a.m. and then took me to my sister's after I got a few hours of sleep.