After getting into town, our first order of business was to find food. We stopped in at a little cafe and had some amazing sandwiches. Our waiter, Jamis, seemed to be really cool and we enjoyed talking trail with him so I decided to take a risk and ask if we could camp in his backyard. He not only said yes, he then whipped out his car keys and told us we could take it if we needed to run errands. We ran to the store and resupplyed then headed back to his house. He had two massive Berniese mountain dogs who we fell in love with right away. We got to take showers with real shampoo and conditioner and towels! A luxury we don't often get. After our showers, we hung around in the backyard talking about our trip and getting to know each other. Jamis then ran to the store and returned with everything to make the best dinner. We had buffalo steaks, asparagus, and potatoes. It was one of the best home cooked meals I'd had in a long time. We talked into the night before Jamis offered us his own king size bed. We hesitated at first, not wanting to take advantage, but we gave in and crawled into the enormously comfortable bed while he bunker on the couch. After an amazing nights sleep, we packed our things, said our thank you's and goodbyes, and headed into town to do our errands. After lots of food and running around, we found ourselves at a coffee shop finishing up some last minute things. As I sat there, I heard a voice from behind say my name. I turned around to find Frizzle, who I had met on the PCT and subsequently forced her to change her trail name. She was just passing through the area and had stopped for a drink coincidentally at the same coffee shop. It blew my mind and gave me goosebumps to see her there. She gave us a ride back to the trail before heading on her way.
We started hiking down the road when we were stopped by another car. A man asked if we needed a ride and chit chatted with us for a minute. He had been following along with some of the hikers we had been with before the San Juans and he was really excited to meet more people hiking the trail. We left him and headed onto the trail. Since we had left late, we hiked until it was almost dark before getting to a water source and getting into our tents. We woke up and got moving. We had a 3000ft. climb that morning but the wildflowers throughout were amazing! We finally made it to the top and took a break. The pizza I had packed out from town was amazing to have on trail. It felt like such a luxury but I was worried how long it would last. Leaving our break, we ran into tons of Colorado trail hikers who all seemed to want to stop and talk.
We really enjoyed meeting with them but we started to realize how much time it was taking up by the seventh or eight stop. We reached a pass and ran into at least 20 mountain bikers, who all also wanted to stop and chat. Everyone was so nice and friendly, it was hard not to stop for a minute. On the way down from the pass, we had to keep jumping out of the way of more and more mountain bikers. We had never seen so many people on trail and looked at our watches to realize it was a Sunday. We popped out of the trees and saw a huge snow pile with about a hundred people skiing. It was a bit of a shock to see in mid July. We had made it to a ski resort and we couldn't help grabbing some food and a beer at the cafe. We reluctantly left and hiked a bit further on a bike path before finding a hidden spot to camp in between the highway and the path. I got all cozy and gobbled down the last slice of pizza before curling up with my book. Not long after, it got more difficult to breathe and I started sweating and shivering at the same time. I changed positions in my tent, hoping it would help but the nausea got worse. I knew what I had to do. I had to get this pizza out of me before it did more damage. I whipped out of my tent and ran as far as I could away, hoping not to wake Beaute with the unpleasant sounds of my food poisoning. After hanging out, doubled over, behind a tree for about an hour, I decided it was safe to venture back to my tent. My stomach was still in knots but exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.
It was amazing to wake up the next morning and not feel the pangs of nausea hitting me. I now felt more educated on how long pizza would last unrefridgerated, stuffed in a backpack, and in direct sunlight all day. We packed up as weird states came from the people on the bike path. The bike path went through a town so we stopped at a coffee shop to grab a drink while we walked into the next town. In line, we began chatting with a woman who, after hearing about our adventure, insisted on buying us pastries. I couldn't say no as my eyes wandered over to the cinnamon rolls drenched in frosting. We thanked her and kept moving. We got in to the next down a bit later and went to resupply and run some errands. We ended up at a brewery for lunch as rain poured down outside. It was lucky to miss the thunderstorm of the day while replenishing our calories. From across the bar, I noticed a man had the same book that I was reading and I couldn't help but strike up a conversation about it. I was falling in love with this book and was excited to talk about it. Unfortunately, he had just picked it up after many recommendations and hadn't started reading yet. He noticed my copy was slightly worse for the wear and cut up into different parts. He asked us what we were doing and we ended up talking for quite a while. He mentioned he was getting ready to go coach a softball game and Beaute's ears perked up.
She asked if he needed any alternates and he let us tag along to the game. She ran out for practice and was a machine. She didn't miss a ball. Everyone was clearly impressed and she became center field for the game. As the game started, someone threw me a glove and told me to play catcher. They clearly did not know that I was no where near as good as Beaute, had struggling eyesight, and had only ever played one year of softball about 16 years previously. I said there was no way but they would of had to forfeit without me so I strapped on a glove and scampered to home plate. I was going to look like an idiot but it felt good to be a part of it. I caught a few pitches, missed most, but was lucky to find the other team hit almost every ball. The pitcher had assured me that he would cover the plate if a play needed to be made but he must have forgot when a ball came hurtling towards me through the sky. As I audibly yelled "no, no, no" the ball got closer. I couldn't just stand there and not try to catch it so I ran towards the ball. I got close, but it bounced off the ground and hit me in the ear. After that was the horror of batting. I struck out my first time and apologized to everyone as I walked to the plate the second time. We had two on and two outs and I knew this wasn't good. I swung and felt the bat make contact with the ball, though I'm pretty sure my eyes were closed. I took off running and made it to first base, thrilled. My legs were shaking. On the next hit I made it home and was completely astounded as we surpassed their score. In the end, we lost, but had so much fun in the process. I hadn't humiliated myself as much as I expected and we had a blast getting to know the team. Our friend, Sheri, who we had met at lunch earlier, offered to put us up for the night in her Air BnB because it was unoccupied. It must have been one of the best showers I've ever taken. I realized how much of my tan had been just dirt clinging to my skin. She made us healthy smoothies in the morning, a real treat, before taking us back to the trail.
