The Unpolished Princess

Start: HWY 50 

Stop: The Butterfly House

Today’s Miles: 12.6

Total CDT miles: 819.2

I slept GOD AWFUL last night, thanks to the mosquitos. I even sprayed some bug spray around myself, but it didn’t seem to help at all. I would fall asleep bundled up in my quilt, wake up from being hot-take it all off-and then get attacked. Rinse and repeat. I saw the time tick by, 22:28, 00:42, 01:20, 04:13. Ugh. 

Pebbles was up early, by 5:20, and packing up. He wakes up so much better than I do. I rolled over and decided I’d get a move on when my alarm went off. I woke up at 6 and started packing, unsure how far ahead of me he was. I was hiking by 6:15 and a mile up the highway there was a spring I got water from. The water came out of a pipe and into a big barrel, the whole area covered in graffiti. I filtered it, and it tasted fine.

The road was 7 miles total from where we camped straight up to Monarch Pass. Wouldn’t you know that with just over a mile to go, I had to sneak off into the woods and dig a cat hole. Squatting while looking out onto unsuspecting drivers was somewhat entertaining.. as I was praying I was out of their line of sight-even if they weren’t out of mine. I had to time everything by the cars shooting by. Fun stuff. My hot pink sun hoody definitely doesn’t help me trying to hide, either. 

Back on the road, squeezing tight to the sharp rocks to give the drivers the most space possible, Pebbles told me he was at the top and planned to wait for me there. Neither of us bought anything from the restaurant there, as it was a bit overpriced. By 9am I was heading the 5.6 miles downhill, all the way to The Butterfly House, the hostel we’re staying at tonight. 

I made it just before 11am, and Pebbles was ramped up and ready to go apparently. I had to take my shower, start my laundry, you know-the normal chores. It was still early in the day, I wasn’t sure why he was so rushed to get to the town of Salida. I mean, I know I wanted a meal in town-but that never seems to be his motivation. 

He patiently waited for my clothes to be put in the dryer, talking to another hiker named Nope. Once the clothes were in, we said our goodbyes to Nope, who let me put my pack in the private room he used, so I could claim it, and we set off towards the main highway to hitch into town. I had on loaner clothes, this odd patterned dress and a pair of shorts, plus my puffy. Im sure I was a sight to be seen. Obviously the passersby agreed, because no one stopped until Pebbles was in front of me. I think my praying hands helped, but whatever.. haha, I know I looked crazy. 

We caught a ride with a guy from Florida who has been living here for 4 years, working as a fishing guide. He and his cute black lab, Gretchen, were very cool. He definitely has the laid back outdoorsy type written all over him. We talked the whole way down to Salida, with Gretchen in Pebble’s lap in the front seat, soaking up all of his puppy pets. 

We resupplied at a Safeway grocery store, walked over to an outfitter for Pebbles to exchange socks and for me to get a couple of dehydrated meals and a new headband to try out. Then, I walked to a pizza place while Pebbles walked to the main road to hitch back to the Butterfly House. This town’s historic downtown is so cute, I couldn’t pass up eating and hanging out a little longer.

At the Moonlight Pizza and Brew Pub, I ordered a glass of red wine, a Caprese salad, and a speciality pizza with steak, jalapeños, and feta.. and ranch. Everything was delicious! I took my time and enjoyed myself by people watching and trying to not scarf down my food. Right after I ordered, I text the people from the Butterfly House to see about a shuttle, but when I got no response after eating and paying, I prepared myself to walk to the main road and start trying to hitch back. 

I walked down pretty grid streets lined with houses, no two the same. Each one had its own complete personality. I loved it. When I got to the main road, I stuck my thumb out and started to hope. I knew it would be kinda tough, with me not looking like a CDT hiker, but like a weird lady with an odd fashion sense instead. Less than 5 minutes of trying, I got a text back from the Butterfly House folks telling me they were on their way!

I told them I’d be at the gas station 2 streets up, since I needed to get cash from an ATM and I wanted a drink.. and some shade. The sun out here is almost as brutal as it was near the Mexican border! Josh, his dog, Earnie, and PEBBLES, picked me up in a white short school bus about 30 minutes later! Pebbles had gotten a hitch halfway back to the hostel, but had no luck from there, so Josh picked him up on the way to get me! How funny!

We sang songs with Josh and Earnie, his howls hysterical.. apparently he sings better to a different artist, but we enjoyed what we got. Back at the house, we talked with Josh and Shane-the guy who owns the Butterfly House. They were a lot of fun. Eventually, I snuck back to my room to lay down and charge my phone (at a whopping 17%) while they chatted in the living room. 

Its almost 6:15pm now, Pebbles is cooking his meal in the kitchen (it smells so delicious, he’s a great cook), and I’m debating on chugging a ton of water because I can’t seem to quench my thirst. I need to reorganize and pack up some, maybe it’ll be an early night-and a good night of sleep! After last night, I need it!

Sweet dreams yall! 

Start: County Road EE38

Stop: Highway 50

Today’s Miles: 26

Total CDT miles: 806.6

Pebbles and I didn’t wake up until 6:30. It was chilly this morning and I didn’t want to get out of my quilt. Either way, we were packed and hiking by 7am. Once the sun popped out, so did our umbrellas. It got hot so quick! I stopped for a bathroom break and didn’t see Pebbles again until I caught up to him filtering water. Naturally, he was gone again before I finished getting my water, thankfully I was happily being distracted by my audiobook, so I didn’t mind trying to play catch up all day. 

