Whenever I’m going to get to town, it’s easy to wake up early. I look at how many miles I have left and figure out if I’ll be having breakfast or lunch when I get there. Today there was about 11 miles to go and Feel Good wanted to meet a friend at 10 am.
We woke up and started hiking. The weather was much colder than it’s been the last few nights and I left my layers on a lot longer than normal.
Eventually we made it to Tennessee Pass and started trying to get a ride. A woman who was taking care of the garden at the 10th Mountain Division monument offered to let us drive her truck if we were going to be heading back to the trail.
We had different plans. A woman we met on the trail a week or so ago offered to let us stay in her house. We took her up on the offer.
What Leadville is most known for (with thru hikers) are fleece hoodies made by the local company Melanzana. They only sell them in their store/factory in town and an appointment is required to shop. Lucky for us, thru hikers can just walk right in.
A few years ago I was passing through Leadville and bought myself one of their hoodies. Back then you didn’t need an appointment but as demand has increased, supply has not. They insist on paying their employees a living wage plus benefits and making everything here in Leadville.
They have a limit of 2 items per customer so I bought myself another hoodie and got one for Meghan.
Afterwards we went to Susan’s house and unpacked our gear in her yard. She’s been so nice and even let us drive her Tesla into town to run some errands.
Our plan tomorrow is to sleep in and leave for the trail after lunch. We’re passing through a very populated part of Colorado and will get into a town almost every other day. It’s gonna be awesome.