The Unpolished Princess

Today’s Miles: ZERO

Total CDT miles: 920.7

I never sleep that great in dorm style rooms, I think I’m just too old for that these days. Although, I will say the bed itself was comfortable. 

I was awake around 8am and Pebbles made us breakfast.. chorizo and egg burritos with cheese, so very yummy. And coffee. Since he did the cooking, I washed the dishes. It’s really not a bad gig. 

A little before 10am, we walked downtown to the Melanzana store. Right when they opened, we were greeted and shown to the appointments side of their storefront. Melanzana makes all of their own outdoor wear-like hoodies and such, right there in the same building. They’ve built up a reputation for quality and exclusivity, only letting you purchase a certain amount of products at a time (2) and by appointment only-which is booked six months out.. unless.. you’re a thru hiker!

They will still let you walk in and shop their overstock without an appointment, sizes and colors not guaranteed. We walked up to the appointments side, had to give our trail names and show pictures of us at the New Mexico and Mexico border, and then we were allowed to shop. I found a teal hoodie I liked, Pebbles found a dark orange one he liked, and we called it good. I wore mine out of the store.. it was a little chilly in the shade. 

We walked around the downtown area, in and out of stores, basically just killing time until this popular pizza spot that Tina and Larry raved about opened. I wasn’t quite hungry for lunch yet, but the place apparently packs out fast and waits can be over an hour sometimes. 

We walked into a gear store, just looking around, when I hear a “PBS?!?” I kid you not, MashedPotato, from the AT, was standing there! He was working at the store, and now lives in Leadville with his girlfriend! It was so wild seeing him, in this cute city of all places, but the more we talked the more it made perfect sense.. he was living in Denver before, so Leadville isn’t a stretch by any means. 

We caught up and he showed Pebbles and I some spots coming up on trail, and we eventually said our goodbyes. I had such a crush on him when I was hiking the AT, it was nice to see him happy and doing so well, to see him in “normal life” even if it did kind of suck to have him see me sunburnt and full on hiker trash. Thankfully, he’s used to hiker life, with Leadville being such an active and cool city.

From the store, we headed to High Mountain Pies. We placed our orders and went to the back patio to anxiously wait for the pizza everyone has been raving about. I got an olive oil based pizza with basil, roasted grapes, feta cheese.. balsamic somewhere in there, too. So good. Pebbles got the carnivore and it looked delicious! I also ordered the focaccia bread, and it was to die for! So damn good. The dough was perfection in every way!

After eating, we made our way over to the Mining Museum, a must stop for Pebbles-with him being a geologist and all. It was four stories of mining and drama. I enjoyed the stories and videos, I think he liked all of it! Ha. I ended up sitting outside when I had seen enough. I like museums, but I tend to be very quick when it’s not something I’m in love with. Pebbles took his time and I think he got a lot of out it.

We walked back to the hostel and I ended up taking a nap, that was sadly ruined by new people checking into our bunk room. Why am I never allowed to have uninterrupted sleep? Eh, when I realized the time, I reminded Pebbles about the bingo night sign we saw earlier-and we ended up walking back downtown to play. 

Pebbles one a round, a whole $5, and out of the trillion games we played, I only came close like twice. It was still a fun time though. I might need to look into bingo at home! Ha! Probably not. Anyway, it was dark when we made it back to the hostel. At 9:30 I finished off my left over pizza and headed to bed. Let’s hope for some decent sleep tonight! 

Start: Colorado Trail 150.7

Stop: Leadville (Inn the Clouds Hostel)

Today’s Miles: 26.3

Total CDT miles: 920.7

Our day started with a climb out of the campground, but it had switchbacks and pretty views, so it wasn’t terrible. The terrain feels more dry and desert like-and yet it’s also muggy. Weird stuff. Thankfully there were clouds in the sky blocking the sun, or it would have been much hotter!

We ended up backtracking a little after taking a wrong turn. Otherwise, it was very hilly but smooth going to get to Tina and her husband Larry. They were waiting for us at a trailhead parking lot 9.7 miles from where we camped! We hung out with them, talking and eating hotdogs, potato salad and chips! What is it about trail magic that just makes everything better? The food was delicious, the company was awesome. Talking with them had me so excited for all that’s to come. Tina is planning to do the Portuguese Camino and Andrea and I just so happened to be texting about doing the same thing THIS MORNING. Talk about getting a sign! 

