Day 55 Leadville

15.0 miles I’m guessing

Last nights camp was not the pick of spots as I ended up camping on a slightly sloped site which made for restless sleep. When the alarm went off at 5:15am I hit snooze for the first time. I couldn’t be bothered rising straight away and needed a little extra shut eye. Finally rising and getting into the day I was surprised when looking at my watch when leaving camp that it was 6:30am, not nearly as late as I thought it would be. This was great. 

I had a tricky decision to make today. It was 21 miles out to Tennessee Pass to hitch into Leadville. I could easily make it to the pass by the end of the day and hitch into town late however this is never the best strategy to make the most of a town day. Another option I had was to pull up short of the pass, camp and hike a nero into town tomorrow. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do and would make a decision on the fly as the day went on. 

The first few hours of the morning flew by. Lots of south bound CT hikers. I counted 10 within the first two hours.

By 10am I had hiked 8.5 miles when a third option into Leadville presented itself which I’d never considered as I had no idea it existed. I came out to a very busy trail head at Timberline Lake. The carpark was chocka block full. Looking at my map the road from the trail head led directly to Leadville around 9 miles. I still had 13 miles to hike to Tennessee Pass or I could start down this road and potentially walk directly into town with the option of hitching and arriving early enough to make the most of town. This is the option I went with. I hit the road walking towards town. 

There was a significant amount of traffic heading in the opposite direction but none headed my way. The few cars that did come past ignored my hitching thumb and I continued hiking the road. 

An hour and half went by in which I’d hiked maybe 4 miles. It was fast walking on the bitumen. The sun was in my face and I’d pulled off to the side to slap on sunscreen. Just starting to hike again I could hear a car approaching. Always hopeful I stuck out my thumb. Success! Bogdan from Serbia pulled up and offered me ride. I was in town by around 11am, plenty of time to get chores done and eat some food. 

But this does break my continuous footpath unless I hitch back to the same trail head which is highly unlikely. So that will leave a gap of 13 miles which I haven’t hiked if I hitch to Tennessee Pass in the morning. So be it. It will still the be the right decision for me I’m not a Red Line purist by any stretch of the imagination. Trying to make the most out of this hike and enjoyable for me, rather than mindlessly following a line on a map, more of these alternative routes will appear and I’ll probably take them.

Arriving in town the advantages of having an Australian accent in the US really hit home. I needed to check into a hotel and check in is typically at 3pm. A centrally located hotel with attached restaurant, the historic Deleware Hotel stood out to me. Approaching the counter to enquire about rooms the lady on the desk was caught with my accent and just wanted to chat. We spoke and joked for around 15 minutes. In tbe meantime she went out of her way to sort a room out and an on the spot check in. She ended up upgrading me at no extra cost. Perfect! 

Leadville is a cool little town with nice street scale and many historical buildings. It is also the home of Melanzna clothing company so famous to hikers. They make micro grid fleece hoodies but you can’t just walk in off the street to purchase from the store and you cannot purchase on line. You need to make an appointment to visit the store – unless you are a thru hiker in which case the store is open to you. ‘Mellie’ hoodies are coverted by hikers and while I did not need one, I felt the need to purchase one. 

Leadville is definitely where the hiker bubble is. There are so many hikers in town, many on the CDT recognisable from the CDT tags hanging off packs, typically wearing shorts, faded and beaten gear with smallish packs and the blokes sporting solid beards. There are also a stack of Colorado Trail hikers in town, distinguished from CDT hikers as they are typically wearing long pants, have newer looking gear and carry much larger packs. 

While at the laundromat I saw X-Ray from across the road but wasn’t able to grab his attention over traffic noise. I’m not sure if he was heading into town or on his way out. We’ll meet in trail again.