Day 19: Salida Zero

Sep 6

8.9.21

It was really refreshing to sleep in this morning. Not that I slept in too much - I still woke up to say bye to Mamba and Bugsy, and then I put my stinky clothes in the wash. I hung out with the other hikers while the laundry was being done; Grandpa, Flan, CP, Buckler, and Tater (that might not be his actual trail name but it was thrown around haha). And I ate my leftover pizza for breakfast. Just as I was about to start looking over my resupply, mom called me about my request to overnight my stove & pot: UPS was going to charge $130! I told her to hold on, and try FedEx, while I went to the sporting goods store in town that had just opened for the morning to see what it would cost to buy a new stove & pot. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any pots, only stoves and jetboils. I was not going to carry a heavy jetboil. Mom texted me that FedEx was $80 so we decided to do that. It probably would have cost me $80 to buy the things new anyways, and because of how much colder it was getting and my lack of appetite for my cold soaked food, $80 was worth it for the dinner happiness.

After that debacle, I bought some coffee and a smoothie and went back to the hostel, ready to start sorting out my resupply. After being distracted and chatting with Buckler and Tater and Roy, I finally got it sorted out and then went to Safeway to buy the things I still needed.

I meandered through Safeway for what felt like forever. My brain was mush and I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to eat. I finally landed on PB & J bagels for lunch (one of my favorites) and got some Mac & cheese, couscous, and ramen for dinners.

After shopping, I went to eat lunch at a chipotle knock-off that was just ok, then went back to the hostel to organize stuff and chill. I ended up watching last week’s bachelorette episode in bed & napping for a bit. Once it was nearly dinner time, Roy and I got together and figured out a spot to eat. We shared a bunch of yummy appetizers, and then walked back to the hostel, stopping by Safeway on the way back since he wanted ice cream and I needed to buy some extra items: ziplocks and baby wipes.

Once back at the hostel we chatted with some of the other guests and went to sleep.