September 14th, 2024
Mile Marker: 1950.1
Miles Hiked: 22
We found ourselves sleeping in well this morning. Originally I woke up around 6 like typical but found it easy to drift back to sleep. I was warm and cozy in the hotel bed and wasn’t quite ready to get up yet and it appeared neither were the others.
Around 7:30 we finally started making our way downstairs for breakfast. A yummy, free hotel breakfast; waffles, eggs, sausages, the works.
We slowly packed our bags afterwards and headed out for a hitch around 9. It was later than I had wanted but I also knew we would make the miles and to not put any pressure. We stood with our thumbs out for about 10 minutes and an older woman came and said that she was going to go drop her dogs off then pick us up and could take us halfway down the road. We agreed.
We also still continued to put our thumb out to see if anyone could take us the whole way. Within a few minutes a woman pulled over and it turned out to be the girlfriend of the man who gave us a ride down the mountain yesterday. She is currently living in her vehicle so she moved things around quickly and we all squished in the back.
She was an avid hiker herself, going for those hard hikes that require route finding. I was thoroughly impressed. She mentioned the Hayduke route through Utah and Arizona and I found myself interested as it’s a shorter 800 mile hike.
We got to Monarch Pass and noticed a ton of cars and mountain bikers getting ready to head out. We also noticed Mosey and Chef getting out of another hitch. So it would be 6 of us hiking around each other. I loved it!
We set out on the nice plush trail with the blue sky and sun shining high. It was going to be a good day.
Very quickly we noticed that we were going to have to move over for mountain bikers to pass by us all day.
The entire morning we would let people pass on their bikes then we would pass them later when they were taking a break. Then they would come again and we would have to get over.
At first I didn’t mind it. It was actually quite motivating and I found myself day dreaming what it would be like to live out here and this was your normal Saturday route.
After a bit Journey asked if I wanted to listen to a book with him. It was a book called Draft Animals by Phil Gaimon. It was all about his experience living as a pro cyclist for a short duration. Journey is a huge cyclist fan, watching all the tours and a lover of riding his bike as much as he can.
We listened to this book all day, finding ourselves thoroughly intrigued and laughing out loud together at the humorous jokes.
We were out on a ridge for the first part of the day and then found ourselves in the trees for the rest.
I didn’t mind too much, we had had so many epic views that having the mindless walk in the trees was nice. I could fully get lost in the book.
We leaped frogged with Mosey and Chef for majority of the day and the rest of us hiked together or near each other as well.
Around 1 we stopped for lunch and were entertained by some birds. Someone had dropped some Chex Mix and they would fly down to peck at it or take it away. All swarming and trying to get food. I find these birds fascinating with their beady little eyes, they have so much personality.
The day flew by fast and we found ourselves growing tired as per usual with coming out of town. I was ready for camp early and just slowly kept moving.
We started a short descent into our camp area and noticed the temperature drastically dropping. We were going to be next to water in a valley and it was going to get cold. At least not as cold as a few days ago so it would be okay.
Just 3 more days until Lake City! Am I counting down the days I have left in Colorado… Yes, yes I am. It’s gorgeous but I really don’t want to have to endure heavy amounts of snow. So the quicker we get out the better.
And rain is on the forecast in a couple days and dropping temperatures. EEK! The rush is on!
Hoping for some good sleep. Oh, Journey got a new sleeping pad in town and was told that “You will get the best night of sleep on this” by the clerk at the store. He’s currently already asleep next to me snoring so it must be magic…
Hopefully I’ll be knocked out here shortly too.
Goodnight!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 