We got moving but were sluggish and slow as we climbed out of town. The sights were amazing but I was in a funk. We got to a trail junction and suddenly the way we were supposed to go disappeared. We walked cross country, finding a faint trail every once in a while but mostly going off of our maps. When we realized that two miles had taken us an hour, we got discouraged. We sat down for a break and noticed some dark clouds on the ridge. We decided that if it started raining, we would set up our tents early and wait out the storm. The rain didn't come but I was totally on board when Beaute said we could just pretend. We got in our tents and we're surprised that large bouts of thunder were sounding all around us. It started to rain and it was nice to not have to pretend anymore. The night cleared up and we woke up to blue skies the next morning. The trail was still impossible to find and we were climbing the entire morning. I was frustrated by the lack of trail but we did have some incredible views. We finally made it up to a ridge where the trail traversed and we're surrounded by black clouds. Loud bangs of thunder started to sound off. We knew we couldn't stay on the ridge much longer but we were blocked from the way down by a wide snow cliff. We climbed to one side and found it impassible. We saw a way on the other side and we're discussing our options when we saw a massive bolt of lightning hit on the ridge, not far from us. We needed to move. We ran for the other side and found it extremely steep and covered in loose rock and snow.
I was nervous but we had to make it through. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my breathe grew heavy. Clinging on as I went I traversed around the rocks and made it to the snow. I kicked hard to make steps but my feet were slipping out from under me. I had to look confident. Beaute was coming up behind me and I had to show her that it was no big deal. I got to a place in the snow pack where it was too steep to take another step forward without careening down the slope. I turned downward, sitting my butt in the snow, and digging my heels I'm as I began to slide. Beaute yelled out "be careful!" I could hear the panic in her voice so I stopped myself with my feet to show her it wasn't too fast. I made it down to the rocks and B-lined for the grass. We scrambled our way through bushes, bogs, and rocky slopes before making it down to a forest road. The road would take us back to the trail so we followed it, staying low from the thunder. It began to rain and got heavier and heavier. The thunder sounded like the whole sky was ripping apart and frequent flashes of light reminded us that we were not far. After almost an hour, the rain began to let up and the thunder moved on further down the valley. We road walked for the rest of the afternoon, making it back to the trail as it began to rain again and the sun went away. Luckily there was a warming hut at the pass and we made ourselves at home for the night. We got on the road early the next morning and we're stopped by a bunch of cars who were wondering what kind of adventure we were on. We were road walking to escape the exposed ridge walk with the massive amount of thunder we had seen and heard coming.
After fifteen miles on the side of a highway, we were a little burned out on road walking. We walked by a bike rental place and decided it'd be fun to do the rest of the 35 miles on the highway on bikes. Boy, we're we wrong. They rented us cruiser bikes and recommended a bike path that would take us off the highway for the first 20 miles. At first it was a nice wide gravel path and we were excited to be moving so fast. After getting lost and realizing how difficult it is to ride a bike while wearing a backpack, it began to rain. We were soaked within minutes and then the trail turned into a mountain bike path. We had to walk our bikes most of the time through the dense mud and rocks as cruiser bikes are not mountain bikes. We were frustrated and wet so as soon as we could, we got off the trail and joined a dirt road. We flew through the rain and we're actually moving again when the road hit a dead end. I scrambled with the map to figure out how to get out. We had to back track to get to a road that would take us back to the highway. Totally demoralized, we turned around and road back. After turning onto the right road, I changed gears and suddenly my peddles locked up. The chain was caught and had stopped me dead in my tracks and almost sent me flying. Luckily, Beaute had been on a long distance bike trip and knew how to fix it. We struggled in the pouring rain to get it unhooked but finally did and kept moving. We got to the top of a hill and as we began to descend, my brakes went out. It's one of the most terrifying feelings I've ever experienced. Careening down the hill, I started trying to ride in the more rocky parts to slow myself down. I threw my feet into the ground to stop myself and had to walk my bike down the rest of the downhills. It stopped raining and we made it into a town where we decided to call it quits for the night. We stumbled into a restaurant, looking like a pair of wet dogs, and sporting a large mud strip up our backs and all over our faces. Someone must have felt bad for us because after we cleaned up in the bathroom, the waitress brought us two beers and said they were anonymously purchased for us. We dried out and ate a bunch of food before getting a few more free beers and a place to stay for the night.
Red had been sitting at the bar and thought we were crazy to want to sleep outside so we obliged and took his guest room for the night. The next morning, the three of us went to breakfast and he fixed our brakes before sending us off on the highway to finish our ride. Our muscles were sore from the different use but the ride was much better than the day before. We made it to town and we're ecstatic that we didn't have to ride anymore. We returned the bikes and we're pretty upset about the malfunctions but the owner gave us a bunch of expensive backpacking meals, which eased the pain. We then hitch hiked down for the night to see a concert at the iconic red rocks amphitheater. It was overwhelming to be around so many people but the venue was incredible and we danced the night away. We head back to the trail today at mile marker 1409
