DAY 74 Leaving Leadville

JUNE 26th

The alarm went off at 7am i silenced it. I dozed until 8 then looked at my phone and noticed I had a message from one of my sons, Sebastian . Are you able to facetime ,he asked so I did . It was good to see him and of course my dog Taylor lol
We chatted for a while until I needed to go as I needed to check out and wanted to grab a shower too.
The shower was soo good. Okay snail all this stuff on the floor has to go back into your pack.
I started packing but then went to grab some coffee.( I was shown how to make coffee yesterday.)
Grind the beans then add to machine and hey presto, The owner caught be looking bewildered at it yesterday and took me by the hand ..how old am I lol.
I sat down with my coffee and scoffed my last two remaining fruit jellies. The family began to emerge and then the big breakfast cook off began. It was so nice to see the 5 kids all mesmerised as bacon and fried eggs were cooked.
I asked the mum (I am crap at names) if she had a set if scales
And she appears with them
Okay current weight is 170lb, Wow that’s 48lb I have lost but then I was overweight to start.I was fairly pleased with that.
Okay I finished packing and I was ready. I walked back into the kitchen and just to be noisy got back on the scales.
So with shoes,fanny pack and my pack . Deduct my weight and my pack weighed 58lb. Wow that’s heavy but I have full food and 3 litres of water .
By the time I was ready the family had all gone out, so I closed the door and headed down the street.
I was heading back towards safeways as that’s the road i need to be on. I arrived I crossed over and took up my stance. Nothing…
Okay I will walk to the correct road as this one splits and hope I get a ride before it starts raining as the skies were turning darker.

Okay I crossed over and stood by the correct road. Nope nope nope nope
All of a sudden I heard “Snailtrainer” .that made me jump.
A car had cruised up behind me .
Snailtrainer the voice said again
How do you know my name I replied
Because your famous the driver said.
I laughed
I noticed that he had two passengers inside with him
I’m just going to drop these two off in Lordsville and if your still here I’ll take you to the pass.
As he said that then two other cars stopped for me.
How spooky was that!!
So great, I’m.back at the pass and on trail.
Again I thanked my driver and headed back to the trail the rain began to spit so I stopped and put on my rain gear
I had just finished when a couple coming the other way appeared.
Its going to rain all day. One said.
Thank you so much I said (perfect)
I headed down the trail that was very well maintained almost immaculate.
I met several bikers and their dogs and gave the customary how’s it going
I came to what looked like several large kilns,but without any signage I wouldn’t know their purpose
I pushed on through the rain shortly meeting 3 drenched girl hikers coming towards me. But they all looked extremely happy.

I wasn’t looking for big mileage today 8 or 9 would be good.
I pushed on down the trail. It waa fairly kind with not many biggish climbs..eventually I could see the main road again I did debate about calling it a day. But it was far too early . Before I could cross he road I had to cross the railway . My first I think on this trip. . Once across there was a small climb. And then the trail stayed fairly level.there were some remarks in guthooks to take the forest road. As there was less climbing so I did. This then turned off and spat me out by Hale camp.
I had seen this on other hikers blogs and was fairly interested
It was a camp set up in the second world war to train elite soldiers’ in arctic warfare

I walked along the long line of billets ? No these were actually the storage for ammunition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Hale

Okay I think we have done enough for today and need to get the tent up before the rain returns.
TOO LATE whoosh and big claps of thunder. F*uck thst was bad timing I choose a dorm and sheltered inside. It may stop I said wishfully .But it just got heavier and if you looked both ways it was just mist and cloud.
Bugger bugger. Okay I cleaned up the dorm the best I could as I may be sleeping here!!
Not my prefered option but its too wet to hike on and the rain doesn’t look like stopping .So putting up my tent in the rain is not what i want to do. I got out my mat to be comfortable. Then got out my stove and made hot chocolate
Ohhh the rain its stopping. I quickly packed up and we were out of here. I pushed on up the trail but was feeling a little cold and stiff. Come on snail . We can at least do another hour .
I pushed in up the first road getting passed by 3 trucks and their caravans.
I kept on pushing, the rain threatening. Okay it’s almost 5pm I need a spot
Just off trail was a large tree.Yes that will do, I can get my tent in there. It was fairly dry beneath the tree always helpful.
Once up I threw in my gear. Inflated my mattress and then got into my bag.