Day 14, 15.2 miles

Alooooooooha!!!

I slept well at Bootleg Campground last night. The sound of the river down below was peaceful! I even had a picnic table to eat breakfast on! And of course a worry free bear storage.

Scored these at the hiker box in Princeton Resort! Who tossed M&Ms and Justin’s nut butter?!? I’m living lux out here I tell ya!

My little dry spot!

I didn’t leave camp until 8 today! The Hot Springs really rejuvenated me and I slept so long!! Good news is that my left heel blister has completely disappeared! Also, I thought my feet would be super soft today because of the soak but the morning still felt like I was walking on clouds!

I was met with “meh” trail right away.. it was very steep and rocky and because of the recent rains, pretty eroded

Morning thunderstorm action! 8:30am

Aaaaand it’s clear 9:00am

I don’t even bother putting on my rain jacket anymore unless it really starts coming down. Today’s rain only lasted for about 15 minutes.

Prescribed burn area, just the bottoms are burnt orange. Super cool, see the opening pic! 

It was around this area where I met Grant aka Dirty aka “Dirty Grant”. We realized that he had camped in Bootleg Campground as well, he just got up way earlier than me. He’s 56 years old and out here crushing it. He’s doing about 15 miles a day which is perfect because that’s what I have been doing for Collegiate East. He is great conversation and we ended up hiking together all day! 

Dirty Grant (looks way cleaner than me honestly)

You can see Salida dead center!

Aspen eyes 👁️ 👁️ 

Towards the end of the day we hit Cow Zone!! Claire would’ve LOVED this little section! There was probably a calf if not two calves for every momma! We proceeded with caution as some moms looked agitated as we approached, especially if their calves were on the other side of the trail. Many cows were just right in the middle of the trail and we bushwhacked a buuuunch in this 1 mile section, often going around the moo cows! 

Not getting through here

Calf ❤️ 

🥰 

Occupied

DEFINITELY going around 😂 

Taken by Dirty Grant! 

At right around 15 miles we descended down into a campground. The camp host was awesome and letting CT hikers stay for free, but since there are a few large parties with kids, we opted to camp in the woods nearby between the campgrounds and the river. 

It’s been so nice to actually talk with someone and hike with them all day. We talked a lot about Canada as he’s from there. Tomorrow we will hike to highway 50 and probably hitch into Salida, where I’ll meet up with Claire and he’ll do a quick resupply and carry on. I will see him up the trail a few days afterwards I’m guessing!  

Laying here just now I realized that my rain fly has 3 tiny pin prick holes in it :( this could be why I sometimes feel drops hit my face, I thought it was seam sealant coming undone! Will tape in Salida! 

Thanks for reading!!