Drinking all day in the city and hiking all night

This morning everyone got up around 8am. We had talked last night about how we would probably sleep in this morning. Even though we have 29 miles to do today, no one was in a particular rush. Sometime after 9am I got up and packed up my things. Then Syrup did the same. But 9 Lives and Sidequest were still lying around, so I knew we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.

Syrup didn’t want to wait and left just after 9am. The rest of us left at 10am when we checked out. We stopped at the cafe down the street and I got a drink. Then we walked about a mile and a half down the road to the other part of town. Much of today will be street walking for us.

A coffee drink to start the day while we walked 2.4 km down the road to the other side of town.

This morning 9 Lives was talking about the Mexican restaurant in town that is supposedly super good. Someone further out said they were from San Diego and loved the food. And people from Southern California usually have good taste when it comes to Mexican food. The restaurant didn’t open until 11, but we had started the day so late that they were just opening when we passed by, so we decided to have an early lunch. At this point we knew we would have to do a night hike to make up for the late start.

The Mexican restaurant that blew us away.

We sat down and ordered some food. I was just going to eat, but then someone ordered a margarita. After that, it was all over. The margaritas were frozen and delicious. And they came in lots of flavors. So of course we had to stay for hours and try some of them, right? And all this while knowing we have a permit for Yellowstone. So we definitely have to do the remaining 27.5 miles for the day. Especially since Syrup had already started hiking. That meant we couldn’t just cancel our permit and get a new one. Because then he wouldn’t have a permit anymore.

A healthy number of margaritas for lunch.

For lunch, I had a chimichanga and topped it with queso. It came with cheesy beans and rice and was very good. For an appetizer, I had a peach margarita. After that, I was convinced to have another, so I went with strawberry. Everyone didn’t seem to care how many miles we had to go. And I just let it go. In my mind, I was thinking that we were somehow going to hit zero today. Maybe we should get another room for the night when everyone is drunk. But Yellowstone is on a Friday! So of course everything was booked. And believe me, we asked.

My Margarita burial site.

Side quest and I avoid hiking by drinking margaritas.

For the third and final margarita, I ordered passion fruit, probably my absolute favorite. They were all so fruity and delicious. We finally paid our bill around 3pm and got ready to leave. I couldn’t believe it was so late in the day and we still had 27.5 miles to go. What happened next was pure denial. We went to one of the hotels to confirm they were full. Sidequest called the ranger station for permits, but they didn’t answer. Then we did the only thing we could do. We started walking the road, slightly drunk, in the heat of the day. I guess that’s what people mean when they say, “Play silly games, win silly prizes.” We definitely won.

The river right next to the Mexican restaurant. I wanted to stay in the city one more night and just swim in the river all day.

The first hour we drove out of the city was brutal. The road was completely exposed and it was 32-35 degrees outside. Everyone was dragging themselves along and had no desire to hike. After an hour we took our first break. That really says it all. Then we finally accepted that we would be hiking until 1-2 a.m. tomorrow morning. There’s no getting around it.

Hot and tired, we took another break. We still had so many kilometers ahead of us.

Stretched out beside the road we were walking on.

From this rest area we hiked for another hour. Then we passed a stream and stopped to get some water. At this point 9 Lives was not feeling well. Her stomach had been bothering her for the last few days and was quite sore. She was very nauseous and wasn’t sure if she could continue hiking. So we took a long break there before continuing. After that she seemed to be feeling a little better.

9 Lives further up the road.

When we started walking again, we finally got into the swing of things. It started to cool down a bit as we walked along the dirt road. We covered 6.6 miles in just under 2 hours and came to our next and final water source for the day. I was glad we checked because there was no water until we got to camp. That was still quite a ways away. This water source was off the trail, but we had to get there. Then we headed back to the trail for a quick lunch break.

Side quest and 9 lives as we walked through this old logging area.

I had packed so much cheese for this section of the trail. So I sat there and ate half a block of cheese and a ton of crackers. This Dublin cheese is heavenly. It’s probably my current favorite cheese. Then around 8:30pm we got ready to start hiking again. I got out my headlamp because I knew it would be getting dark soon. Lately the sun sets around 8:45pm, but you can hike until after 9pm without needing a headlamp.

The sun was beginning to set. And we still had many hours of hiking ahead of us!

As the night went on, we were all filled with renewed energy. It was finally just the right temperature outside and we still had hours of walking to do. Surprisingly, I felt fantastic and was ready to hike all night. Within the next half hour, it was getting dark and we decided to hike together. This area around Yellowstone has the highest density of grizzly bears in the country. We all wanted to be safe so we decided to hike all night.

The sun sets over the forest.

Side Quest: A walk lies ahead of us as the sun sets.

We crossed the Yellowstone border in the dark, which was pretty fun. Then we hiked another hour or so and reached a CDT milestone. We’ve officially left Idaho and entered Wyoming! We’re now officially two states behind on this trail, with only three to go.

Arriving in the dark at the border of Yellowstone.

This seemed like the perfect place for another break. There we all sat in the dark on the Wyoming border, hanging out. I ate more cheese and crackers and lounged around. It was only 5.9 miles from there, but it felt like so much more. The thought of walking another 2 hours was really tough.

We are entering our third state! Montana and Idaho are officially finished. Now we are moving on to Wyoming.

When we left the rest area, I felt fine for the first hour. I still had some energy and made good progress. However, we all tripped over roots and rocks like it was our job. Every minute you heard someone kick a rock and trip. And then it happened to you. It’s hard to see the depth of things in the dark, even with a headlamp on. And the more tired you get, the less you lift your feet when you walk.

Crossing to Wyoming in the middle of the night!

The last hour of the night was pretty brutal. I could barely keep my eyes open and felt like I was falling asleep while walking. It took a lot of effort to wake up. But I knew we were close. Then we finally passed the turnoff to our campsite around 2:30 am. Everyone was so relieved. At the bear pole we could tell there were a lot of other hikers at the campsite. So we tried to be as quiet as possible. But there is nothing quiet about setting up camp.

We walked through the grounds and found Syrup’s tent. There weren’t many places to pitch our tent, so we walked right past Syrup. I also felt guilty for loudly ramming my tent stakes into the ground just a few feet from his tent. But I did everything as quickly and quietly as possible. Then I hung up my bear bag and went back to my tent for the night. I made sure to do my stretches because I was a little sore. Then I finally called it a night. I can’t believe we actually made it here. After a long day of fooling around, we actually made it here. I’m proud of us for hanging in there, even after drinking and gambling in the city for way too long. It was after 3:15 am when I finally closed my eyes and went to sleep.

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