Wet start again, but not bad. I was below treeline, the rain had been light, and it was warm. The original plan was to head to a campground that was near the trail, pick up my resupply box and camp there for a few nights. Showers, bathrooms, etc. Well, that was a stupid idea, Silverton is only seven miles away with rooms, hot food, etc. I messaged Cherie and she was able to secure a room for two nights in town.
So pack up and start hiking. The first half of the day was mostly downhill until we reach the train tracks, then a long uphill to where the campground was. The train is the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge train that I had been on just a month earlier. In fact you can hitch a ride on it to Silverton or Durango, for a fee of course. It was funny I stayed on trail which required a long climb where some young folks simply walked the tracks into town, much easier.
As I was climbing out to the campground, Two Mile caught up and we both headed over there to pick up my resupply box. Nice lady there, we chatted awhile, gave me my box, and pointed me to where they had a hiker station setup with a picknic table, hiker box, and charging station. So, we grabbed a few cokes and then set to unpacking my box and throwing everything in my pack. After that was complete, out to the road to hitch into town.
As soon as we got to the road the hail began, and it started pouring. Ug! Back to the campground for some shelter. Just stood under the eaves of a building for a while. Eventually the campground lady popped over and said she had to go to town in a few hours and would give us a ride. In the meantime there was a young lady pacing around the area looking all worried. Turns out her husband and a friend went to climb a 14er and were late getting back. He had told her that we would be back by 11. I reassured her that he’s probably ok and that he grossly underestimated how long it would take. He did eventually show up and all is ok.
The lady drove us to town, gave us a quick tour and dropped us off at the hotel. Shower, furniture, and town food, ahhhhhhh.
