Friday, August 30th

Friday, August 30th. Day 73

Today's miles = 13 Total CDT miles = 1096.7

This morning was freezing!! It hasn't been that cold in the morning in a while. But once the sun came out today it warmed right up and got rather hot. Today's hike was mostly on a dirt road and in the exposed sun. It was my impression that the trail to town was suppose to be mostly downhill but I was very wrong. It was one little climb after the next the whole way into town.

We managed to get ahead of Panama and Bethany so we left them a note on the trail saying that we were going into Lander and soaking in the hot tub. They originally were not going into town as they had a box sent to South Pass City (Not a city - it's a historical site that used to be a functioning city) but because of our note they decided to join us.

I had to jump a barbed wire fence to get to the road to hitch into town and the moment I crossed the street with my thumb up the first car to drive by stopped and Baboon and I piled in. It was a man from Lander driving a pick up and he gave us quite a bit of information about the city then dropped us off by the Pizza hut. I had the salad bar and some pizza and then headed over to the Holiday Lodge to get a room for four people and two dogs. Panama and Bethany showed up just as we were getting a room and we all showered, laundered, and went to eat. We went to the Lander Bar which serves the beer of the brewpub right next door and hung out there most of the night. They had a 'Hungry Hippy' sandwich (which was kind of embarrassing to order) that was a pita toped with avocado, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions, and a homemade sauce, served with waffle cut fries!! It was wonderful! Around 10pm or so half of the bar turned into a rave with horrible music and kids dancing with glow sticks. The four of us just sat at the normal bar side observing the craziness  that was going on. Bethany and I left the bar around midnight and left the boys to their own demise. They closed down the bar and returned to the room sometime after 2am, stumbling, knocking things over, and waking us up. I knew then and there we wouldn't be hiking the next day and fell asleep with a smile on my face.