We eventually told them our goodbyes and started hiking towards Twin Lakes. Before we made it to the trail, the wind picked up and we watched the rain drop in sheets across the lake-and then it dropped in sheets across us. Awesome. It’s funny that we were so hot and muggy two hours prior, and now we’re soaked and chilly. Bleh. 

Because of the rain, and the clouds looking like they weren’t planning on passing us any time soon, we decided to take a backroad to the highway to go into Leadville, Colorado tonight instead of going up and over a huge pass in a storm, sleep in the rain, and then have to hitch into Leadville tomorrow. Yall know I’ll do just about anything with the promise of trail towns and restaurant food! 

We road walked for what felt like forever. Three different women stopped to ask me if I wanted a ride into town, I said no every time but that maybe they should ask Pebbles up ahead-no one asked him.. so he started walking behind me, and a guy turned around and asked me-but not Pebbles! It was pretty amusing to me, but he was ready for a hitch and to forgo the road walking! Haha, sorry dude-my continuous footpath is still intact!

We stopped at a gas station for a snack and ate it outside the store before continuing to walk the highway into Leadville. When we got close, my stomach started turning in knots! I think the gas station sandwich was probably bad. I started to get the tingles and sweats, and then I saw the sign for a motel up ahead. Pebbles kept walking towards the hostel we planned to stay at, I all but ran while squeezing my butt cheeks together to the motel! 

The sign inside said “no public bathrooms,” but when the man behind the counter saw my panicked face, and I started to beg, he just pointed and said, “down the stairs, in the laundry room!” I barely made it with my undies intact! Yall. This is embarrassing, but I absolutely destroyed that bathroom, and the poor woman doing laundry in there had front row seats to my unplanned trumpet concert. Yikes. God, please bless that man behind the counter and his poor coworker! I obviously left it clean, but no one should have to hear a stranger go through all of that while trying to work. 

Anyway. Feeling 100 pounds lighter, I left the motel and continued walking through Leadville to Inn the Clouds Hostel. Downtown is so cute, with pretty houses painted funky colors-fun yard signs and tons of awesome flowers. I even passed a bunny on one of the side streets! I made it to the hostel at 6:30pm and Pebbles and I got checked in. We picked our bunks in room that holds 8 people, and then we ate some left over food that a previous family staying at the hostel left for everyone: spaghetti! Free spaghetti! You’d think I’d learn my lesson after so recently having a stomach issue-but, who can turn down free spaghetti?! Not me! 

We ate, showered, and did our laundry. We’re going to zero here tomorrow and go to a store tomorrow that makes nice fleece hoodies on site. And we’re also going to eat at a pizza place that Tina and Larry raved about. I’m pretty excited! I’m pretty sure I won’t sleep all that great in this bunk room tonight, but knowing I don’t have to hike tomorrow makes it ok. Ha. Goodnight, yall! 

Start: Colorado Trail 125.7

Stop: Colorado Trail 150.7

Today’s Miles: 25

Total CDT miles: 894.4

Man, oh man. Today was a long, but glorious day. I officially think I want to hike the Colorado trail! Pebbles and I went up and over 3 mountain passes today and shockingly-I loved every minute of it. Although, to be fair-I think I’m only shocked because of how crabby I felt yesterday. Sometimes I like having a short memory! Haha

Pebbles and I cowboy camped last night, I was so worn out and pissed off that setting up my tent just seemed like something that would push me mentally over the edge. So I didn’t. Until a little after midnight when it started to rain, of course. We both popped up and got our tents up fast-and then 15 minutes later, there was no more rain. I was happy about being in my tent-Pebbles was irritated it didn’t rain more to warrant setting his up. 

The first mountain pass started climbing immediately, and Pebbles made sure to point out the many places we could have camped before the top. I was just glad to not have had to do any climbing last night, or to have had to tote extra water for it either. At the top of the 2,500 foot climb I got enough service to apply for my Tokyo Marathon charity bib! The applications opened in Japan while I was sleeping, and I was on a mission to get to service to make this happen! It’ll be my 6th star, so it’s a big deal. I’ll find out in a few weeks if my application was accepted or not! No pressure! Ha. 

