Saturday, August 15th, 2020
We tried to convince the others to stay for another zero day in Salida, but no dice. It was probably for the best. Then, we attempted to get them to agree to sleep in the parking lot once we got back to trail. They agreed. We spent our time downtown and a lot of it was spent at the park again. The people watching got more interesting. There was a mini circus going on at the pavilion. A guy set up his gymnastics rings and his buddy was juggling. Frisbee knows how to juggle and one of the members of the Babysitter’s Club, who we would later name Hatch, knew how as well. They joined the guy in the pavilion and we got a good show.
Dr. Thunder drove us back to the trail. As soon as we got there, the crew shotgunned Pabst Blue Ribbons and then decided not to sleep in the lot with us. They wanted to hike a couple miles in and camp. We told them we were staying. Dr. Thunder went for a trail run, so we held down the fort until he returned. It was a good thing we stuck around, because Hatch left her license at the gift shop and the cashier brought it out to us. We decided we were going to night hike passed everyone and surprise them in the morning.
When Dr. Thunder returned, it was looking like a thunderstorm was rolling in as well. We hunkered down inside the van as it rained, and wound up eating snacks and watching “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” on his lap top. Just before midnight, we left the comforts of Dr. Thunder’s van and began walking. He was going to meet up with all of us down the trail.
We completed the last few miles of the Collegiate West alternate and were back on the main stretch. There was a shelter ahead that we wanted to stay at. It is practically the only one on the whole trail. We ended up spooking the guy in the shelter and another hanging nearby in a hammock.
“Can I help you?” said the grumpy guy in the hammock.
Is this guy for real? Did he think we were some bandits looking for trouble? There’s no curfew out here ya’ll, and we weren’t shining our red lights in anyone’s face. We told him we were just looking for a place to crash for the night. We kept moving after seeing the guy in the shelter had exploded his gear all over the place. We’ve only just met these two and weren’t looking to cuddle, especially during COVID. See ya! We kept moving until 1:30 am. We stopped in a rocky field at mile mark 263.8.
7.5 miles (12.1 km)
Jump Ahead to The Colorado Trail: Part 15
Jump Back to The Colorado Trail: Part 13
or
Start from the Beginning: The Colorado Trail: Part 1
Stubbs Rambles On 