Just before lunch, the dirt road finally hit trail again. I decided to go across a field to see Solider’s Rock, a memorial, and then cut across the rest of the field to reconnect to the trail. Doing that put me ahead of Pebbles, so I stopped for lunch to wait for him. He had stopped for lunch too, so he just kept moving when he caught up to me, so waiting for him had been pointless. I had to pack up my lunch stuff and by then, he was gone again. Slightly frustrating. 

The trail itself was gorgeous though. Wildflowers everywhere, snow capped mountains in the distance, open scenery that moved into deep woods with aspen groves and pine trees. The trail went mostly down hill for miles and miles until eventually hitting a dirt road that takes you into town. There was a creek that I followed the majority of the way, so I always had water, and some wet feet too. 

I even got turned around at one point, because we weren’t staying on the redline to get into town and the road to take us over to Monarch Pass tomorrow. I swear, I wish I understood Gaia a little better-it’s the app Pebbles uses when we don’t use Farout. Apparently it has WAY better trail routing abilities, I just need a crash course or something. Pebbles did tell me the way to go though, so my mishap was all on me. 

Thankfully, the dirt road, Pebbles was waiting for me! I was quite relieved to have physical proof I went the right way-or that we both went the wrong way but were together again! Haha! We decided to walk into the Trading Post restaurant in the tiny town of Sargents, Colorado. I ordered a Philly cheesesteak with hand cut potato chips, Pebbles got nachos. Mine was superb, the nachos were very basic and very overpriced for what he got. We ordered dessert, and that made up for the crap nachos. The wine made everything better in my opinion. 

Around 8pm, we hiked out of town, walking along a 2 lane highway until we reached an abandoned campground. We walked through, picked a campsite that didn’t look like it could be seen from the road, and set up our sleep stuff. We’re going to Cowboy incase we have to pack up quick and move. I sure hope we don’t though.

It’s already after 9pm and pitch black out here. Hopefully that means I’ll sleep good! Plus there’s a little white noise from the cars going by on the highway.. that  always seems to help.. or really hurt! We get laundry and showers tomorrow when we make it to the Butterfly House, a hostel at Monarch Pass. I can’t wait! 

Goodnight yall! 

Start: Great Divide 61.1

Stop: county road EE38

Today’s Miles: 24.5 

Total CDT miles: 780.6

We both must have been exhausted, because we overslept! Waking up at 7am is never considered “oversleeping” in my normal life, but we’d have been walking for 30 minutes already if we had gotten up on time. Whoops. Whatever-we needed it! And by we-I mean I. 

We would have been walking by 7:30, again-cowboy camping has its perks, but we had to go down to the creek and filter some water first. Ten minutes later, we were on our way. The same dirt road went on and on for miles and miles (17.3 miles to be exact). I did see a TON of butterflies today! That was maybe the only exciting thing. Butterflies all day long!

Ok, maybe not the only thing. We did take a pit stop at a pit toilet a few miles from where we camped. It was stocked with toilet paper, and of course when I have everything I need provided to me-I can’t go! Ugh! So frustrating. Oh well. The name PBS is standing strong. We filtered water from a creek and kept walking.

There were logging trucks coming and going down the tiny dirt road we were on. When we could hear them coming, we got way off into the ditches or culverts or whatever was available and stopped walking. Those trucks took up every inch of space, I wasn’t going to try to fit nearby. Every single driver waved to us. That made me happy. It’s more than I can say for at least a third of the other drivers-some would literally speed up and dust the shit out of us.. real cool. 

We had lunch by a creek and talked to the two cyclists we met at the Raisin Rye yesterday. The one guy told us we were fast-I appreciated that more than you could ever know! Calling my pace fast is not something that happens often, so, I guess I need to be happier with these roadwalks. We really are making up some mileage, which will only help when we get off trail for the July 4th trip. 

After lunch, I popped in a new audiobook, The Island of Missing Trees. So far-I’m in love with it. I often talk to trees I pass, I even “shake hands” with little baby fir trees.. I think the aspen leaves look like sequins shimmering in the sunlight and dancing in the wind. I smile every time I look at them. I know that makes me weird as hell, but this book is beautiful so far and I feel like I resonate so much with some of its content. 

Once we got onto the paved highway-we entered mosquito hell. My god they were relentless.. I hate a freaking mosquito. The highway was hot as ever, too, with the sun baking us into the black tar asphalt. I wish I could say I was in a good mood, but I’d be lying. I was grateful for my audiobook, a welcomed distraction. 

When we turned onto the dirt road, we were in search of both water and shade and a break. 10 minutes later, we got a tiny bit of shade from the signs posted about the wilderness area. It was 5:30pm, and I was hot and miserable. While I laid down and rested, Pebbles ate his dinner. I didn’t have enough water to cook and drink, especially not knowing how much farther we had to walk to find water and somewhere to camp. 

We left just after 6, with me wearing my crocs instead of my shoes. I just needed a break. We came across water and filtered what we needed, the mosquitos chasing us the whole time. We finally found some ok camping, up on a hill above the road. We’re pretty sure this isn’t private property, but we are surrounded by it.

Stuff set up (cowboy camping again), and dinner ate-we’re now watching a gorgeous sunset. The mosquitos are making me wish I had set my tent up, but I’m honestly too tired to even pretend I’d get up and set it up. A 5 minute thing to do and I just can’t be bothered. Hopefully it cools off soon and the bugs retreat. Ok, time for some shut eye! Goodnight!