Day 93

Trail miles: 11.9

Total: 1207.3

I got to sleep in to seven o’clock this morning! My happiness was short lived when Freedom came over hacking up a lung saying he has Covid. At least I’ve not been around him at all. I packed up all my stuff and walked down the hill to the bathroom, and then the general store. The infamous Red Moose breakfast restaurant was shut down due to staffing issues, so we walked back to the restaurant that we got dinner from. I ordered French toast and it was the saddest French toast I’ve ever eaten. I wanted to order an omelet, but the server already yelled at me once for trying to order more food. By then, the post office was open so I got my three packages and went up to the bathrooms. They have free showers open to the public, but there isn’t hot water. It still worked out though and I was able to tolerate more than I thought. I did some sink laundry too with some detergent I found in the hiker box. Then for some reason I thought of the lunch hour the post office usually closes for and had to rush to get my food together and make a box to send forward with all my leftover food. After one last deli sandwich and Dr Pepper from the General store, we tried hitching back to the trailhead. We got a ride from a trail angel named Jeep Angel. She made us sign her log book and we saw all kinds of familiar names in there, like Jonah and Courtney! We definitely should have started earlier with 12 miles to the campground and 8 of it being uphill. But at 3:00pm we started walking. Without any breaks, we made it before 8:00pm. I had to listen to music and then a Schill Brothers podcast because I started worrying about the fact that I might make it to camp after dark. For some reason I hate the thought of that. We made it before dark, but I still getting to bed around 9:30. Past hiker midnight (sunset or 9:00pm). The bottom of my feet were hurting around mile 9. I guess the campsite is worth it. They have out toilets and toilet paper. There were some screaming kids next to us but they’ve all quieted down now. I got to try Terri’s first meal! It was so good but I’m sorry I didn’t rehydrate it properly. I was being lazy and just poured the boiling water into the bag to rehydrate it instead of simmering it. I learned my lesson when the beans were still crunchy. I’ll follow the directions tomorrow! This campground also has a bear box which is super nice not to have to worry about doing the bear hang, especially getting in so late.