Chores in town take forever. After 3 days of sweat, my laundry needed to be cleaned. I woke up a little early and took my clothes over to the laundry room and got it started. Luckily, the motel was across the street from McDonalds where I got a few things for breakfast. I ran into the Czech hikers that stayed with us in Steamboat and talked for awhile.
After doing my laundry, I asked for a late checkout and then relaxed in the room as long as possible. I left around noon and saw a handful of hikers milling about drinking beer in the parking lot. I knew some of them so walked over and they offered my a couple of beers.
They were all headed to lunch so I walked with them and continued to the grocery store to get food for the next 6 days. This might be my longest carry ever at 161 miles. After groceries I headed to the restaurant where they were eating. They were all still there so I ordered a plate and finished right as the big group did. One of the hikers I knew had a friend that lived in town and she offered to take us to the trail! I love when stuff works out like that.
It was amazing how fast the trail went from desert to mountains. The hiking was a lot hillier but without the heat of the desert, we moved fast.
We got a bit of a late start, around 3 pm, so we didn’t make it quite as far as we wanted, but I didn’t have many expectations for the day. The campsite we got is flat and not covered in sagebrush so I’m happy. Tomorrow I’ll already be in the Cirque Of The Towers, quite possibly the best part of the trail (and it’s not technically on the trail.)