Lincoln Montana is tiny. Really tiny. It’s just a short stretch of buildings with wild Montana land spreading out in every direction. It’s home to bear, a handful of hearty friendly locals, and a little bar called the Bootlegger. That was my destination. Inside were signs saying Taco Tuesday! Is it Tuesday?? I have no idea. I haven’t know what day it was for many weeks. However, I know that today IS an important day. I have driven two days from the mountains of Wyoming to get here for this. My eyes scanned the bar and landed on the wide-eyed, dirty, shiny-wild-thing I had come for.

Nico! Nico. Nico. Nico. We clutched at each other, laugh-crying, and staring. It’s an incredible thing to be alone for a long time and then to arrive in a place unknown and find someone you love. It feels completely surreal, just another dream trick your lonely social mind is trying to play. We were both so fresh from the wild and so used to being singular. It was overwhelming and magical, and I fell happily into the elated sensory overload of being near them.

Nico had been hiking on the Pacific Northwest Trail and then on the Continental Divide Trail for all of the weeks that I had been traipsing around Wyoming mountains. We had made a tentative plan before we both left, to meet up at the end of their hike if everything worked out. Neither of us had been sure if we’d see one another or what our summer would hold. And neither of us were finished with our adventure or ready to go home. This was the beginning of the next chapter of our adventure.

“Where should we go next, Formidable?” I asked, using Nico’s trail name. They flashed their forearm at me and showed me the words scrawled across their warm sunbronzed skin.

“I have a new name, it’s Worth It now. Totally Fucking Worth It”

Oh yeah. They are; Worth It. And this next part of my trip is going to be SO fucking Good.