Day 174 (CT 12)

Day 174 (CT 12): 25 miles

After a few hours of much needed sleep, I got up and was ready to hitch into town to avoid the storms. But I checked the weather, and now they were pushed back to the afternoon and much less likely. These freakin Colorado weather boys can never make up their damn minds. I decided to keep moving forward.

But I already had the idea of hotel rest in my head and couldn’t get it out. I was determined to get to the next semi-busy trailhead and try to hitch out. I was just in awe all day of how good the weather was when I was expecting the next great cleansing of the world.The forecast would change drastically every time I checked it, so I was basically running, or stumbling quickly, all day to try to get in town before this possibly real possibly fraudulent rain.

And I almost made it. It drizzled occasionally, but it really started to come down late in the afternoon. It was just enough time to get good and wet before getting into town.

Thankfully I ran into another person just escaping the rain at the trailhead and got a ride into Buena Vista quickly. And thankfully there was one hotel in Buena Vista that wasn’t ridiculously priced.

I was also fortunate enough to pass a through a small section of trail today without seeing anybody where the government likes to run a little scam. They’ve been giving some thru hikers a $100 fine for not having a fishing/hunting license even though they’re just walking on the Colorado trail. I recently finished watching Better Call Saul, so if it was a good scam I would at least respect it. But this is just a low brow, bureaucratic scam picking on oblivious people without power.

Song of the day: pretty thing-Bo diddley