CDT Days 86-87: Steamboat Springs

Day 86: mile 1447.9 to Route 40: 12.3 miles

Day 87: zero day in Steamboat Springs

Total miles: 1246.3

It’s not a conscious decision on my part, but the morning before we get into a town I always move a little bit faster; especially when we’re close. This morning there was twelve miles of road between us and our hitching point to get into Steamboat Springs. The hike went quickly, and Garrett amused himself and me by giving the universal “honk the horn” signal to all the semis that passed. Ten out of twelve truckers obliged.

As we approached Route 40, we noticed a few cars going by. We’d heard that the hitch into town could be a difficult one, so we were unsure as to what our luck would be. Garrett stuck his thumb out while he made his last steps to the road, and a truck immediately pulled over to give us a ride into town. Our fastest hitch to date!

In town we found a hotel that we could check into early, and then went for lunch. I had slept so well the night before, I felt like I was already in town and had awoke thinking I’d be eating eggs and potatoes for breakfast. When I opened my eyes I realized I was actually in the tent, and it was oatmeal for me. Now in town though I could satisfy my craving, and had potatoes and eggs for lunch at a cafe in town.

After lunch we set out to do our list of errands. There was a free bus in town that ran every twenty minutes, so we hopped on to get to the grocery store on the east side of town. I had a message that I had an envelope waiting for me at the UPS in town, which was conveniently located next to the grocery. When we got to UPS though, they told us the envelope was actually had the customer center on the other side of town. So we hopped on the bus again to get to the west side of town, and finally made it back to the hotel. By the time we got back it was 4pm, and we still were dirty from our hike. We cleaned up, did laundry, and then ate dinner at a nearby brewery.

The next day, all our errands done we set about relaxing. It was Independence Day, so we watched the local parade down the main street. Other than that, we ate some more food and lounged around. It was a pretty perfect day off! The last week was a bit stressful to say the least, and we weren’t sure how I’d feel when I got to town. I ended up walking into town feeling quite positive that I could make it to the Wyoming border at least, and from there we’d just take it town by town. I’m glad I waited a week to see how I’d feel. Thank you to everyone that reached out to offer kind words of support, I really appreciated it!