Monday, June 18
After a VERY rainy day yesterday, and a VERY cold morning today, it was great to finally feel the warmth of the sun. I met Medic, Bourbon, and 5 Star around 7:30 AM, and told them I'd be stopping in a few miles to dry my clothing and gear. Around 9:30 AM I met another hiker, Obtuse, who found a huge flat spot with a nice breeze and sun for drying. My friends soon joined us and for an hour we had all our clothing and gear spread out like an impromptu yard sale. The picture above is all my worldly possessions drying in the sun.
My backpack felt a couple of pounds lighter after drying all my gear, which was a good thing since we had plans to hike 24-25 miles to a wilderness cabin at the Marshall Pass Trailhead. I didn't have any plans to sleep in the cabin, but the goal of reaching the cabin was to put us just 11 miles from Monarch Pass, where we would hitch into Salida to resupply.
Eight of us camped at the cabin, four inside and four outside. I knew I would sleep better in my tent, so I was outside with Medic, Bourbon, and Crash. Having access to picnic table and pit toilet felt almost luxurious and I slept very well after a very long day of hiking.
Tuesday, June 19
The plan was to be hiking early, with the goal of getting into Salida for lunch. Medic, Bourbon and I left around 6:30 AM and the others soon followed. The hike to Monarch Pass was so beautiful with amazing views in every direction.
It was a crisp morning (and by crisp, I mean COLD), but we warmed up quickly from hiking in the warmth of the sun and by 10:30 AM we were at Monarch Pass! Salida is 21 miles NE on Highway 50 and hitching shouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that there was more than a dozen hikers at the pass all looking for a ride. We quickly decided to call a shuttle service from town and split the $50 cost between 11 hikers. It didn't take long for us to drop our gear at the hostel and find a great pub for lunch. It was exciting to be in Salida, but it was even more exciting to think that I'm only 150 miles away from seeing Eva.
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!
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