Salida, CO

Miles Hiked 252.9 
Elevation 8,858 feet
Miles Hiked Today 5.2

I packed up a wet tent, skipped breakfast and began hiking at 7 AM.  This was going to be a short day.  Because of several things I needed to do in town, I skipped the idea of staying at the Monarch Mountain Lodge.  Salida was the target.

As I hiked through the woods, I heard singing.  It was a family gathering.  They had camped on a really nice piece of land.  I wish I had gone a few more miles to camp nearby, and then I wouldn’t have been slipping into my tent wall on the slanted campsite where I pitched my tent.

There was no hurry and I took my time, arriving at the highway 50 trailhead midmorning. Now the complicated part. My provisions were at the Monarch Mountain Lodge, so I had to get those first. I started hitchhiking toward Salida. My original research had shown the lodge was about five miles outside Salida. Boy was that ever wrong!

The family I passed earlier on the trail came off the trail at the highway and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Take a picture of them and they would give me a ride. How could I refuse? I took the picture and we all loaded into an SUV. They really didn’t have room in the car for me, which made the ride offer even more special.

So, we are off to Monarch Mountain Lodge – the wrong way on hwy 50. My fault. Again, I thought it was just outside Salida. When one of the phones they had got a cell signal, they mapped the lodge and found it was in the other direction. Instead of continuing on to Salida, which I imagine most others would have done, they turned the car around and followed directions to the lodge. We found it 18 miles away from Salida in the middle of nowhere. How could my research on this place been so wrong?!

I retrieved my provision package while the family waited, and we all loaded back in the SUV and headed for Salida. We talked hiking on the way, and it was a very enjoyable ride. It was without a doubt the best hitchhike I ever had with maybe the exception being the time I hitchhiked to California from Chicago when I was 16.

The family took me right to the Salida Hostel where I’m staying for a couple of days. What an amazing gift to have been fortunate enough to meet this family and receive their help. I probably would have been out on hwy 50 still if it weren’t for them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask their names, but I did get a picture.

It was a happy ending. I dropped my backpack off at the hostel and went into town for lunch. When I returned to the hostel, I checked in at 3:15. The first shower in a week was sweet. And my clothes were washed for the first time in 11 days. Now I could tolerate being around myself. One disquieting revelation came when I stepped on the hostel scale. My weight was down to 134. That has to be the lowest it has ever been while hiking. I’ve got to eat more.