Is it Idaho or Montana? Which state are we in? Where the hell are we? These are thoughts I have been having daily while in the vast, desolate, high mountain landscapes of the CDT that have dominated much of our hiking since leaving Wyoming last week.
Did you know that much of the border between Idaho and Montana is actually the continental divide? I sure didn’t, but it is clear and apparent now that I find myself literally walking the line between the two states on a daily basis. Take a few steps to the right, we are in Montana, a few steps to the left and we are in Idaho. We are normally somewhere in between, toeing the line between the two. But the fact that an invisible line marking which direction water flows determines the boundary between states is fascinating to me.
This may be only cool to me but I think walking the border is really neat. I like maps, geography, and history and while the lines between states seem so concrete and definite when studied in school, it is nowhere near as neat in real life. There is nothing out here and the divide is not an actual line on the ground. We occasionally see posts in the ground marking the divide and separating the states, but that’s rare and quite spaced out. Otherwise, it’s us, a faint path, and wide open space as we walk the line between Idaho and Montana.