Friday, October 11th

Friday, October 11th. Day 115

Today's miles = 22 Total CDT miles = 1,741.1

I woke up this morning and everything was frozen solid as expected. The tent had been set up on inches and inches of snow and the tent itself had become an icebox. I didn't mind so much though because Larry, Terry, and Brody (the hunters) had said that we could could come into thier canvas tent in the morning to warm up by the wood burning stove. So, I packed my things as quickly as I could and headed straight for the tent. The second I walked in I was hit in the face with a wall of heat. That stove was sure working! I set my frozen shoes underneath the stove to thaw and Larry handed me a cup of coffee. My day was instantly better. I was warm and drinking coffee. I dared not ask for anything more but more came! Larry made us breakfast which included scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, toast, fresh homegrown tomatos, biscuits, and homemade sausage (which I skipped). It was the most perfect breakfast and I got to eat it next to the wood burning stove. I had forgotten for a second that I was on trail.

After breakfast Larry filled our pockets with homemade brownies and muffins (compliments of his wife) and we were again on our way. Because we had to bail down off of the pass we knew we would have to hike on a dirt road for many miles to get to a real road. From the real road we could then hitch to town.

The road wad covered in snow and sloppy  mud for most of the day which made it rather difficult to hike on. I made it to a lake by nightfall and set up my gear. It was another freezing night.