Sunday, Aug 31, 2025
12.64 miles, 2162’/3547′ gain/loss
I was awake at 6am, and waited around for the 4 thruhikers to head out at 6:50am. I hiked the morning with Super Noodz, Pigeon, Cropduster, and Long Strides. It was icy in the morning, and many plants were ice encrusted. It made me glad that I hadn’t pushed a few more miles last night. We hiked up Bowen Pass, and Super Noodz and I chatted with a big horn sheep hunter for a few minutes.
Partway down Bowen Pass, we stopped for more than 30 minutes to have 2nd breakfast and dry gear in the sun, which felt foreign to me given that we were less than 6 miles from town. But I had decided that I was more lonely than I was in need of miles. So I chatted with Noodz the entire way to the road. He and I decided to go into town straight away and we got picked up by a Belgian couple within 5 minutes and were in town by 1:15pm.
We found our way to the hiker center in town at an old elementary school. I paid the woman there to stay the night behind the building and got information about showers in town (though their mileage was off – they said the business that let hikers shower was 0.2mi down the road and it was not). We dropped our packs at the hiker center and found bikes to borrow to take into town. It was Labor Day weekend, and the town was totally bananas. We found the other 3 hikers in Noodz’ tramily. They were waiting on pizza but the place wouldn’t take more orders. I tried going to a local place 0.5mi away that had a good hiker burger, fries, and milkshake deal but the line had more than 35 people in it. So I came back and got food at a place nearby without a line. The food took 20+ minutes to be ready, and I took advantage of the soda machine and drank 3-4 cups worth before my food was done.
I sat at the table with the tramily for a while. But they were very set on camping at the KOA and had a lot of strong opinions about everything in town. Noodz just went along with whatever they wanted. I was reminded why I prefer to hike alone, even if I’m lonely. It feels less anxiety-provoking than requiring a committee meeting and consensus for every decision. I said goodbye and biked to the place where I could take a shower. I hadn’t realized it was $10 and up at the top of a very large hill. If I’d known, I probably would have tried to shower by the lake at the beach.
I then headed to the laundromat. Like good hiker trash, I’d found a pair of pants (split down the ass) in the hiker box at the hiker center and grabbed those so I could wash my shorts. I ended up changing underneath a dirty towel left in the laundromat because they’d locked the bathroom and there were cameras everywhere. And then after changing, awkwardly used safety pins to close the torn butt of the pants. While my laundry spun, I carefully rode the borrowed bike to the two general stores in town to resupply – one was so empty it looked like a mob front and charged $3 for a single ramen packet. The other one was much better. I bought my resupply and some snacks, and headed back to my laundry. I waited there while my clothes dried and then changed back into my clothes under the towel so I could ride back with confidence that I wasn’t flashing my ass at the entire town full of tourists. While I was there, I met three other CDT hikers – Zig Zag, Special Agent Sally, and Jugular. I saw them around town a bit later as well.
Back at the hiker center, I met a very chatty NH hiker Gone Again. I set up my tent as far away from the hiker center entrance (and the outside light) as possible. It was the right choice. I tried to settle down, eat my food, and prepare for my next section. I was doing okay until five entitled, drunk, and irritable hikers showed up later in the evening and kept trying to break the rules (setting up inside). The hiker center has to pay people to supervise the space between 4am and 11pm to keep hikers from damaging the property and breaking the rules, which is why they charge those of us who actually pay to stay a fair bit of money. It made me irate and irritable, and it was extremely hard to fall asleep, which was made worse by the loud Labor Day rave taking place up the hill until after midnight. But I did eventually sleep.
Transcending Mountains 