Sleeping is amazing and I love it and I will do more of it shortly.

Breakfast in the hotel was great, and so was their coffee, which paired perfectly with the chocolate chip and walnut oatmeal I concocted.

After sending in the blog updates to Theresa, Nick and I went our separate ways to do errands.  He went looking for shoes and new pole tips; I went out for new shoes (or at least some inserts, it’s been over 350 miles already!).

I ended up at Grizzly Outfitters, where a knowledgeable guy named Andy helped me out.  They didn’t have my women’s Salomon size 10s, but he told me the men’s shoe in size 8 are exactly the same (just different colors). He also thinks I’ve been hiking in a slightly too-large shoe and that inserts might help with my ankle annoyance.  While I think it’s a huge risk to change things up this late in the game, I decided to listen to his 25 years of experience.  The shoes I ended up with don’t feel too much different than the old ones, just a smidge tighter, so it might work out ok.  I hope so.  Stay tuned.  

Nick didn’t have any luck with shoes, but he did get new pole tips from Black Diamond.  Zeros are the best.

As I read my Idaho Happy Trails letter from Bailey (even though we’re skipping that state, the letter was still fun to read!),  I realized I never got around to answering the questions Ashley posed in her Wyoming Happy Trails letter.  Since I have time today, I’ll do that now.

1. How are the clothes holding up?  Have you washed them many times?  The hiking clothes are holding up just fine.  My black shorts look grey on the bottom from being in the sun and my hiking shirt is stained and wearing thin from where it rubs against the backpack, but that’s all to be expected.  We have washed them around 25 times thus far.

2. What has been one of your favorite things you’ve seen so far?  Besides the San Juans and the Winds, my favorite thing has been when the baby moose got totally submerged when crossing the river just outside Grand Lake.

3. What is the “wildest” experience that you have had up to this point?  Probably the day we hiked in the fog and snow on the Argentine Spine and up Grays Peak, although the 30-mile day we spent in Yellowstone, going through the swamp and the blowdowns and not getting to camp until after dark, is a close second.

4. What has been the biggest challenge, physically or mentally? Physically, the biggest challenge was hiking when my shins were screaming at me to stop.  Mentally, the biggest challenge was dealing with the cold, the mud, and the rain in the days before we got into Yellowstone.

5. What are you missing the most? Apart from missing friends and family, which is a given, I definitely miss swimming and diving in the warm Maui ocean.

6. What do you not miss at all?  Having lots of Stuff. It’s such a great feeling to only have what you need.  I love living out of a backpack.

7. Anything, in particular, you guys do when you pass into a new state?  We always do a fist bump.