Town Day! Zero Day tomorrow! Just got to crank out 14.7 miles this morning to get to Monarch Pass, then hitch to Salida 23 miles away.
Normal morning routine. Make oatmeal. While it cooks or whatever it does while changing from dry flakey stuff to wet gooey stuff I deflate my pillow and pack most of my stuff. I wait until I'm done eating before stuffing my quilt. It keeps my legs warm while packing and eating.
Problem this morning. Because of the light rain and thunder yesterday, I stowed my solar panel a little after noon. When I got to my camping spot I set it out to try to capture a few more photons, but clouds obscured the sun. Not much gain. When I started charging my phone and watch I noticed I only had three of four lights of charge available. My watch charged completely, my phone only made it to 89% before the battery was exhausted. Nothing left for my PLB, which was at 5%. I had phone service in my tent on the ridge (amazing!). I texted Andy that I might stop dropping bread crumbs if the battery died.
Once breakfasted and packed I hooked my solar panel to the PLB even though it was 6:00am and the sun had just risen. I turned on the PLB and hoped it wouldn’t die before the sun had a chance to dislodge some electrons on my panel to keep it alive.
The trail starts out as trail, turns to road, then back to trail in the first four miles. I was in a forest. Between the low angle of the sun and the shade of the trees I was afraid the PLB would die. To compensate, I would stand in sunny patches for a few minutes occupying myself by reading emails and such while energizing the panel. After half an hour it’s charge had climbed to 10%. I was going to skate by with this. The sun was getting higher. The charging would happen faster. All was good.
The location of the trail was magnificent. Most of the way it ran on a ridge top through open meadows with huge vistas. Very pretty. A strong constant wind was blowing, gusting occasionally and knocking me around on the trail. I did not see any of my fellow CDT hikers but met head on with about a dozen mountain bikers.
Approaching Monarch Pass the trail goes from single track dirt to double track dirt road and finally descends sharply to the huge parking lot as an asphalt ramp. As I started down the ramp I began to stuff my ear buds into my pocket, not paying attention to where I put my feet. Why should I, it is smooth blacktop, how could I misstep? I did. Rolled my right ankle. This happens many times a day. I sprained it badly when I was 20 and it rolls easily. Usually, I quickly compensate by dropping my whole body down to take the weight off the rolling ankle and then regain my balance. Not this time. I went down hard. On the asphalt. In front of everybody in the parking lot. My water bottle shooting out and rolling down the hill in front of me. I usually fall at least once a day, tripping over something or rolling my ankle. My cat like coordination instinct ( :-) ) has trained me to roll to one side as I fall, sacrificing my pack to the impact instead of my body. This kicked in as I hurtled toward the ground and I landed on my side with my pack taking most of my weight. Pig Pen was standing near to the store/snack shop and saw me go down. He came running over to retrieve my water bottle as it careened over the embankment and to make sure I was okay. Bruised ego and a scuffed up pocket on my pack the only damage.
I walked with Pig Pen back to the store, then inside to get a soda. Outside I talked with some bikers about the CDT, then realized I had better get out on the road and start thumbing a ride from this notoriously difficult place to get a ride from. I said by to Pig Pen (he had his resupply sent to the pass) as he was hiking on.
It only took less than 10 minutes to get a ride, fourth car to pass. A big Dodge Ram truck stopped. I put my pack in the back and climbed in to meet Ryan, a concrete construction worker. We spent the next half hour talking about his girl friend’s death in a car accident, how her grandparents grabbed his 3 year old daughter and have had her for the past 70 days while he battles them in court for custody. I really felt sorry for his situation. What a mess.
He drove me to the Simple Lodge and Hostel in Salida, where my resupply was mailed. They were full. I called the Hayduke Hostel. They said they had room and would come get me in about 5 minutes. Wow! I grabbed my resupply boxes, got in the grey pickup when Cope arrived and rode out to the Hayduke Hostel about 2 miles out of town.
It is a 1964 three car auto repair garage converted to a hiker hostel. One bay is a living room with a laundry area, loaner clothes and TV. The second bay has a kitchen, dining table, fridge and freezer. There is an outdoor shower in an old out building. Throw rugs cover the concrete floors. Everyone sleeps on the floors on those rugs.
Monk, Special K, Just Mary and Bright Eyes were there already. We spent the afternoon resting, cooking a frittata for dinner, baking brownies and talking. A nice mellow group.
My feet are sore. Without shoes I hobble around. With shoes, especially my new ones, I can walk nearly pain free. Without them, hobble city. I am hoping they improve with my replacement shoes. Or they go completely numb soon and quit hurting. :-)
Another amazing day.
Open meadows above tree line. The trail traversed these ridges most of the day.
Beautiful hiking.
You can see the Monarch Pass highway in the distance.
The Simple Lodge and Hostel in downtown Salida with some of its CDT patrons.
The old garage that is the Hayduke Hostel
The kitchen, dining bay of the hostel
The living room bay of the hostel.
The out building that houses the outdoor shower
The outdoor shower
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