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All through the chemo and radiation treatments during the winter of 2007/2008 I kept focusing on the wild country. Especially during the radiation sessions, I'd drift off to places that I'd walked, high ridgewalks and mountain meadows. As I pictured myself visiting those places again, I began to see new places in my imagination. Those were the places I was going to find; the ridges I would walk "someday".
After a clean bill of health on my 3 month check-up I figured I might as well go for it. I had nearly regained the 30 pounds I had lost during the treatments and the trail was calling. Last Fall the last show of my touring year was in Sandpoint, ID at the Panida Theater for the Friends of Scotchman Peaks. I saw some great pictures of the Scotchman Peaks and heard lots of praise for the area by those working to protect it. Twenty-five years ago on my second Mexico to Canada trek I walked the length of the Cabinet Mountains and remember looking across the Bull River Valley to those Scotchman Peaks rising against the blue northwest sky. Well, it got in my mind to go hike there, but then the idea grew. By the time the end of June rolled around I'd planned a 6 week hike that would lead me 460 miles from Nez Perce Pass on the south end of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to the Canadian border in the very northwest corner of Montana. I would walk the ID/MT state line for most of the trek using trails when they were available, but sometimes little used forest service roads, and often just walk the ridge without any trail. Since I was still in recovery mode I lightened my pack by not carrying my guitar or my big camera. I bought a tiny digital camera. These pictures, though not great, will give you an idea of the country that I walked. It was a PERFECT trip for me at this point in my life.
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