It sprinkled on and off all morning and felt kind of muggy, believe it or not. I was sweating buckets, and even before getting anywhere near the top to stop for service, Pebbles got way ahead of me. This elevation just seems to zap all of my energy. It literally gets so hard to breathe. I have to take so many mini breaks that it’s embarrassing. BUT, passing all of these Colorado Trail hikers shows me that while I’m slow-I’m still faster than a lot of other people! I’ll take the wins when I can! 

When I got half way up the second pass, I ran into Pebbles who just finished his lunch and was starting to hike again. I followed him for about 10 minutes or so before I found the spot I wanted to stop and eat my lunch at. God, faster than many, but nowhere near as fast as this guy. But what can I do? And a girl has to eat! I sat for a good 30-45 minutes eating and enjoying the scenery. A couple people passed by here and there-nothing too exciting. The views were wooded and there was nice pine duff to rest on. I was content. 

As I started hiking again, I came across a man sprawled out across the trail, his stuff everywhere, and his dog on a leash beside him. I said “hi” and asked if he was ok as I side stepped the trail to get around him. He laughed, said he was good, and then asked if I wanted to smoke a joint with him. He seemed a bit off, but nice enough. I said no thanks, to which he responded with a laugh, “damn! Your pack is huge!” Oooooook then. I laughed him off and kept hiking. 

Twenty minutes later, his pup caught up to me off leash, and then he caught me too, doing this weird little run. I scoffed because his pack was actually ginormous, with stuff literally dangling down to his kneecaps! But then I realized when we chatted a little more, while hiking behind each other, that he’s homeless. He told me about loving flowers because they’re so symmetrical, I told him I agree wholeheartedly and that Colorado has had some of the best wildflowers I’ve ever seen.. and then he started to jog again.. 

Weird. When he started jogging he was at the top of the pass and starting to head downhill. Downhill running makes sense, so I didn’t think too much of it. Until we hit the tree line and he was no where to be seen, suddenly. I kind of got the heebee geebees.. then I spotted just his pack sitting in the middle of the trail. No man. No dog. I start to get concerned for my safety a little bit, like he might pop out of the woods and attack me or something.. I even went so far as to pick up a rock.. just in case. 

He did pop out a few minutes later, doggo in tow. I’m glad I didn’t scream, hopefully I didn’t appear as startled as I was. They were just scouting out where they wanted to set up camp. I told him there was a stream coming up and that might be more ideal for him and his dog, you know, to have close access to water for the night. He said he’d think about it and he told me to have a good night then started walking back up trail to his pack. I picked up my pace. I’m sure he was fine-but to claim being a female alone with this guy didn’t have me nervous would be a lie. I think it’s just something women have to constantly be on guard about. Strange men. Anyway-glad I was prepared and paranoid instead of unprepared and attacked. People can be nuts!

I got to the top of the third and final pass, and then started my descent. At the bottom, I was greeted by Nope and Pebbles and about 50 other people camping at the campground beside a river. It was a nice set up! We scouted out our spot, and Pebbles and I decided to cowboy camp. Nope said his goodbyes and kept hiking. He does big days but sleeps in-so he does a lot of night hiking. No thanks. 

While we were sitting on our sleeping pads, talking about the day, a woman walked over and gave us trail magic! She was so excited to meet CDT hikers! We got yogurt, some fruit, and a cheese sandwich. Odd choices, but free is free and food is food. We were happy! Then, a man came over and went on and on about how cool and brave we are for doing this hike AND for cowboy camping specifically. He was one man with a HUGE 5th wheel camper to himself. He even invited us over to hang out at his site, but we were (and are) too tired. 

Tomorrow, we only have to hike 9 miles to get to the spot that Pebble’s friend, Tina, is going to be with her husband and trail magic! I’m so pumped! I can’t wait to meet them! Technically, Tina is close friends with Laurie, another friend of Pebbles who follows his long hikes (maybe my blog, too).. she’s a fellow backpacker and adventurer, as is Tina and her husband. They’re out on a road trip in their Vanlife Van, and we were able to get somewhere that our paths could cross! How freaking cool! 

So, on that note-goodnight! We have places to go and people to meet! And probably good food to eat, too! Haha! Sweet dreams!