I slept extremely well last night, even though the bed was much softer than I usually like. I did have a terrible headache when I went to bed, perhaps that had something to do with it. Either way, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go.
Nick acquired some coffee from the store, which we drank while we packed up. Since the restaurant in town didn’t open until 11, we ate my extra meal from the last section for breakfast. (We hiked faster than we thought we would to Battle Pass)
We walked the mile from Riverside to Encampment with Mr. Fabulous, Pirate, Dan, and Nature (the mile is included in our total for the day because we had our packs on). Along the way we stopped at the gas station for extra water bottles (I lost one of mine in the back of the truck yesterday; Nick simply needed to get a third so he will be able to carry 6 liters of water when necessary).
The only reason we went to Encampment was for the post office, which all us hikers needed to visit for our resupply packages. Not too long after the 6 of us arrived, Info, Spice, Cheetah, Captain, and Mouse showed up. There were a lot of hikers outside the post office, sorting food.
candid shot of all the hikers outside the post office
Spice, Nick, and I finished sorting our food first, so we were the first ones to attempt a hitch. With it being such a small town with very little traffic, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Much to my surprise, we only had to wait about 5 minutes before Mr. Shreber stopped to give us a ride. He told me he was going fishing and wouldn’t take us the whole way, but he’d get us a little further down the road; this was a little disappointing to hear, but we accepted his ride anyway. Mr. Shreber also stopped to pick up Spice, who had been about a block ahead of us when Mr. Shreber stopped to pick up Nick and me.
Mr. Shreber is a high school teacher who teaches literature and creative writing and even a film class that sounded like a lot of fun, particularly when he said he did a study of Napoleon Dynamite. It was a fun ride - it was so fun that Mr. Shreber decided to take us all the way to Battle Pass after all. He wouldn’t accept any money for the ride, but he did accept one of Theresa’s figures. :)
high school teacher Mr. Shreber
The trail today was great. Some dirt road walking, some actual trail, all with lots of relatively short ups and downs to keep it fun. At the first water source 10 miles in, I bumped into Thighclops and Steelhead, who I haven’t seen since before Grand Lake. It was nice to see them again, if only for a moment.
In the afternoon I could see some rain in the distance, which I thought would eventually get us wet. However, the only thing it did was bring us some gloriously strong wind, some excellent protection from the sun, and the delightful smell of rain. It was perfect.
My favorite part of the day was the last 5 miles, which took us over rolling hills full of wildflowers. It was wonderful. The only non-wonderful part was when my issue started to gently protest my pace - I had been feeling good and must have started walking faster than my issue is ready for. I slowed down and it seemed assuaged.
Nick had some excitement today when he turned a corner and encountered a baby moose with its mother. Nick said he was very close, maybe 10 feet away, and the mother didn’t seem very happy with him for scaring her baby. Nick said he backed up and stood behind a rock for 15 minutes, trying to figure out how to get past them. They eventually walked off. Nick didn’t get any pictures or video because he was more worried about not being attacked by the moose, which I can appreciate.
After meeting at our second (and last) water source for the day (sources are quickly becoming less and less frequent), we loaded up on water and hiked until we found a spot to camp. More accurately, I went ahead to look for a spot while Nick, who had been delayed by his moose encounter, purified his water.
Spice, Captain, Cheetah, and Mouse are camping near us. And there are cows somewhere near us, too, as I can hear them mooing and calling out - I’m sure I’ll meet them tomorrow.
Along the trail:
Camp:
