Day 85 - cool temps and flat roads make for a fast hike (24.3 miles)

August 2, 2021

Miles: 24.3 miles

Steps: 46,856

Slept in until as late as my body would let me which was 7:30am. I had a great nights sleep, it’s amazing what difference sleeping on a bed rather than the ground. I think I found the last hole in my air mattress, it wasn’t easy to find.

Got out of bed around 7:45am and went over to the breakfast building. That’s probably the best breakfast I’ve had on trail that wasn’t homemade. This hotel had everything except for eggs and bacon. It had just about every pastry you could thing of, 10 different types of cereal, waffles, fruit, yogurt, and breads. I tried a little of everything.

After stuffing myself I went back to my room to watch tv and let all the food settle. Then went back for round 2 of breakfast before it closed at 9:30am.

Then it was time to get all my gear together. I had everything spread out so it took awhile.

Got all packed up and left the hotel around 11am. I had only 24 miles to go today and it was all on flat roads so I knew I could knock it out quickly which is why I allowed myself to stay at the hotel so late.

The first 9 miles were all on paved highways. The first mile and half was on highway 1 which had a large shoulder to walk on so didn’t have to worry about cars getting close. Then I turned off onto highway 48 which basically had no shoulder and had lots of semi trucks driving by so I had to walk in the high grass at times until I reached I-90. From there it was very little traffic and the road went from paved to dirt.

Soon after it turned to dirt I crossed by a stream and it looked like my last good water source for awhile so I filled up.

Walked on the dirt road for a few miles until it turned into gravel. From there I started to head back up into the mountains. I got down to about 4,700 ft which it had been awhile since I’ve been that low. I did have to climb to about 6,800 ft to get back to the CDT.

On the gravel road I ran into a dog that wouldn’t leave me alone. Luckily it wasn’t too aggressive.

Right as I took my one and only break for the day it started to ran. Found a nice tree to hang out under until it passed. I was lucky because walking out of town the clouds looked really dark. It looked like I just missed the bad part of the storm. Also, I’m glad I slept indoors last night as it rained pretty hard overnight.

Got back to the CDT right at 7pm. Also it’s were I planned to camp as my app said there would be camping.

Got my food hung and then set up my tent. I was a little nervous about setting it up as I hadn’t tested my repairs. Another part of the pole system broke but I had fixed it with super glue. It appeared to work but then it snapped off again. Got some duct tape and got it back in place. It appears my tent will work only it’s not a free standing tent anymore. Let’s hope this tent can make it these last 2 weeks.