ENCAMPMENT

Saturday, July 21

While not an official resupply stop for me (no box from Eva), 5 Star and I decided to hitch 15 miles into Encampment and camp at the RV Park in Riverside. $10 per person got us a place to set up our tents, restrooms a hot shower, laundry, and spotty WiFi. We hitched into town with another hiker and there  were at least a dozen CDT hikers and everyone was excited to have completed Colorado. We enjoyed a hearty dinner at the Bear Trap Cafe and Bar and enjoyed a great conversation with a couple who just graduated from college and were cycling across the US. After dinner I took a long shower, washed my clothes, recharged my phone,and made a short list of snacks to purchase in the morning for the hike to Rawlins. I was in my tent before 10 PM, but apparently some of the other hikers did a bit more celebrating at the bar...

Sunday, July 22

I had breakfast with 5 Star and Cucumber (Mike's new trail name) and we got an offer for a ride back to the trail in the parking lot of the restaurant. Encampment was a quick stop, but with two good meals, a shower and clean clothes, we are ready to hike again. I am looking forward to getting to Rawlins, Wyoming. I am meeting a friend I met last year in New Mexico, Fat Albert, who will be joining the hike north to Canada.

Except for my allergies, which I am hoping will improve as the climate gets drier in Wyoming, we had a great day hiking out of Encampment. It was overcast with a cool breeze and in the afternoon there was an exciting thunderstorm. We setup camp just before it started pouring and there was a break around 7:30 PM for us to eat dinner before it started raining again. The picture below is a screen shot from a short video I shot before we dropped down off the ridge to camp.

For additional content, check out Flickr for images, YouTube for video, SoundCloud for audio, and the Postholer Map with my most recent location.

Thanks for following along!