Day 15, 6.6 miles (into Salida)

Hello! Woke up briefly at 3:45am and opened my tent and fly to see if I could see any meteors of the Perseid Meteor Shower. It was a clear night but I didn’t see any. I could’ve been facing the ring corner of the sky. Also, I only tried for about 10 mins as the dry air wind at that time of the morning made it hard for me to keep my eyes open! 

I went back to snoozin and woke up later than usual. I have no excuse for this one other than I knew  I had an easy day to town. Dirt aka Grant had left already, but I soon caught up on the first climb out of the creek. I forgot to mention, we crossed the halfway point yesterday! 

We got highway 50 just after 9:30. He is walking east a mile to a campground, and I wanted to continue on three miles or so on the trail to a cool trailhead up the way. I figured I may as well crank out a few more miles while I wait for Claire to drive from our house to Salida, so that on Tuesday she can just drop me off where I left off!

Unfortunately the trail/road is closed to motorized vehicles due to construction .6 miles up from the highway. So I ended up walking up .6 and then .6 right back to the highway 🤣. But at least she can drop me off there Tuesday afternoon instead of the highway! 

I only had to hitch for about 20 mins before a very nice lady Amy and her daughter picked me up! They did a Monarch Crest shuttle yesterday on their mountain bikes and since they had two cars they had space to pick me up! I always love meeting and talking with people for a few minutes during rides. The nicest people pick up hitchhikers! Of course, hitch hiking can be dangerous for both parties involved, but if you see an obvious hiker around a big trail, don’t be scared, pick em up! 

My wiiiiiiife!!! 

Got picked up by Claire in Salida and we went straight for a beer and burger! Yuuuuuuum!! Then we pack exploded at a nearby park so I could situate my food. I love when there’s a nice park bench in the shade with no mosquitos!

Doing the chores while we wait for check in!

Heard!

Surprised Quinn at a Mexican restaurant! 




Checked out some river surfing in Salida!

And also just watched people fall

Checked into Salida Inn and Monarch Suites where we’ve stayed before in the winter. They are awesome people! We went over to a laundromat which was really cute. They hung up all the lost single socks all around the laundromat. 🤣 

Speaking of laundry, Claire brought me two new pairs of socks, from my friends Grant and Cody at REI! These will be perfect since I’m right at the halfway mark of the trail and my other ones were in bad shape!

Thanks Grant and Cody!!! 🙌 you two are heroes..

We ate at Amica’s for dinner (Richard showed it to me last time we were in town). I had the best veggie lasagna ever!! We had a great time just cruising in Salida. All my blisters are healed by this point, except a slightly annoying one under one of my middle toes, but I will leave that one alone. I am refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to hit the trail again tomorrow to start the second half! I expect to be ramping up my mileage a bit now that my knees are feeling good again! 

Thanks for reading!