Ouchies
We woke up at our normal 6am to get packed and ready, but Ben had taken a walk to the corner and back and wasn’t feeling good at all. With much dismay, he told me he would need at least one more day of recovery, so an unplanned zero day was upon us.
We had to take full advantage, of course. One of our new trail buds, Money, had to go back to Silver City for some medical issues himself. Of course, not for his feet. Which have almost 3” diameter blisters on blisters on either foot, with one of his big toe nails at the ready to pop right off. Definitely the most gnarled up feet I’ve seen in a good long time. He had superglued his blisters to his skin underneath. He also hiked the PCT last year, so had pretty much just stayed in the hiker trash mentality. One reason why he did a 28 mile night hike on day 4!
Anyway, since he had to go into the “city” a few folks placed some special orders. Mainly booze and dominos. Coming back like the hero he is, he had stacks of beer and a good sized bottle of Jameson which Ben had of course requested.
Then midday, even more hikers came in, another 6 or so. May have been one of the biggest hiker gatherings I’ve had! Listening to everyone’s thru hike stories of other trails (almost all done within the last 3-4 years) made me realize two things; 1) the trails are very very different than when I had hiked them, with a ton more people, and a lot more partying, and 2) I’m old. Almost every hiker is in their early to mid 20s. You get the older folks, who are in their 50s-70s, but there seemed to be a “middle aged” gap. There was a lot of “when I hiked the trail in my day” moments. Oy vey.
As the evening came around, the debauchery began. We had beers, then started on the whiskey. Not many took up on the whiskey, except Andrew who had a couple. But Ben and I basically polished off yet another bottle on our own. Not sure how that keeps happening...
Everyone’s tents were pitched out in the back of the store, and they had showers and laundry we could use for a couple bucks. All in all, it was a good day. A real thru hikers day with all sorts of characters and personalities, and lots and lots of doggos. The fortunate thing about thru-hikers, is even when we all get rowdy, come 9pm and everyone’s off to bed (also known as hiker midnight). Early morning, and lots of booze to sleep off!
