Day 69- Leadville Zero / by Beth Whittington

Our resupply package and my new external battery was sent to a café owned by a former hiker who accepts hiker packages, but said café is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  It’s as good of an excuse as any to take a zero.  

Our day was pretty typical of a zero:

◦ We slept in.  Last night some hotel guests were being extraordinarily loud and they kept us up most of the night.  As I said, this is an old hotel and the walls are thin, so there are posted quiet hours (9pm - 8am).  Nick called the front desk to make a complaint, only to learn that he wasn’t the first person to do so.  After a while things quieted down and we were able to sleep.  When Nick went to the lobby this morning for coffee, he thanked the front desk person for taking care of the issue.  It turns out there were 4 people in the room causing all the ruckus when only 1 person was registered.  I really hope it’s not fellow thru-hikers giving us all a bad reputation. (Also, if you are going to try to cheat the system, why would you be loud during quiet hours and draw attention to yourself?)

◦ We went to breakfast.  We initially went to the Golden Burro Café, but when we saw the menu and realized it was all plant based, we opted to leave.  We’re not against plant based food at all and I’m sure it would have been delicious, but we were craving actual eggs and sausage, not the fake versions.  So we walked to the Silver Llama instead and had a great meal.

Silver Llama

◦ We walked to Leadville Outdoors, where Nick was able to get himself a new water filter - some of the coils inside his BeFree snapped, which meant it was no longer filtering properly.  He’s trying out a Platypus filter this time (he loves trying new things).  I was able to purchase more KT tape (my ankle is getting better every day but still appreciates the support).  

◦ We completed our typical online chores (update blog, update resupply spreadsheet, order new shoes, etc.)

◦ We talked to our parents.

◦ We finished reading Theresa’s letter (the one that came in the Twin Lakes resupply box) - it’s always a joy to read her comments about the blog posts.

◦ We ate the hotel snacks we purchased yesterday at Safeway.

◦ We were lazy the rest of the afternoon.  I napped, Nick watched The Boys.

Tomorrow we’ll pick up the packages, charge my new external battery, organize the resupply, send in my old charger (it’s still under warranty), hitch back to Tennessee Pass, and start hiking again.

:)