Day 32 Don't laugh....Gunnison to Gunnison (it's not a typo)

Monday, August 4, 2014 

Mileage: 7 miles 

Weather: spooky, scary lightening bolts from Zeus throwing it at us from on top of Mt. Olympus 

It was a bright, sunny, butterfly kind of morning at the happiest hostel in Colorado. 

Don't you get happy when you look at it? 

But, uhhhh...look what was in the closet. Kim, are you seeing this? We named one after you. 

Can you believe we carry all this stuff on our back (minus the basket of course) up 12,000 ft passes?  We can't either. 

Our hostess for two nights. She was awesome! 

So after packing up, we excitedly headed out the door and begin walking out of town....with our thumbs up. 

About five minutes later, we hitched our first ride in a processor server's caravan for the first seven miles. We had a total of 39 to get back to the trailhead. 

He was quite talkative. Here he is explaining some technical, step by step instructions on how he does his job to Hobbit. Non stop talking....haha for Hobbit. We sat quietly in the furthest seat. 

15 minutes later, we were back on the side of the deserted highway where only semitrucks or farm trucks go. Drivers either ignore you or stare at you. We just waved at everybody after they passed by. We did have a nice view of some farm animals though.

 After about the 12th car passing by and 20 minutes, a truck that just drove by did a big Uie and offered the back of his flatbed pickup to us.....for another 7 miles. 

7 miles closer but still 25 miles from the trailhead and now we're more in the boonies. We thought 'oh boy....wonder how long we'll be waiting here!' One car zoomed past and a mile behind it, we saw a silver truck begin to slow down. Sure enough, some country folk from Kansas offered us a ride. Woohoo! And it was longer than 7 miles...we were dropped off 10 ft from the trailhead! Such nice people! 

So happy! This was before we became frozen from the whipping wind and climbing   elevation!

 Zippy dee doo dah 

At 1:00 PM, our adventure on the trail began. Flat and meadow-laden, the clouds began rolling in and the sun disappeared. Uh oh....we thought, afternoon thunderstorms. 

And then this is what happened. 

Close your eyes, go outside, sit in the rain, and have your friends throw electric, shocking bolts at you. And then, turn up your bass on your amplifier ten times and chant the word "boom boom BOOM!" Yup, that's about it. Did you know people can get struck by lightening on its first strike? And did you know that if your hair stands up on end that the lightening is within inches of hitting you? We didn't get stuck by lightening, but we were pretty darn close. So after hiking 3.5 miles on the trail and being caught for 45 mins in a thunderstorm forming new rivers of water with the non forgiving cold 40 degree rain, we made a judgement call to go back to Gunnison and be safe. The mountain will always be there.

You see Hobbit....all alone, hanging out under the tree that has no leaves or branches...what was he thinking? Well, he's crying now. More on him later. 

Ohh look at Pippy! She's having a Tea party with her pretty, purple parisol 

Oh and there's Zippy. She's faking the smile after she just heard the thundering thunder. 

Heads or tails.....should we continue or go back? Well, Zippy who is a MOM went in mom mode and made the decision for us to retrace our steps back to safety away from thunder and lightening.

Here are the bear cubs freezing and not really wanting to turn back. 

But, after they saw the looming showers coming over the mountain, they relented and realized it was a good choice to leave. 

Zippy loves her rabbits

Rather than paralleling the road 1/2 mile back to the trailhead, we threw our bags over a barbwire fence and felt like convicts creeping through the fence. 

Back at the road again, sticking out our thumbs, speedy cars flew by. After about 20 minutes, another truck flew by, but then we saw brake lights illuminate and then it began reversing backwards towards us. Two local guys from Gunnison heading home! We sat warmly in the back seat and tried to make friends with the snippity dog. They dropped us off at our campsite for the night...

The campsite's name was "ABC Motel"...nice yah? Were holding up 31 days of our journey. 

The view from our "campsite"...not bad huh? 

Best part was a hot tub room all to ourselves in which we defrosted, showered, ate dinner, and dove into our warm covers and soft sheets for the night. Stay tuned for our spontaneous adventure tomorrow!